CREDITON was turned into a virtual island by floodwater for a second time within days when all roads in and out of the town were virtually or totally impassable.

The first occasion on Wednesday, November 21, as reported in the Crediton Courier on November 23, saw the A377 closed at Cowley and Downes Mill for a short time, the A3072 closed or "passable with care"

in many locations. Many villages were also cut off due to flooded roads.

The evening of Saturday, November 22 wrought havoc and the heavy rainfall and subsequent flooding saw many people in the area stranded due to closed roads or affected as rivers burst their banks.

The A377 at Downes Mill was reported to be four feet deep at one stage and between the Shell Garage and the Tesco roundabout the water was more than four inches deep with water flooding over the pavements and into the Tesco car park and filling station. Tesco closed the filling station as a result.

There were landslips, notably at Downeshead Lane, where tons of earth and a hedge slipped into the road. The public footpath was also completely closed in the same area.

Many motorists became stuck trying to make their way along flooded roads and cars were abandoned in some instances.

Crediton firefighters rescued one motorist from a car stuck in floodwater near the Beer Engine, Newton St Cyres, at 11.30pm on November 22.

Firefighters also rescued nine motorists from vehicles in floodwater at Cowley at about 5.30am on November 23.

Fordton suffered from some of the worst flooding it has seen for many years but sandbags delivered at 11pm on the Saturday evening by Devon County Council prevented two houses from being flooded.

At Sandford, the removal of a hedge next to the bridge at the bottom of the village to enable access to the Millennium Green proved, as some people had warned prior to its removal, that it could cause a flooding problem.

Floodwater closed the road for a period during the evening to all except

4x4 vehicles when the water became so deep but it had gone down sufficiently to enable those attending the "Lurv Handles" dance to make their way home.

Local residents erected their own barrier which stopped much of the floodwater coming from the Millennium Green affecting the road and local properties.

Lapford Mill was flooded and Yeoford cut off. A Range Rover, as pictured on page one of this issue, ended up in a river near Shobrooke and a craft fair at Bickleigh Castle was among local events cancelled.

A tree came down on the A3072 between Bow and Clannaborough, closing the road for many hours.

Daniel Webb of the Crediton Coffee Company, a member of the Devon and Cornwall 4x4 Response group, assisted with the rescue of many people stranded in floodwater locally.

Fire crews in Devon and Somerset attended 51 incidents involving vehicles stuck in floodwater in just 24 hours alone.

Crews were called to 550 incidents in total on the Saturday and in seven days attended more than 1,000 incidents.

South West Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust crews were praised for their efforts during the bad weather. They attended thousands of incidents and locally, were supported by the Co-Responder crews from Crediton Fire Station because at the height of the flooding, ambulances were unable to reach the town.

The Tarka Line was already out of action for repairs to take place due to repair work.

Many bus transport services were stopped or delayed and it was not until Monday that services returned to normal, although some villages did not have a service until some days later.

Some businesses and banks were closed due to staff unable to make it to work.

People living across the South West can keep up-to-date with the latest flood warnings on the Environment Agency website, or sign up to free flood warnings which are sent automatically via text, phone or email at http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homeandleisure/floods/38289.aspx">http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homeandleisure/floods/38289.aspx.

and you can follow the Environment Agency on Twitter at @EnvAgencySW Met Office weather forecasts and warnings can be found at http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/">http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/ and you can follow the Met Office on Twitter at @metoffice and Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/metoffice">http://www.facebook.com/metoffice .

Alan Quick