County swamped in flooding chaos

Water has been gushing down village streets

Heavy flooding caused chaos in towns and villages across Lancashire on Friday, forcing a school to close and making some roads impassable.

Residents at Galgate in north Lancashire and at Bolton-by-Bowland in the Ribble Valley have been mopping up after water flooded into their homes.

Fisher More High School in Colne was closed, and is due to reopen on Monday.

A car got stuck in 4ft of water near the Spread Eagle Pub at Sawley in the Ribble Valley.

Firefighters are pumping away thousands of tonnes of water after the River Condor burst its banks in Galgate with the area around Salford Road hardest hit.

"We're trying to make the properties safe and a bit more habitable.

"We've spent around two hours moving thousands of tonnes back into the river further down stream," said assistant divisional fire officer Alan Walker.

"The residents have been absolutely fantastic. There have been young children assisting, the elderly assisting because it is their village, they are really controlling the mop up."

In Waddington, water was gushing down the main street.

"It's been a sickener," said John Ashworth, who restores cars.

"We've had two Aston Martins with three foot of water in them.

"All the interior is wrecked and the engine is flooded causing thousands of pounds worth of damage."

Flooded street

At Bolton-by-Bowland flooding affected properties all along the high street.

"We were all flooded," said sub-post mistress Angela Smith.

"The main street seems to go down in a dip, residents higher up out of the actual way were not affected."

In Colne, the caretaker at Fisher More RC High School discovered several inches of water in the building when he opened up at 0615 BST.

"It's been disastrous for us, it's such a busy time of year," said headteacher Brendan Convoy.