02/02/2016 The One Show

Hello and welcome to Hebden Bridge in the Calder Valley of West

Yorkshire. A town which like so many across the UK, is getting back on

its feet after the floods. Beneath is the weather River and its centre

deluged to the town following the stormy weather. You can see from

these pictures taken a few feet away from where we are standing, look at

the water level down Main Street, flooding out so many of the local

businesses. On tonight's programme we will hear from a town about miles

away from here in how they used ancient techniques. And we will be

watching as boats are craned back into the water after they were

lifted out by the floods and then stranded in the middle of the

landscape after the water drained. That is the The One Show, 40 days

and 40 nights on from the floods. What we can see our pictures of the

Shoulder Of Mutton pub, our base, on Boxing Day after the river burst its

banks. We're back here to see how the lovely people of Hebden Bridge

are coping. This is what it looks like now. It is full of people, not

water. A big night for the Shoulder Of Mutton pub. One night only this

pub is open for business. It is doing a roaring trade at the. It is

also The One Show studio for tonight. Hello! Leslie, you are the

landlady. You have a big smile on your face right now, because

landlady. You have a big smile on a delight to see everyone with a

glass in the hand. But what time you have been having. Let's talk about

the situation here and what the water has left behind in the pub. It

has been stripped back now. We are kind of just drying out. At the time

it was five feet deep, very high. We have this cylinder filled up with

river water today. It looks murky now but this is nothing, in

comparison? It was thick, almost black sludge. It was just horrible.

It smelt. And up to this height as well. We hear on the morning your

son and his girlfriend were upstairs and they became stuck up there. This

is unbelievable. This is Leslie in the middle of the floods in the

morning. They got hungry because they couldn't get down, so what did

you do? Part of the town still had electricity so I managed to get a

bacon sandwich made and passed up to him on a pole. Goodness

stories we have heard today, Christmas dinner is being taken

upstairs, boats rescuing people. It is not just locals, we have other

people from other parts of the country who have been affected by

the storms. We will try to get to as many as we can. First, Andy Kershaw

is with his dog taking a trip down the Rochdale Canal.

Water is wonderful when it's well-behaved. Chugging down the

Rochdale Canal like this is normally idyllic, but people in these parts

feel differently about water now. Last Christmas Storm Eva brought

floods that were the worst in living memory and people lost or living

with the consequences. And we have barely cast off before we come

across a sandwich operation with a difference. The river rescue team

are in action, and among them, Stephanie. I was just a stones throw

from here in Todd work and I wonder how that narrow boat ended up in the

gates? When the floods arrived it transported the boat down here and

it left the stern up on the Rock as the floods receded. People live on

these boats so getting them back on the waters are a priority. Lifting

that sort of weight, you need to get as close as possible. You put the

crane into Reza's front garden. We did. Don't worry, she is at work,

she doesn't know what's going on! CHEERING

This makes 26 successful boat rescues between here and Wakefield.

Six miles along the canal and we reach another town that has the

Rochdale Canal. When the Boxing Day flood hit this car park was like a

lake. As we all know, lakes and sofas to make the happiest of

combinations. The factory is run by Stuart Chadwick. Good morning. Good

morning, welcome. Your door is open again for business. It certainly is.

If only you had a door! They lost nearly half ?1 million worth of

stock, but are already back in production. So this is the wood

machinery shop? That's right. What happened in here? We lost every

machine. In all ?150,000 worth of machinery was uninsured is no

company would take on the risk after the floods of 2012. And while his

stock was insured, Stewart has been told it won't be next time.

You have been flooded out twice now in three years, why don't you move

somewhere else? We have been in this valley for 70 years, we are part of

the community and don't intend to leave. We have skilled people who

live within four or five miles of the factory, so this is where we are

going to stay. Stewart may be back in production, but on the main

shopping street many businesses still have reopened. How bad was it?

Five, just over five foot high. You can see the tide mark on the front

window. John is desperate to reopen his hardware shop. You have to have

some sort of income. I've had none for a month. And as well as getting

back on your feet, you are simultaneously bracing yourself

every time it rains. Every time it rains it is, what's going to happen?

I've finished after this, if it happens again. The. Then I'm out.

I've had enough after this one. John lives above the shop, so his home

state dry, but others weren't so lucky. -- stayed dry. A close commit

community but some folks have been finding it rather more close-knit

than they anticipated, because since Christmas some of them have been

living here in this hotel in nearby Halifax as evacuees and I am going

to meet one now. Among those who have been living here for a month is

Robert Taylor. This is very elegant, I wasn't

expecting this! While their insurance covers

accommodation, the extras are mounting up. We had a great laugh on

New Year's Eve but it is eating away at our money. It is a lovely hotel,

but you end up spending a lot. The good news is the four refugees could

be back home in four weeks, if the weather behaves. But as we have a

cup of tea there is not much sign of that.

Well, I have stepped out of the pub under the bridge to meet some

locals. As you can see the weather has turned as we have been here

today. This footage was taken from early December. It was taken during

Storm Desmond and shows the flood sirens going off. It is a very eerie

sound. Gary, who joins me on the bridge... Holding the umbrella! You

work in the pub and you spend basically Boxing Day clearing up and

haven't been able to earn a lot of money. You must be really nervous,

even with this weather, but how did you feel when you heard the sirens?

It was so scary and frightening. It is terrifying, because the sirens go

off, the rain comes. If you are out of town, you can't get back into

town, it is so scary. It sounds like World War II. It does. When they go

off they really are allowed. And you know the flood is coming and there

is nothing you can do about it. The rain comes that is it. The brilliant

thing is we have seen how the community have really got together

here. Signs of defiance all the town. Hebden rising .com is a great

website people can go on and find out which businesses are open and

which are closed. Then you have "Calderdale Rising", a charity

raising money for all the people affected in the area. Kirsty and her

friends are the team leading the charge on that front. Brilliant to

see you all rallying together. How much money have you raised so far?

Probably nearly ?2 million now. A staggering amount. Who are these

people who have been donating, people in the area or far afield?

Everybody, locals, people from Yorkshire, corporate and people

further afield, International is as well. You are doing all you can, but

how have the government responses being? They pass the money through

to the local authority through the councils but they have also promised

us funding. Unfortunately they set it at the bit which is going to

cover probably just what we need in Calder. We need much more. Thank you

Kirsty. Lucy is over here. You have the lowdown on what the government

are promising? Yes, I should say we tried to get someone from the

government here tonight, they couldn't make it but they do make

the point they have responded with additional funding. ?200 million

additional funding for communities who have been affected, ?48 million

already been doled out. The rest is for affected residents, communities

and recoveries like bridge building and roads. On the next question of

who pays for all of this, Liz Truss, the Secretary of State for the

environment, recently mentioned council tax. Allowing local

authorities to increase their levy. It won't be universally popular. The

other thing I want to mention his terrorism. I know from being in

Devon when we had bad floods in 2014. -- the other thing I want to

mention is tourism. David Cameron announced a ?1 million PR fund to

tell people to spend their holiday in the North of England. ?2 million

is gone to the Lake District. They have bridges to build and trails to

redo before Christmas. But the weather is not always

redo before Christmas. But the is so beautiful here. It is very

much open. It is absolutely picturesque and hopefully people

will flock here in the summer months and over Easter. The weather has

turned and it is freezing. Shall we get back into the pub? Yes please.

On that open for business know, there is a wonderful sweet shop

about 40 metres away and the owners did a sterling job, on their hands

and knees, clearing everything up. It looks sparkling lake wonderful.

People say, you were not affected by the floods but is sheer hard that

got them back where they are today. I am with Mandy and Scott. Picking

up on that thought of funding, have you received funding? We received

?200 from the CFC and ?500 from colder Dale Council. Where are you

living? We were flooded out. We have had to move out from the

three-bedroom house to a one-bedroom flat. It looks as though we're not

going to be able to return to the property for at least nine months.

So it is property for at least nine months.

have cats as well? Two cats and there is not room to swing one of

them. Goodness me. Keep smiling if you possibly can. We have a weather

expert with us, Nick Miller. Let's have a chat about what you expect.

Are we due rain like this for the next few years to come? We have some

control in how we plan for future flooding and the action we take, but

the sciences thereabout intense rainfall events happening in the UK,

happening more frequently than in the 60s and 70s. The winter rainfall

is more extreme. The bottom line is we are living in a warmer world,

climate change. We have all heard about it. Last year was the hottest

year on record around the globe. It is basic physics, the warmer the air

is, the more water it contains. It translates to rainfall. The sciences

there between the warming of the world and more intense rainfall. Met

Office research shows given the same weather pattern is seven times more

likely to get extreme rainfall from it than if we were in a world

without the greenhouse gases. The key is to your best to prepare. Town

Live through this once and you don't flooding problems.

Live through this once and you don't want to live through it again. This

is Pickering Beck. In 2007 it flooded out of its banks and ran all

along Park flooded out of its banks and ran all

road here. All through these houses. It got into the marketplace, which

is relatively low-lying, and flooded all the properties and shops there.

Pickering was hit by flash floods four times between 1999 and 2007

with water streaming down a steep ravine off the moors, but the town's

calls for a flood defence, such as a higher wall around the beck, were

kicked into touch by the hash realities of economics. The whole

scheme would have cost ?10 million. There isn't enough people in

Pickering to warrant that. So in the end the Government said, you can't

have it anyway. And yet while other parts of Yorkshire have been deluged

by this winter's storms, Pickering has stayed dry. So what's the

secret? Well, it lies few miles down the road, amid the ruins of this

Abbey, where in the 12th century the monks had a brainwave to hold back

the floods. They built a long retaining earth wall called a bun.

We are walking on top of a five-metre high bund, which controls

water in times of a flood. It is now full of water, which if this bund

wasn't here would have rushed through and flooded the Abbey

buildings. This is probably an example of how the past can teach us

methods for controlling floodwater. The town called in some of the

country's leading experts to check out whether the monks' ancient idea

could work just as well for 21st century Pickering. Pickering now

boasts bund of its own. This is very soggy isn't it. So the traditional

approach to fighting floods seems to be to wait until the water is

already in towns and cities. How is this different? We are trying to

work with the water, with nature, rather than fighting against it. So

what we are trying to do is slow the flow to hold the water up here

before it actually gets down to the town and does damage. And that's

what you see here, this bund hats been built. You've got to best, ck

down there. You can see how much height we've got for storing water.

A small culvert eks out the water so the beck in town can cope. I know

you stayed dry. Couldn't that just be because of you didn't get the

levels of rainfall down there? We didn't get the levels of Leeds and

other places but we did get 24 hours of steady, consistent rain. The fact

is the Burkes, nd started filling, so that water would have flooded

Pickering. Further upstream they've gone back to old methods to control

flooding. They live in the Calder Valley, devastated in December, and

are keen to learn what's been done. We had some tremendously bad

flooding, but we are hopeful aren't we? We certainly are. The Forestry

Commission has built 150 log dams so slow the flow when the water levels

lies. And water drains away 60 times faster beneath trees than grassland.

So 29 hectare obvious woodland have been planted. Could you see this

working in "Calderdale Rising"? Absolutely. I think what we've seen

today Absolutely. I think what we've seen

-- in Calderdale. The Government said we need to rethink flood

strategy. Should this be part of it? Without question. And particularly

where you've got big, high headwater areas like this where it is steep.

We have to do the right thing in the right place. And we can do this at a

fraction of the cost, because flood walls in Pickering would have cost

around ?10 million. All this, we are talking about roughly ?4 million.

And that's a huge saving. Pickering has so far remained flood-free this

winter, but with warnings that storm chaos become more frequent and

wetter, the world is watching. We are now moving on to talk about

solutions of #234r50ding. are now moving on to talk about

solutions of -- flooding. Lynn, you are from Keswick flood action group.

You want a long term solution. This is a flood fair that you had

yesterday. Tell us about that and what the aim was. The Government has

given properties that have flooded ?500 each. We wanted to be certain

that the people had the most information as to what was

appropriate to put in. The fair was to get people to see surveyors, talk

about the products available, and view the products, whether the

floodgate would be usable for you, whether it would be too heavy. And

there were solicitors in case people had problems, and the people with

the grant forms. We are trying to put everything together. We are a

bit further forward, three weeks ahead, so people's houses are try

and they are looking at underfloor pumps, so it was really to get

people the best information to do their properties back up again. And

Lynn you've been sitting in front of MPs to put the case forward for

Keswick community. What do you see is their thinking, their long-term

plan for the likes of you? I'm hoping they will give us more money.

Everybody needs it. There is so much damage within the infrastructure

which needs to put right. The A 591 is the road we really need fixed as

soon as possible. Especially before the tourism season starts. I think

to get people to understand what happens in the community. And how

long it takes for properties to dry out. And interesting expense

involved in it. That's a key thing. ?5,000 doesn't go that far, but at

least it is a start. So initially you felt supported? Yes, absolutely.

They are listening to communities, and I'm hoping going forward that

the Environment Agency will be a bit more appropriate. Richard, like

Lynn, you've travelled from Cumbria, but on a different note you've taken

matters into your own hands, because you've been flooded four times in

the past in Cockermouth. You have now made your house, as much as you

can, flood proof. What measures have you taken? We've made it flood

resilient. We can let it flood and it will, the water will go away, and

we brush out the tiled floor. We wash down the marine pl Kitchen,

light the wood-burning stove. We've taken everything up stairs. So you

can get back to normal as quick as possible? We never left the house.

We were getting back to normal minutes after the water... Brushing

it out, getting back to normal. We didn't have to be out of the house.

Didn't have to have the house wrecked. We weren't going to be out

for nine months. We refused to be moved out. We had three dogs and a

cat. We weren't going to have them made homeless. And the problem is

you can't sell the house now, so you've made the best of the

situation that you are in. The only reason we can't sell the house is

because nobody will put up the money to let somebody else buy it. The

house is perfectly habitable. We are drying out now after two months, 40

days and 40 nights. We are very happy. We are absolutely back to

normal. Well, it goes without saying, personal possessions are

among the worst things to be lost in flooding. Sarah Mack is up in

Ballater to help rescue 1,000 precious photos. On 30th December,

Storm Frank hit Ballater hard. The village had never flooded before and

nobody could imagine the devastation it left. Many households in Ballater

lost property in the floods. Hi, Sarah. How do you prioritise what

the save? How did you choose what to grab first? Your sofa is upside down

floating, your fridge. And you think, wait, the photos. How

important are they to you? They are a snapshot of your life, things you

cannot replace. I had to smash decent furniture to get to these

photos. We've got some in front of us. These are some of the ones you

saved. It had a brown dirt that you get from most floods, but it was

oily as well. We ran all of them under a cold tap. Given what you've

said, The One Show would like to help. Would you entrust these to me

and see if I can do something with them? Of course. Fantastic. To watch

things that you've worked hard for be thrown in a skip must be bad

enough, but to lose precious sentimental items like a child's

first drawing, or photos of relatives, that must be truly

devastating. Paul Hendry, however, is a man who wants flood victims to

think twice before they tip on that skip. We have the contents of a

house that's been cleared out. This is their life, in a pile. There are

companies which come in and strip out the house. The process just

seemed to throw everything away. I think there is an awful lot that

could be salvaged. I'm going look at some of the stuff here. General

household tells the, like the knives, graters, books. These can be

restored. Following the flood, if you put them in the freezer they

won't deteriorate. A sort of antique cupboard? It can be cleaned, can be

salvaged. Something like this can easily go straight through a

dishwasher on its highest setting and be material idesed. Items of

sentimental value however are often ir replaceable. But it is possible

to repair some things back to the photos. How are you doing? I've

brought you some photos damaged by the recent floods in Ballater. If

you've got filthy water, that can cause problems. The first thing we

need to do is scan it. It is a pretty important job you are doing,

repairing people's lifetime of photos. That's the thing. Nobody

comes in with a restoration for a photo that isn't important to them.

Our main tool we'll be using is the heal brush. It samples pixels from

the surrounding area and copies them. All you have to do is draw

over the area. Simle approximately as that. You have to do this by hand

with each photo that's damaged? Yes. Restoration of photos can take

anything from between a few hours to weeks. Depending on how damaged they

are. The memory of being hit by the floods will be long term for many

people, but as we've learned today with a bit of knowledge and a lot of

patience, it is not the only memory that has to survive. It is a long

process but at least there's a solution I suppose. Thank you Sarah.

We are joined by David and Liz from the Strathburn hotel from Inverurie.

You've travelled a long way today. What time did you set off? About 11

this morning, by plane, taxi, train, and here we are. Planes, trains and

automobiles, but you are here now. No boat. Thank goodness, but there

was a boat involved a few days ago. It was really the place to go, your

hotel, wasn't it? Coming from Aberdeen on a Thursday and the rain

was horrendous. I said to Liz, this is going be bad in the afternoon. We

went past the police station. I said to the police, we've got rooms free

of charge for anybody who is marooned, can't get home. My

daughter put us on to Facebook and we had 40 people turn up. And an

eclectic mix. Let's hear about the pregnant lady. They arrived 1

o'clock in the morning and we had no rooms left. This is Christmas time,

the no room at the inn. This young lad said, no, she can have my room,

I'll sleep on the floor. She went to his room and he slept on the floor.

The community spirit was tremendous. Tremendous. The whole of the

north-east of Scotland, genuine people. It worked. People are ever

so grateful to you both. They really felt they would like to say thank

you: You opened up your hotel to myself and many, many others, and

showed us kindness and generosity for free. If it hadn't been for you,

I don't know where we would have been. Thank you so much for looking

after us that evening, everyone appreciated it. Thank you. The

hospitality and camaraderie and sense of community was amazing.

Thank you again. As you can see, we look forward to seeing you again.

APPLAUSE. That not only echoes your efforts but the efforts of everybody

we have met today. That's toughening.

And thank you to the people of Hebden Bridge for having us.

We'll be back in the studio tomorrow with Jack Black.

are four celebs readying to do battle for charity.

Don't they look great? From a distance!