Businesses in North Derbyshire trying to 'come to terms' with the damage from Storm Babet
It's been exactly a week now since heavy rainfall led to flooding across Chesterfield
The clean-up operation across parts of South Yorkshire & North Derbyshire is continuing today - exactly a week on from the 'catastrophic impact' of Storm Babet.
Hundreds of people have been forced to leave their homes - while many business premises have also been ruined by damage from flood water.
Janine Mannion-Jones' pottery business in Chesterfield has been badly affected - She's been washing down items from her shop in a desperate bid to save whatever she can:
"All the electrical stuff has probably gone. It's devastating, all we can do is try to carry on and keep our heads up.
"Because I haven't got insurance, I can't do anything about the walls and the plaster on the walls. I just can't afford to re-do all that.
"So, everything is just going to have to get washed down properly and really cleaned.
"The stuff in the shop is filthy from the flood water.
"It's extremely disappointing that flood defences in the town don't seem to have improved since 2007 - when it last flooded badly here.
"This could've been halted or slowed down and we wouldn't be having this problem again, but it's happened again, and it'll only get worse."
In response, a spokesperson for the Environment Agency told us:
“Following persistent, heavy rain from Storm Babet, we have seen severe impacts across the country including in the Chesterfield area.
“We know the devastating impact that flooding can have, which is why protecting people and communities is our top priority.
“There has been significant flood defence investment in and around Chesterfield. We contributed £2.9 million and partnered with the Homes & Communities Agency to deliver the Avenue Flood Balancing Reservoir, designed to reduce flooding and protect homes along the River Rother.
“An innovative new flood management project designed to reduce flood risk in Chesterfield through natural defences has recently been completed at Grassmoor Country Park and we delivered two property level protection projects in Brampton & Hollis Lane in 2016 in partnership with Chesterfield Council, along with a £567, 000 project to protect 93 properties in St Augustine’s Road completed in 2019”.