By Andy Hirst

A Huddersfield landlady who organises some of the town’s best-known events has spoken of her terror as floodwater cascaded into her pub.

Sam Watt says she doesn’t know when her pub, The Star on Albert Street in Folly Hall, can open again after it was severely damaged by the flood which filled her cellars to the ceilings, wrecked all her stock and lifted the wooden floor in the landmark hostelry.

And she revealed she now has nightmares where she can see and hear the water pouring in.

Torrential rain had caused the nearby River Holme to flood over Queens Mill Road in February and drains simply couldn’t cope with the enormous amount of water that also came round into Albert Street.

Sam, who organises Huddersfield Food and Drink Festival and Huddersfield Winter Festival, said: “I could hear the water pouring into the cellars and went down to have a look. It was coming into one of the smaller cellars from the road outside with such force it threw me across the room.

“The other side of the cellar has a door on the same side as the river and the force of the water simply smashed it in.”

Sam managed to flee upstairs as the water quickly rose to the cellar ceiling and ended up being around three inches deep in the pub itself. Sam thinks a lot of the water came in through air grates set into the pub walls.

Outside it had become so deep on Queens Mill Lane and Albert Street that she had to wade through it to safety with the water as high as her waist

Sam is also facing a battle over her insurance, which was changed recently, after finding her policy doesn’t cover flooding.

Many regulars have helped in the clear-up and anyone who can offer their services can contact Sam through the pub’s Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/thestarinnfollyhall/

The pub is in the Newsome ward on Kirklees Council and Green Clr Andrew Cooper is investigating when the drains in the area were last cleared as many were fully or partially clogged with grit, sand and debris.

Sam said: “The pub may have been OK if the water had been able to go down the drains. It normally does go down them on the rare occasions the river overflows but the drains were either clogged or couldn’t cope which sent the water into the pub. Firefighters came down to help and said they’d never seen anything like it.

“We had gone from a rainy day to being flooded out in just 90 minutes. It was so scary. The power of water is unbelievable and we didn’t stand a chance.”

It ruined all Sam’s stock in the cellar and the pub will need major renovation work, including a new boiler and rewiring.

“I dread to think how much we have lost and how much all this will cost to repair,” said Sam. “Some days I just cry. I keep having nightmares – I can hear and see the water.”

Clr Cooper said there are several places in the Newsome ward with serious flood risks, including parts of Armitage Bridge.

He added: “During the bad weather in February I tried to get some sandbags from Kirklees Highways but everything was so hectic they said to let them know when flooding was imminent but by then it would have been too late.”

Clr Cooper then discovered an award-winning ‘sandless’ sandbag called FloodSax (http://www.floodsax.co.uk/) made by Huddersfield company Environmental Defence Systems Ltd. They resemble large pillowcases in their dry state but once immersed in water absorb up to 20 litres to become instant sandbags but without the sand. They cause far less mess than sandbags, are largely biodegradable and almost three million have been sold worldwide.

After hearing about the problems in the Newsome ward, EDS donated packs of FloodSax to Clr Cooper.

He said: “It means we can get them distributed quickly to people who need them most in an emergency.”

* Written by ANDY HIRST who runs his own Yorkshire freelance journalism agency AH! PR (https://ah-pr.com/) specialising in press releases, blogging and copywriting. Copyright Andy Hirst.