RESCUERS from Teesside RSPCA have spoken of their life-saving efforts in helping residents in the flood-stricken south.
Chief Inspector Justin Lemesurier, left, and Inspector Mark Gent, right, who are both based at Great Ayton, were stationed at Gloucester and Oxford.
They combined their expertise with emergency services in the battle to save people and animals from drowning.
Insp Gent, 28, who has worked for the charity for seven years, spent the first three days in Gloucester. He said: “We went to provide assistance to the fire service where we helped to rescue people and their pets.
“It was the first time I had ever done anything like it.
“Our main aim was to help in the rescue and we started by distributing water to the people in Gloucester which was being shipped in from other areas.�
He said rescuers had come from all over the country and that television footage did not fully capture the mammoth extent of the operation:
“When you see the floods on TV you don’t appreciate the scale.
“There were massive fields covered by water, and I saw a tractor covered up to its roof.
“That’s when it hit home and I realised the devastation and the strength of the current which in some places was really strong and up to the windows on houses.
“It was devastating for residents who had lived through it - their houses were absolutely wrecked.�
The pair responded to emergency calls where animals had been abandoned or left stranded in the wake of the disaster.
They helped farmers get animals to safety and rescued two cats stuck in a stable, and also transported a blind black flat-coated retriever whose elderly owner asked to be sent to family friends for safety.
They spent two days in Oxford town centre where a wall of water had annihilated many areas, forcing evacuated residents to take shelter in community centres.
“We had to go up the Thames and encourage people off the longboats which they were living on,� said Insp Gent.
“There were concerns that due to the current and the swell of water, the narrowboats could break free of their moorings and come crashing towards other boats down river and people would have been killed.
“Although it was a worthwhile experience rescuing people and animals, the floods devastated homes and lives.
“I just hope a disaster like this doesn’t happen again.�
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