SHOP owners in Radcliffe were furious after last Friday's (June 14) freak rainstorm wrecked their businesses again.

Raw sewage swept through shops in Water Street, six years after traders first complained about the problem.

"I could smell it even before I got to my shop," said Robert Wilkinson, who owns a theatrical costume shop.

"The rain water was around 2ft deep on the road and I couldn't even get into the shop until it stopped. The water got inside and when it drained away everything was covered in sewage.

"I had to evacuate 1,000 costumes, which will cost me approximately £12,000 to have dry cleaned. The floor boards will have to come up and the shop disinfected."

Other shopkeepers suffered similar damage and one shopkeeper even found a frog when the waters subsided!

Miss Clare McNeil, of Sunrise Tanning Studio, said: "It was a nightmare. The shop stank. We had to rip the flooring and carpet up and will have to redecorate."

She added: "We've been closed since it happened and it will take at least a week to get everything sorted. In the meantime we've lost a lot of customers."

At Muffins Sandwiches at the bottom of Ainsworth Road Mrs Ann Gregory said the flood water was so high it went into the fridge.

"I even found a frog. Fortunately we don't have carpet but we had to clean up all the muck and filth and couldn't open on Saturday."

The latest sewage flood comes less than a year after the traders' plight was highlighted. Last August they suffered similar flood damage. On that occasion United Utilities awarded shopkeepers £375 each as a goodwill gesture.

Mr Wilkinson said: "United Utilities inspectors came down on Saturday morning and they were quite sympathetic, but unless something is done I can see me closing the business. We are going to end up in a situation where no-one will want to insure us."

A spokesman for United Utilities said: "The Victorian sewers cannot cope with a very high downpour. This is what happened on Friday when there was one month's rainfall in two hours."

He added: "Traders can apply for financial awards from our scheme again, but any payments are discretionary."