A timber merchant has had about 100 tonnes of wood washed away from his yard.

Richard Abbey, who has run Shipley Timber at Baildon Bridge for 15 years, arrived for work to find all his stock had been swept away by the force of the floods.

Packs of pine and reclaimed timber, which had stood 12ft high, had sailed off into the River Aire when torrents of water gushed through the business early yesterday.

Mr Abbey, 44, who estimates the cost of the damage at £150,000, described the scene as one of "total devastation".

"All the stock outside, the equivalent to six articulated wagon loads of timber, has gone," said Mr Abbey, pictured. "It was just a bare, empty yard with not a scrap of timber in it."

Inside the adjoining mill, woodwork and equipment was ruined after being submerged in water up to 6ft high.

Mr Abbey, of Guiseley, also lost specialist timber which had been brought in to supply a Hartlepool firm which is currently refitting a 15th century warship.

"Even if it is recovered out of the river it will be no use because it will be waterlogged," he said.

He is keeping his six full-time members of staff on standby for the big clear-up and vows to get his livelihood running again for the new year. He does not yet know if insurance will cover the cost of the lost materials.

"We are out of business at the moment but we will be fighting our way back. All the timber is gone but we will be restocking over the next couple of months and hopefully we will be back up and running at full capacity by early January," said Mr Abbey.

"It is obviously a worrying time but I am one of those people who will get on and build it back up. I realise a lot of people are a lot worse off than me."