Selby: Brayton residents call for more help over flood threat

Brayton, near Selby, flooded after the nearby River Ouse rose on New Year's Day

A community hit by flooding has criticised the level of help they have received from their local authority.

Homes in Brayton, near Selby, were flooded after the nearby River Ouse rose on New Year's Day.

Vicki Smith, who runs a local community group aimed at providing help around flooding, said "people were quite frustrated at the lack of support".

North Yorkshire Council has been contacted for comment.

Residents told BBC York they believed a nearby dyke was overwhelmed and local drains were blocked when river levels rose.

They also said many of them were unable to get sandbags from the council in order to try and keep the water out of their properties.

Ms Smith arranged for sandbags to be delivered.

"There was quite a lot of water and some of that got into people's garages as well, so people were quite frustrated at the lack of support they'd been given," she said.

"They'd not been able to contact anybody directly to get some help."

The community and emergency services worked together to limit the extent of the damage, residents say

Ms Smith said residents rallied to help each other out as the flood waters rose.

"A lot of the community were able to come together," she said.

"We had absolutely loads of people who volunteered from the local community to help."

One of those affected was Eleanor Steele.

The mother-of-three had just given birth to youngest child Noah in hospital and her family kept the flooding news from her until she got home to Heather Close the following day.

Eleanor Steele, holding her baby son Noah, came back from hospital to find her street flooded

She said: "Everyone was just on the street getting sandbags, we had to traipse through the flood water to get in the house."

Ms Steele said she felt "unnerved" by the flooding, but neighbours and friends stepped in to help.

She added: "I didn't really have much time to think about it."

Residents got in touch with Selby and Ainsty MP Keir Mather to ask for a long-term solution.

"The amount of people I've had reach out to me about this issue shows the scale of concern but also the feeling that local agencies were disjointed in their response," the Labour MP said.

Mr Mather said flood protection was not just the responsibility of volunteers and he was waiting for a full answer from North Yorkshire Council.