Community suffers 'substantial' flood damage

Hereford 4x4 Response Group spent Tuesday night distributing sandbags to residents in Tupsley

A community has suffered "substantial" flood damage following heavy rain across the county.

Tupsley, in Hereford, saw about two feet (0.6m) of water enter some properties on Tuesday night, according to the Hereford 4x4 Response Group.

The group's vice chairman, Charlie Bennett, said they spent much of the evening distributing sandbags to those affected to stop the flow of water.

He said: "A couple of the properties that we went into had all their carpets pulled up, carpets and furniture destroyed."

Mr Bennett added: "The residents there said the water last entered their properties in 2008 and they've not seen flooding there since.

"So something has obviously changed, I don't think the volume of water at that point was as high as it had been in the past."

He also said his group would remain on standby throughout the week after the Met Office issued an amber weather warning for Friday.

Michael Davies said he could not stop water from coming into his home

The meteorological service said Storm Claudia was expected to "bring heavy rain leading to flooding and disruption".

Mr Bennett said: "Unfortunately, it's only a small token and we can only do what we can do with 40 or 50 sandbags but it will do something."

'It just kept coming in'

Michael Davies, a Tupsley resident, said he was left powerless to stop water trickling into his property.

"I came home from work, sat on the sofa as you do and then when we came to lock up there was water in our hallway," he said.

"I went to open the door and a person behind the door told me not to open it, they told me to go to the window and it was the fire service.

"After I opened the window you could see the garden was totally underwater. It was trickling into the house and obviously you try and stop it but it just kept coming in."