York | Archive | 1999 | March | 15
From the Evening Press, first published Monday 15th Mar 1999.
A Ryedale businessman whose soft drinks factory was washed out by the River Derwent flood is pledging to put the fizz back into his firm.
Getting started: Pensioner Eric Monks cleaning up for his son in Welham Road, Norton. Picture by Nigel Holland
Soul-destroying: Old Malton resident Alison Beck fills a skip outside her home with debris in the aftermath of the floods. Picture by Paul Baker
Paul Tate-Smith is managing director of Tate-Smith Ltd, which employs 70 people at its Sundella soft drinks plant at Sheepfoot Hill, Malton.
Asked what damage the flooding had caused, he said: "It's disastrous, to be honest. It's certainly not one of the best situations that we have been in.
"We will come through it, but it's going to be a long, hard struggle."
Mr Tate-Smith said: "We had an average of about 21/2ft of water in our premises. In some places, it was up to 31/2ft.
"We were surrounded by a lake. It was just unbelievable."
He said the 111-year-old family firm had been on its present site since 1969. "We have never had anything like this in Malton in that time."
Mr Tate-Smith recalled how, during previous floods, the factory had been spared. "It has been lapping at the fence at the back and at the back door, but that was it."
He said: "I had no idea that it was going to rise as high as it did this time.
"People have said to me 'did you get a warning?' But I will not blame anyone, because I don't think anyone could have predicted the levels it would have risen to."
As soon as the water started to recede, the task of trying to restore telephone lines and computer links in upstairs offices got under way.
Mr Tate-Smith said the company's depot in Huntington Road, York, where a further five people work, had started to run desperately short of stock.
So staff were called in to salvage as many bottles and barrels as possible in order to supply the depot.
"But things had fallen around in the warehouse, and it was just a complete, horrendous mess."
Mr Tate-Smith said his production manager quickly decided it would be necessary to remove motors from machinery and have them professionally dried before they could resume production of soft drinks.
"We definitely won't be starting anything until we are 100 per cent certain that it's all right."
He said the flood had ruined a carpet laid only three weeks earlier in the downstairs offices.
"It was a scene of devastation like I have never seen before and, hopefully, I'll never see anything like it again."
Mr Tate-Smith added: "At the end of the day, I employ 75 people. We're not going to go under, but it's going to be a struggle I tell you. We have been here since 1888 and we intend to stay."
Clean-up under way
Couple face £10,000 damage repair bill
by Caroline Barrett
The force of the flooding disaster hit home today as householders and businesses began picking up the pieces.
Skips piled high with household items and treasured possessions lined the streets of Malton and Norton as the huge clean-up operation got into full swing.
Residents who were forced to flee their homes when the River Derwent burst its banks were able to return to their homes at the weekend to face the devastation.
Old Malton residents Alison and David Beck had just finished 18 months of work on their new home when the floods "literally poured in".
They watched it from the fifth step of their stairs - it was the only way they could keep dry. The water was at the top of the skirting when they left the house early last Sunday. When they returned several hours later it had reached the top of their stone fire place.
"It was absolutely soul-destroying," said Mr Beck, who has been told that it will cost in excess of £10,000 to repair the damage.
"The smell in the bathroom was appalling, it poured out of the toilet and then in to the back garden.
"It was the most bizarre thing to stand in my lounge with water round the top of my legs watching boats sail past the window."
The couple, who have had to throw away most of their lounge furniture, have nothing but praise for the insurance companies, industrial cleaners and sandbag distributors. Their only problem is that they say they were given no warning - even when the water began gushing on to the road outside their home.
In Norton, residents were collecting clean-up packs including mops, brushes and disinfectant, from special information points in the town.
All roads in the towns of Malton and Norton were reopened on Saturday except Howsham Bridge, and teams of insurance experts moved in to assess the damage as British Telecom engineers began reconnecting telephone lines.
Further downstream, some roads at Stamford Bridge and Elvington were still closed today, but council officials said the situation was being assessed and they could possibly open later today.
Meanwhile, Ryedale's water baby is to be named Miranda, after Prospero's island-bound daughter in Shakespeare's play The Tempest.
The name, meaning admirable and lovely, was invented by the Bard especially for her character.
Estelle, the original favourite of Jane Hartley and husband Geoff Hutchinson, of Appleton-le-Moors, near Kirkbymoorside, will be retained as a middle name and Miranda will also have both her parents' surnames.
Miranda Estelle Hutchinson Hartley was born after a mad dash across the county to find a clear road to Malton Hospital through the floods. Royal Supplement
Don't miss the Royal souvenir issue of our superb supplement, Great Floods of 1999 on sale from early tomorrow, March 16, it will contain pictures of today's visit by the Duke of York to the flood-hit areas in Malton, Norton and Stamford Bridge.
Costing 30p, it will be available, along with the original supplement, from shops, our main reception in Walmgate, York, and our branch offices in Malton and Selby. It will also be available by post in the UK for an extra 35p. To order a copy or for further details for international readers, contact us.
Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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