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Fire service fights flooding in Hest Bank
Properties in Hest Bank Lane were flooded in 2008
Firefighters have pumped enough water to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool away from homes in Hest Bank after heavy rain.
Crews were called to Hest Bank Lane at 5pm on Sunday afternoon after flood waters began to threaten homes.
They used a high-volume pump, which pumps 10,000 litres of water every minute, to move the water into the Lancaster canal.
Watch manager Keith Armstrong of Chorley fire station, which operates the pump, said crews were in the village throughout Sunday night and would remain there on Monday morning.
He said: “There has been a historic problem with flooding in Hest Bank and...the flood plain there has become saturated with the heavy rainfall and it cannot hold any more water.
“When we arrived there were some cellars flooded but we managed to get in there and start pumping it away before it caused any real damage.”
A Hest Bank Lane resident, who did not wish to be named, said: “The water collected in a field on the west side of Hest Bank Lane has been reduced considerably now.
“Had they not pumped it, within about three hours it could well have been that properties became flooded.”
The Environment Agency also placed flood alerts on the upper Rivers Wyre, Calder and Brock between Abbeystead, near Lancaster and Catterall, and the Rivers Lune, Conder and Keer between Galgate, near Lancaster and Gressingham in the Trough of Bowland.
The West Coast Main Line between Lancaster and Carlisle, Cumbria was shut early Monday morning due to flooding on the line before reopening at 9am with delays of more than an hour.
According to the Met office just 1.8 inches of rain is needed to fall before December 31 to make this year the wettest on record for the UK overall, with a new record already set for England with 43.1 inches falling until Boxing Day.
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Weather for Lancaster
Wednesday 19 June 2013
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 11 C to 17 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Heavy rain
Temperature: 12 C to 17 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: South
