Dover residents count the cost after devastating flash floods

KentOnline / KMTV

Cars floating down the street, front doors snapped in half and families left with nothing... residents in Dover are dealing with the aftermath of a storm that hit the uK with 30 thousand lightning strikes  Abby Hook reports...

Transcript

00:00We kind of took the brunt of it.

00:03A flat turned upside down.

00:06Water came in here. You can see here, it came from everywhere.

00:11And a business reduced to floorboards.

00:15Two properties all but destroyed by severe flooding.

00:19A yellow weather warning was issued days in advance and upgraded to amber just before the rain began.

00:24And 30,000 lightning strikes hit the UK on Friday the 13th of June.

00:31And for Castle Street in Dover, their luck really had run out.

00:36Rob Hancocks and his wife were watching TV when the speed of the flood snapped their front door in half.

00:44This is where they were sat when the water started rushing in.

00:48And if you actually look around the room, you can see the level which the water rose to.

00:52While they were actually still inside the flat, trapped.

00:58OK.

01:01Rob's wife on the phone to emergency services, pleading for help.

01:06I'm trying, please hurry up.

01:12Oh my God.

01:14We've lost absolutely everything.

01:15He finally got to the back door to open and release the pressure and just watched as his life emptied into the garden.

01:27What do you think is salvageable?

01:29Nothing.

01:30Nothing.

01:31Not really anything.

01:32Like all the wood's done.

01:34Once the water gets into it, it'll blow it all.

01:37The sofas, so maybe like the TV stands might be salvageable.

01:43Some plastic tubs, tables and my fishing rods and things like that.

01:47But everything else is destroyed.

01:49And it's a similar story just a few houses down.

01:53Thomas Poblete just recently opened a homeware shop here.

01:56Has this ever happened to you before, flooding this badly here?

02:00No.

02:01No.

02:01My neighbour's been here for more than 10 years.

02:03It's never happened.

02:04You came down at 6 in the morning and saw everything.

02:07Yeah.

02:08That must have been a shock.

02:09It was, it was.

02:10So then it started like lifting everything up so it wouldn't get ruined.

02:14But all of these like paintings are soaking wet.

02:19Any idea at this point how much this might cost you?

02:23No.

02:25No, but it's...

02:26Dread to think?

02:26Huh?

02:26Dread to think?

02:27Yeah, I don't want to.

02:28I don't want to think about it.

02:30Now the community is coming together to help businesses and families rebuild.

02:35And make sure it doesn't happen again.

02:37To be fair to local authorities, we haven't really had this event happen before.

02:41This severity.

02:43But I'd certainly like to see them learn a few lessons and boost their emergency planning.

02:48Because Dover is one of the most strategically important port towns in the country.

02:54And imagine if this was during a bank holiday weekend or the Great Getaway or something like that.

02:59You know, the place would have been gridlocked.

03:01And then there could have been a serious loss of life or a threat to life.

03:04The council have said they'd welcome better emergency planning

03:08and are reaching out to the government for support for any businesses affected.

03:12But for now, Castle Street hopes that help will be the only thing on their doorstep.

03:18Abbey Hook for KMTV in Dover.

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