Floody Hell!!!

Well I've never seen anything quite like it. An entire city brought to its knees after experiencing a month and a half's worth of rainfall in 24 hours, it really was an incredible couple of days in the steel city. We got off quite lightly, losing power for 48 hours was nothing compared to what happened to the people in Brightside, Winn Gardens, Chapeltown and is still happening in Catcliffe. Even having said that, a river burst its banks just 100 yards from our house.

That's the River Loxley, usually nothing more than a trickle, promoted to raging torrent due to an act of god. Many people have said it's the greenhouse effect, others have blamed a lack of flood defence, some even blame the authorities for a lack of warning, I say 24 hours of pissing rain will do that. It was the following day, Tuesday, that was the really surreal experience. I was on an early shift and driving along Penistone (no laughing at the back there) Road it was like the opening of "28 Days Later". There were cars strewn all over the dual carriageway, left abandoned, litter blowing across the mud-drenched wasteland, military vehicles, ambulances and sirens tearing down the deserted streets. That mental image will stay with me for the rest of my life.

Really, a day I will NEVER forget, the day of The Great Flood...