A TOWN was left under a foot and a half of water after flash floods ripped up roads.

Homes were damaged when water gushed through Todmorden on Monday.

A resident described the flood as causing ‘sheer devastation’ which led to a bridge collapsing at the bottom of Bacup Road and all roads in and out of Todmorden were closed.

The Environment Agency has had a flood alleviation scheme in Todmorden since 2005 and had been monitoring the situation.

Project manager Gordon Whitaker said: “Short bursts of intense rainfall caused the River Spodden to rise quickly. We have reports that around 20 properties and four commercial premises flooded as a result of the downpour.

“We are expecting the unsettled weather to continue this week and to minimise the risk from the flood, our teams are out clearing blockages from rivers.”

The flood happened just 12 months after David Cameron visited Todmorden to meet residents whose livelihoods were threatened by a destructive flood last year.

Shawforth in Rossendale was also affected by flash floods on Monday night and firefighters were called to six homes in Edgemoor Close which needed pumping out at around 5.45pm.

Jane Bamford, who works as a support worker at nearby residential home, Free Hold Cottage in Market Street, said: “It only started raining at about 5.20pm and within a few minutes, I saw water gushing down the road.

“I knew I was going to have to do something so I got the sandbags out and piled them at the door with a piece of laminate I found.

“There was loads of stones and gravel that had been washed down with it and I was trying to direct it away from the house with a snow shovel.

“The road is really damaged now but luckily, the house is fine.

“It all happened so suddenly, it just came out of nowhere.”

Elsewhere, Pioneer Health Studio in Bacup was hit by floods again on Monday after suffering more than £15,000 of damage in the early hours of Sunday.

Manager Tim Weir said: “It’s back to square one. Luckily, we were around on Monday though, so we could minimise the damage with sandbags. We had to get the fire service in though. We just couldn’t cope with the amount of water coming in through the building.

“There are some serious issues with the drainage that need fixing.

“We were assured last year, when we lost £210,000 through damage, that this wouldn’t happen again.”

In relation to the Bacup flooding, a spokesman for United Utilities said: “To the best of our information, the flooding was not anything to do with our pipes.

“We’ve not been down and investigated because we haven’t received any contact from the customer telling us about any issue.”