Firefighters from Brighouse used an engine-powered rescue boat to reach a party of nine people on a barge, threatened by rising water on a lock during flooding in Calderdale overnight.

The fire crew led the passengers from the barge and took them to a nearby farm.

The boat’s skipper raised the alarm when the water levels rose in the lock at Callis Bridge, Hebden Bridge, last night.

Watch Commander Kevin Ogden, of Brighouse fire station, said: “The water had risen to the top of the lock and there was a danger of it tipping the barge over in the lock. The only way to reach it was by boat, which we drove along the road because the water was so deep there.”

Bingley station’s powered boat was also called out to Mytholmroyd, but was not needed when they got there.

But a fire crew from Odsal in Bradford spent more than six hours pumping out water from the basement of an old persons home in Todmorden, so that 60 residents did not have to be evacuated. They also rescued people from cars and houses who were under threat.

More than a month's worth of rain has fallen in 24 hours. The centres of Hebden Bridge, Mytholmroyd and Todmorden are among the worst hit areas for flooding, firefighters said.

There have been no reports of major flooding in the Bradford district.

  • Flocks of sheep and herds of cattle huddled on dry patches as fields were flooded in the Aire Valley between Steeton and Skipton overnight. Swathes of land were underwater, though no homes are thought to have been affected.

Two women were rescued by firefighters from a car trapped in floodwater at Carleton, near Skipton, last night.

Police today said vehicles were abandoned in Heslaker Lane, Carleton, and the road between Carleton and Cononley was flooded with two feet of water.