2:18pm Thursday 30th August 2007
JUST six weeks after the most disastrous floods in living memory, Evesham people are celebrating.
Homes and businesses in both Evesham and Pershore were awash when the River Avon broke its banks on Friday July 20, following sustained torrential rain.
Last weekend, two hugely successful events, the Pershore Plum Fayre and the Evesham Angling Festival, showed that despite such adversity, communities had bounced back.
Evesham town centre manager, Lew Hammond said: "The Angling Festival was a tremendous success with 40,000 visitors from all over the country attending. We are now planning to commemorate the floods with a service of thanksgiving linked with a 999 community safety day on September 22.
"All the emergency services will be represented after doing such a wonderful job rescuing people from the floods, and there will be activities for children."
Pershore's town centre manager, Hilary Philpott reported a similar success story. She said: "The plum festival was a great event to celebrate the town's recovery. People came from all over the country to enjoy the day."
She added volunteers embarked on a special river bank clear-up on the Saturday before the event, to make sure the town looked as normal' as possible.
She added: "We weren't hit quite so badly as Evesham but even so, many people are still homeless.
"Businesses might not have looked too bad from the outside, but there was a lot of cellar flooding, and the main road closing at Cropthorne made it feel like we were living in a cul-de-sac."
Mr Hammond said that it took five years for Evesham to recover from the last floods in 1998 but, because of the subsequent huge regeneration programme, recovery was going ahead more quickly this time.
He said: "The damage was ten times worse this time. Riverside looked like a battle zone with caravans and boats having to be hauled out of the river and fridges and freezes littering the banks.
"This time we are reaping the benefits of the new infrastructure around the area which withstood the floods. "
The owner of a hairdressing business in Waterside is looking forward to re-opening in October.
Tina Young, of Innovations, said: "We were five and a half feet under water. The ground floor had to be stripped down to the bare bricks and the concrete floor."
She said the electrics are going to be mounted higher on the wall and floor tiles are to be laid on the floor to withstand any more flooding.
Tina is continuing her business from her Evesham home until it opens again.
Euro MP for the Vale Liz Lynne welcomed the news that the Government had applied for a grant to help with long term recovery. She said: " I am assured by the Commission that it will be looked at favourably and I hope that it will be processed quickly."
So far the damage nationwide is £2.7 billion and rising, according to the minister in charge of the recovery operation John Healey. The Association of British Insurers has put the cost at £3 billion.
It is believed that, if granted, the funding could be between £62 and £125 million. A decision is not expected until next year.
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