Shropshire families in caravan park flood ordeal

Dozens of terrified holidaymakers from Shropshire had to be rescued as massive floods swept through caravan parks on the Welsh coast.

Families told today how they were left stranded as a storm-swollen River Lery burst its banks – and the torrent rose 5ft up the walls of mobile homes.

Two teenage girls from Telford had to be rescued by an RAF helicopter crew as water threatened to engulf their caravan, while others had to wade through chest-high water before scrambling 30ft to safety up a steep bank at the Riverside Caravan Park in Llandre, near Aberystwyth, in the early hours of Saturday.

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Families with children and others with pet dogs were among those who had to escape from the campsite, which was one of the worst-affected spots in west Wales.

Some 150 residents and holidaymakers were rescued by fire crews, the coastguard and the RAF from homes and caravan parks after twice as much rain fell in 24 hours as normally falls in June.

Police said about 1,000 people had to leave their homes because of the floods.

Emily Nickless, 18, and Leigh-Anne Wharton, 17, from Little Dawley, were winched to safety from their caravan on the site after the water became too deep.

The pair, who study at New College in Wellington, were woken up at about 5am by a call from Emily's grandad Sam Nickless, the owner of the caravan, who was in Telford and had heard about the flooding.

Emily said: "When we opened the door, it was terrible. It was impossible to get out.

"We saw people on the cliff and we kept the door open because the water was still rising and if we closed it, we wouldn't have been able to open it again. We saw there were rescue people in a boat probably about 700m away from us. We were jumping up and down quite a bit and one guy looked over and saw us. He told us to stay there."

An RAF helicopter was alerted to the stranded girls.

"The guy came down and was about two metres away from us. He stepped forward and fell straight into the water. But he waded over to us and put the harnesses around us," she added.

Other Shropshire holidaymakers had equally dramatic escapes, with about 40 people climbing a steep embankment when the main exit of the site became cut off.

David Edwards, 50, from Welshpool, was with his wife and four young children at the campsite. He said: "I couldn't believe it. At 11pm, it still had four or five foot to go before it burst its banks. We never expected it to come up so quickly.

"It was four to six feet of water up to your chest. It was freezing water.

"We have got four children aged between seven and 15. They came through with us and we carried the little one."

He said that the group then decided they should attempt to climb the bank.

He added: "The emergency services were fantastic and they came as quick as they could."

Paul Morris, 51, from Dawley, Telford, was at the site with his partner Lisa Wood, 41, and step-daughter Maggie Rayson, 14.

Mr Morris said the escape up the bank had been an intense experience.

"It was absolutely horrific. We were lucky to escape with our lives. The water was getting higher by the second. You could hear the noise of the water travelling and it was like a mini-tsunami," he added.