Recovery operation planned after flooding in East Yorkshire village

A number of homes in the village have been flooded and dozens of residents were evacuated after the River Aire burst its banks.

Water levels are generally dropping or remaining stable in Snaith, Gowdall, East Cowick and West Cowick, but are expected to remain high for several days.

Stephen Hunt, the council’s head of planning and development, said: “While we are still very much in the response phase, the council has started planning for the recovery operation that will follow but that can only happen when the risk of further flooding subsides.”

Mark Pawson, 35, who was brought up in East Cowick and now lives in Leeds, said it is the first time he has seen flooding in the village.

Mr Pawson rents out his former family home on Lidgate to a couple who have been evacuated because the house is surrounded by floodwater, which has not yet got into the house.

Mr Pawson said: “They (the tenants) are devastated and worried about it. They have moved everything they could upstairs.”

David Goodwin said his house on High Street, East Cowick, is safe but his father-in-law Norman Zaifert has been evacuated after his home on Back Lane was flooded.

Mr Goodwin and other villagers are using a canoe to get to flooded properties.

Mr Goodwin said people are helping each other, adding: “The community spirit in the village and surrounding areas is absolutely amazing.”