TORRENTIAL rain brought flooding to the Ribble Valley for the second time in a week as householders battled to keep water at bay.

Whalley was the worst-hit area and the main road through the village was turned into a river in the early hours of Sunday after a culvert became blocked.

King Street was under at least three feet of water and other towns and villages across the Ribble Valley were badly affected.

Police joined forces with Lancashire County Council and residents to help keep the water at bay.

Several homes and business in King Street fell victim to the floods and scores of motorists found themselves stranded.

Inspector Steve Baines, of Lancashire police, said: "Several areas were badly affected, including Whalley, Sabden, Padiham and Ribchester.

"We were warning drivers to take care on the roads and we received numerous calls from stranded motorists."

"The problems were caused mainly by the sheer volume of water coming down from the hills." Police say the floods had subsided by Sunday lunchtime and the roads were back to normal.

Simon Gorton returned from a night out to find water gushing into his home in King Street.

He woke his father Michael and the two battled for most of the night to stem the tide with sandbags.

Simon said: "We were really lucky because we caught it early.

"If I hadn't come home when I did the whole house could have been flooded.

"Thankfully the damage hasn't been too bad and we managed to stop the water getting into the rest of the house."

Marie Ireland, who owns a tea shop in King Street, was woken by her daughter Jane.

She said: "We have been up most of the night and we will have to throw the carpet away.

"We were worried that the water would get to the electrics and wreck everything.

"It is going to take a couple of days to clean everything up."

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