On November 8, Pam Webb worked a usual day at Truffle Lodge, her spa business in the Yorkshire village of Fishlake, near the River Don. Floods were expected nearby, but an email from the UK’s Environment Agency told her that Fishlake was safe.
The agency was wrong. At 9.30pm the water started pouring into the business and Ms Webb’s home next door. “It came in the front and back, it came up through the flooring in every single ground floor room,” she says. “It’s heartbreaking seeing your home and business going in such a small amount of time.”
The flood caused tens of thousands of pounds in damage and forced the spa to close for nine weeks. Adding to the trauma, says Ms Webb, flooding had been excluded from her insurance policies about a year earlier, so she has had to pick up the entire cost.