A LANDLORD and landlady today told of the battle to prevent their pub being ruined by flood water.

Tony and Pauline Wignall, of the Higher Buck Inn, off West Bradford Road, Waddington, suffered severe flood damage when surface water from the fell poured into the pub at 4pm on Wednesday.

A number of houses at the bottom of the village also suffered flooding.

Mr Wignall, 50, said that had Ribble Valley Council responded when they first rang for help, the damage caused by 10 inches of water in the pub would have been much less.

Landlady Pauline said: "The water was getting worse and worse, so I phoned 999.

"The help I got after that was unbelievable.

"The guidance I got, and care, was excellent.

"When the fire department rang the council they then couldn't do enough to help, but that was two hours later."

The pub finally had sandbags from the council at approximately 6.30pm, after the first call at 4pm.

The couple and staff spent most of Wednesday night clearing up the mess.

Mr Wignall said: "I could not estimate how much damage it has caused.

"We have ripped the carpet up. It's a mess.

"There is no electricity, the water has got into the bar fridges, and probably the dishwasher.

"If the sandbags were there from the start, it would have prevented a lot of damage.

"We don't know how long it will be until we re-open."

John Heap, director of commercial services for Ribble Valley Council, said: "Our policy is to help where we can.

"On Wednesday afternoon all our resources normally devoted to this -- who would have been shovelling sand into sandbags -- were at the Royal Lancashire Show, putting straw down and helping vehicles get off the showground.

"But, with the best will in the world, we can't be in two places at once.

"It is a credit to the guys that they finished at Salesbury and went to help these other people.

"But with the rain that fell on Wednesday afternoon, even if we had everyone available we could not have dealt with every problem that arose," he added.