Emergency crews rescue 20 people from care home trapped by floods
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Emergency crews have had to rescue 20 people from a care home in Derbyshire as cars were submerged in flood water in the county, Derbyshire Fire and Rescue have said.
More than 100 people had to be rescued in Derbyshire on Friday and the service declared a major incident due to the impact of Storm Babet.
Clive Stanbrook, area manager at Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Service, warned flood waters could continue to rise near Derby and across south Derbyshire on Saturday.
It comes as Labour MP Toby Perkins said some 400 homes in his Chesterfield constituency have been deluged.
Mr Stanbrook told BBC Breakfast: “We rescued over 100 people yesterday. For example, just on one road in Chesterfield in the north of the county, we rescued 60 people when that (water level) became up to the top of cars and several HGVs were stuck as well.
“There is a village called Duffield in Derbyshire and we rescued 20 people from one care home there.
“Also there were 18 houses that were evacuated in a village called Ironville, again in the north of the county.”
Mr Stanbrook added that officers had been working through the night to rescue people, and said West Midlands Fire Services has sent two boat crews to help rescue people trapped by the floods.
The RSPCA has also volunteered a boat crew in Derbyshire to help rescue animals such as horses and dogs.
Mr Stanbrook warned it will be dangerous travelling in flooded areas on Saturday.
He added: “The advice we give today is only travel if absolutely, absolutely necessary. If floodwaters recede, then that’s absolutely great…
“But on the road there is still going to be silt, there is still going to be debris that is going to cause real, real danger to anybody travelling at the moment – no matter what you’re travelling in.
“No matter what size car or vehicle, please only travel if absolutely necessary.
“Please be careful of riverbanks and canal banks. They are going to be soft.
“Everything is going to be dangerous today if you’re walking or travelling, so please travel if only absolutely necessary.”
Standing on a road in his constituency that was “under water yesterday”, Mr Perkins told BBC Breakfast: “About 400 houses have been flooded, many of the businesses here have lost all their stock and will be closed.
“Many of the people who live in this area are private renters, many of them don’t have flood insurance because you can’t get flood insurance if you’re in an area that’s prone to flooding.
“So a lot of the people I was speaking to last night have no idea where they’re going to be living from now.
“Lots of them have lost all of their property, all their downstairs property and they’ll be turning up at the council’s door today saying ‘I need rehousing’.”
