FARMERS and businesses have been left counting the cost of flood damage after the River Wharfe burst its banks at the weekend.

Silage crops were swamped, animals were stranded, six houses were flooded and pleasure boats at Otley up-anchored and were swept downstream.

Red flood warnings were in place on Saturday morning at Otley and at Pool-in-Wharfedale after up to 65mm of water fell in 24 hours.

At Castley, six homes were flooded including the house in Castley Lane where Clifford Richard Greenwood, 67, drowned in floodwaters five years ago.

Mr Greenwood died after falling off the deckchair where he was sitting in his living room into the floodwaters. His family had repeatedly asked him to leave the house.

His son, Mick Greenwood, of Wharfedale Garden Farm, also in Castley Lane, said he had delayed cutting silage because it had started to rain.

"We were going to cut it on Friday but put it off. It's a good job we did because we would've lost the lot. Now the fields are flooded and we've got to let them dry off before we can cut it," said Mr Greenwood.

Mr Greenwood criticised the Environment Agency for leaving it until 7.30am to issue an amber warning.

"The water came up very fast, by the time the environment agency rang at 7.30 it was way up, we could see then that it was going to be bad," he said.

In 1991 the National Rivers Authority proposed a £300,000 barrier scheme for the area but it was scrapped following overwhelming public opposition.

But Mr Greenwood said a flood barrier was essential since the river was now flooding more than it ever did.

"Years ago when they were talking about putting in a flood bank it didn't flood much but now things have altered up in the Dales and since then we've had four floods this year.

"The problem is all the sewage comes into the houses, its just not hygenic," said Mr Greenwood.

His neighbour Tom Grange keeps pigs in Warren Lane. Out of 50 pigs eight drowned when the floodwaters rose rapidly, flooding the farm buildings.

"The water came up very quickly, a lot quicker than you'd expect even in the winter. I've had those buildings for 20 odd years and it takes a lot for them to get flooded and it was a yard deep," said Mr Grange.

He put the unusually high level of the water down to the fact there was no wind to drive the water over towards Castley.

In Otley, residents of Bridge Avenue were woken at around 5am by police officers warning them that their properties were liable to flood.

Although their houses escaped the flood waters, the overflow gully in front of the terrace was full of water for most of the day and the Bridge End cattle market site was under several inches of water - causing the weekly car boot sale to be cancelled.

Garnett's paper mill weir disappeared under the flow of water, the children's playground in Wharfemeadows Park was flooded and Parkgate Stores did a roaring trade with sightseers taking pictures and videos of the roaring river.

David Asquith, owner of Wharfedale Boats, lost six pedal operated boats and a rowing boat. The boats, all anchored by Otley Bridge, were swept away by the river and over the weir at just after 6am on Saturday morning.

"I've lost all six pedaloes and a rowing boat, its about a third of the whole fleet. All the pedaloes were tied together and must have got over the weir but how they managed to negotiate Pool Bridge is anyone's guess," said Mr Asquith.

Five years ago, when the river was last as high, Mr Asquith lost a power boat and a rowing boat. The power boat made it to the bottom of the weir but the rowing boat got all the way to Tadcaster - still in one piece.

But this time despite calls to the police at Wetherby and Tadcaster, Mr Asquith was no closer to recovering his boats.

"The trouble is, if they went over the weir and got full of water they could've sunk. They could be anywhere," added Mr Asquith.

A spokeswoman for the Environment Agency said sudden storms on Friday and Saturday had added to two weeks of steady rain.

"The ground was already saturated after the last two weeks. There were heavy storms on Friday and Saturday and there was nowhere for the water to go."

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