Flooding: Clean up begins after brook bursts its banks in south Shropshire

A major clean up effort is underway in the south Shropshire market town today following the storms that broke out over the hills on Thursday afternoon.

Firefighters, police and Shropshire Council's highways team were on the scene and community volunteers helped out at the village hall.

The Yew Tree pub was praised for its response in providing refuge and refreshments for those affected.

Councillor Andy Munro, the mayor of Church Stretton, said a wall collapsed in Batch Valley due to the weight of water coming down the valley from the heavy rain.

He said it was a major flooding incident.

Flash floods overwhelmed a "number of properties and businesses in the local area and blocked the road with rocks and rubble.

He said: "We managed to stop the water flowing into the village, assisted the residents at the nursing home which was flooded then along with the local villagers we all helped to clean the area up, we had been there sometime."

The residents at the nursing home were moved upstairs and out of harm's way.

Mayor Munro thanked the Yew Tree Inn, at All Stretton who provided refreshments calling the action "really thoughtful and much appreciated".

"Also a big thank you again to the All Stretton village hall for their use making tea and coffee," he said.

He added that he "visited a number of properties on the Long Mynd and some are badly damaged."

As a result of the debris and water the B5477 immediately became impassible and significant volumes of traffic backed up almost to the A49.

"There were several large lorries trapped, none of which were able to turn around and which then continued to block the road," he said.

He said the volume of 999 calls prompted a major incident response with specialist vehicles and officers arriving from as far away as Telford.

He thanked Doug Gwilliam who brought his tractor and bucket and cleared the road.

"Although the road has been cleared, and vehicles trapped between the A49 and the closure released, the road has since been closed again to allow the team from Shropshire Highways to come and clear up the debris and clear the drains," he said.

Firefighters made use of the village hall and found coffee and biscuits inside for them.

"Meanwhile, the pub provided bacon rolls to all emergency service personnel," he said.

"To put this into perspective between the local retained fire fighters, the several large command vehicles from the fire and rescue service, police cars, and other specialist units I would have estimated that there were between 25 and 30 emergency personnel on site.

"As always thanks to all of emergency services. There will be a lot of clearing up to do but as far as can be ascertained everyone has somewhere dry to sleep tonight, although with Stretton Hall flooding we were close to invoking the emergency plan."

A spokesperson for Church Stretton Fire Station said they along with the local police officers, and the highways department managed to "stop the water flowing into the village, assisted the residents at the nursing home which was flooded then along with the local villagers we all helped to clean the area up".

"Just want to say a huge thank you to the Yew Tree Inn, All Stretton who provided refreshments that was really thoughtful and much appreciated," they said.

"Also a big thank you again to the All Stretton village hall for their use making tea and coffee.

"Really sorry to all the people affected by this flooding incident and hope you all get back to normal soon."

Shropshire Fire & Rescue Service sent crews from Church Stretton and Tweedale in Telford to the incident in Shrewsbury Road at 4.22pm.

A spokesperson said a collapsed wall approximately 10 meters in length caused flood water to exit from the river bank.

Residents affected by severe flooding were evacuated by crews and electrics isolated in properties.