Floods hit hospital

Water poured off the fields at the back of Westbury Hospital on Sunday night, forcing staff to evacuate the patients in Catherine ward.

Patients spent the night in the day room.

Within an hour of flood waters bursting into the hospital nurses, maintenance and domestic staff, who had been called in to work, were helping the fire brigade pump excess water out of the building.

Patients returned to the ward the following morning, after a major mopping up and cleaning operation.

Hospital spokesman Annemarie Carlen said maintenance staff were looking at ways to prevent flooding happening in the future. "We will be looking at the immediate and long term future. This has never happened before and we want to make sure it does not happen again," she said.

She said everyone had acted very quickly to make sure disruption was kept to a minimum.

Fire crews also pumped out homes in Broughton Gifford, Steeple Ashton, Southwick, Corsham, Chippenham and Box.

Brigade spokesman Val Hampshire said: "Between 6pm on Sunday and midnight the brigade received 50 calls from flooded Wiltshire people. We were busy through until Monday morning but the water has definitely receded now."

In Bradford on Avon, the worst hit town in west Wiltshire, the mopping up continues and it could still be weeks before the town businesses are dry.

The chamber of commerce meets next week and the flooding issue and flood defence will be on the agenda.

Alison Abbott, of Quire, said the events had been heart-breaking and despite a massive clean-up operation businesses still feared there was more to come.

She said: "We are still waiting to see if the river is going to come up again. We are gradually getting stock back in. If we have got what people want we are serving from the door but our stuff is all over the place."

"People have been incredibly kind and we have had customers put their heads around the door to see if there is anything they can do."

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