Deluged

A major emergency operation has been ongoing since four inches of rain - thought to be a record - fell in one day.

On Monday, Witney was still a town cut in two with the closure of Bridge Street, while the centre of emergency efforts switched to the villages of Standlake and Northmoor.

Bablockhythe was also hit where more than 100 holiday homes and caravans were threatened with being swamped with flood water on the Thames.

A spokesman for West Oxfordshire District Council, which is co-ordinating the emergency effort, said everyone at Bablockhythe had been advised to leave.

Reception and rest centres were set up to accommodate victims at Elmfield council offices, in Witney, Eynsham Hall, at North Leigh, the village and church hall at Long Hanborough and Kassam Stadium, in Oxford.

Barry Norton, district council leader, said: "Hundreds, if not thousands, of homes have been hit, and there may be some in isolated communities that we do not know about.

"The floods first hit places along the Windrush and Evenlode and many roads became impassable because the water was coming over the bridges. Now it has switched to our communities close to the Thames.

"We have since Friday dished out 20,000 sandbags and that operation continues, even though our council depot in Station Lane, Witney, was flooded early and was out of action."

Hanson's Quarry at Linch Hill, Stanton Harcourt, stepped in to fill the breach with emergency sandbags.

In Witney, the waters had receded in Bridge Street, but the road was still closed because engineers were unable to declared it as safe for traffic until further inspections later this week.

Properties in Bridge Street had water running through their ground floors, and people were still living upstairs.

Environmental health teams will later this week start checking to see whether downstairs rooms are safe to live in. Elderly people at several nursing homes - the Old Prebendal at Shipton-under-Wychwood, Mill House in Bridge Street, Witney, and Meadow View at Standlake - have been evacuated using a fleet of ambulances, some brought in from Berkshire.

Animals were also in danger, including more than 60 dogs at a boarding kennels in Bampton. The RSPCA were called in to help rescue the dogs, including 40 greyhounds, on Friday evening, when the nearby river burst its banks.

Disaster hit Charlbury Cricket Club when the Evenlode flooded surrounding fields, submerging the pavilion and playing surfaces.

Minster Lovell's cricket club was similarly hit. Mr Norton said: "Our emergency team has been working flat-out since Friday. The police and fire brigade have been tremendous.

"But it is not over yet by a long way."

The latest update on the district on Monday lunchtime was: * Flooding in Standlake, Northmoor, Eynsham and around Bablockhythearea * Much of Clanfield flooded, with Black Bourton, Alvescot, Kelmscott, Broadwell and Little Faringdon also hit * Road bridges still closed at Burford, Charlbury, Shipton-under-Wychwood and Finstock.

People are advised, if they need advice on flooding, to call 01993 861000, or after 5pm on 01993 705056.