Floods

June - July 2007

Heavy rain across the region first hit the region in mid-June 2007, flooding numerous areas of South Yorkshire, saturating rural and urban areas in the region.

Just a week later intense downpours created a much more serious situation. The already high river levels were subject to continuous heavy rainfall leading to all the region's rivers bursting their banks. Many areas were evacuated as a result.

The Ulley Dam near Catcliffe was critically close to collapse. Firefighters were pumping one million litres of water every hour from the reservoir to prevent further damage. The situation was so severe that the M1 motorway was closed for some time.

Residents at neighbouring villages were already flooded and the potential of the dam collapsing could have led to a complete destruction of people's homes in these areas.

The region's road networks were chaotic; two people in Sheffield lost their lives; homes were wrecked; people lost their valuables and the damage is estimated to cost over £1 billion.

The whole region has been affected, at the time of airing the documentary (Sunday, 1 July) the Toll Bar and Bentley areas near Doncaster were still having water pumped from their streets in an attempt to reduce the levels of flooding.

Ten high volume pumps were brought in to pump more water back into the River Don.