Norfolk’s fire and rescue team continues to provide help to those affected by serious flooding
The Norfolk team helping tackle flooding in York. Picture: John Linden, from NorfolkFire and Rescue Service - Credit: Archant
Norfolk's fire and rescue service is continuing to deliver aid to the vulnerable in the aftermath of serious flooding in northern England.
Members of the frontline crew have been using boats to take nurses and carers, carrying essential medical supplies, to those still in their homes after some of the worst flooding ever seen in the region.
Norfolk's Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) team has been on red alert since the team of eight was sent on Boxing Day to assist with the response to the floods – firstly in Leeds, where 1,000 homes were flooded, and then York, where hundreds of homes were evacuated.
Bob Ayers, a tactical flood adviser from the fire service, described the scenes in the north as 'chaos'.
'We have been assisting nurses and carers to get into the flood-hit areas,' the 49-year-old said.
'There are still an awful lot of people left out there vulnerable and stuck in their houses.
'Carers get to the end of the road and are met by a road closure. We take them in our boats to the property and then deliver them back out.
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'People want to stay in their own homes, so if we can take what they need to them, it makes things a lot easier.'
Economic losses caused by the flooding could top £1.5bn, experts believe, with insurers expected to shoulder the bulk of the burden.
Teams from Aviva are on the ground in Yorkshire and Lancashire to meet customers who have been flooded and help them in the recovery process once the waters subside.
Their customers are covered for flood and storm damage, but the flood-hit area's premiums are expected to be affected by the damage.
Nearly 30 severe flood warnings, meaning danger to life, were in place for the north-east and north-west during the worst of the disaster.
