South Yorkshire floods: ten years on

A plaque's been unveiled on the banks of the River Don to mark ten years since the devastating flooding in South Yorkshire.

Hundreds were forced out of their homes back in 2007, as torrential rain swept across already saturated ground in Sheffield and other areas of the county.

More than 5,000 homes were flooded and two people lost their lives.

Michael Williams is from Kelham Island Brewery in Sheffield, which was under several feet of water back in 2007:

"It was just a scene of devastation everywhere - muck, mess oil - all kinds of stuff that'd come down the river. Our van had floated a little bit down the road."

"It was a complete disaster. I think we chucked something like fifty thousand pints of beer away - it was a lot of beer!"

"We look out for the flood warnings all the time. A couple of months back the river looked like it was getting quite high, so it's always in the back of your mind that it might happen again."

Council officials have unveiled a memorial plaque in the riverside park on Nursery Street to mark the anniversary.

The park's part of the flood prevention scheme on the River Don to prevent future flooding.

Jackie Drayton's from Sheffield City Council:

"What we've tried to do here is we've tried to defend the businesses, defend the homes near the water but at the same time open the water up so people can enjoy it. But we must never forget the power of water as well."

Since the floods of 2007, £28 million has been invested in flood defences in South Yorkshire to make try and make sure it doesn't happen again.

James Mead, from the Environment Agency in South Yorkshire, told Hallam they've been working on a number of projects:

"Some of those were repairs, some of those are new schemes. A notable scheme in Sheffield is the Lower Don Valley scheme which runs from the city centre out to Meadowhall, and is under construction now.

"It was quite a combination of events that led to the severity of it. We hope we don't experience that level of flooding too often, but you can never be sure with these things and we do need to be resilient and plan for these things."

In the aftermath of the floods, Hallam worked with the South Yorkshire Community Foundation to raise £1.6 million to help those who were affected.

Over 4000 separate payments were made to more than 2000 households.

Phillip Willbourne's business on the banks of the River Don was submerged - he says it cost his company thousands of pounds:

"The flood doesn't come in like a gushing torrent - it seeps across the floor. You think you can deal with it but actually you can't. it just came in and filled up. We had a metro of water - filthy water.

"Whilst at the time there was a lot of energy and a lot of adrenaline because it's happening to you, afterwards there's an anger phase - why was this allowed to happen? It must not be allowed to happen again.

"We're still feeling the effects of that day with higher insurance premiums - businesses are still getting loaded insurance premiums because of the past. Insurance is becoming harder to obtain across the country and where there have been flood events in the past, insurers get very nervous because they don't look beyond data."

• South Yorkshire
• floods
• sheffield