A pet shop used bags of bags of cat litter as makeshift sandbags when floodwater flowed into the shop.
A warehouse at the rear of Cookes Pet Supplies in Rotherham and the store were both flooded in the severe flooding that hit Yorkshire and the Midlands on Thursday last week.
Simon Lewis-Dale, head of business development, said: “The store itself also flooded, but an amazing effort by the team saw the shop re-open on Friday morning after a good mopping out and clean-up first thing in the morning after the water subsided.”
Cookes Pet Supplies has stores in Sheffield, Rotherham and Barnsley, and both its Sheffield and Rotherham shops shut early on Thursday evening so staff could get home safely.
Simon added: “While the Sheffield store wasn’t affected by flood water, the roads were very bad.
“We are keeping a very close eye on the weather for the coming days as it does look possible it could happen again.”
Pets at Home in Rotherham was forced to shut for three days due to flooding instore, but re-opened on November 11.
AMAZING
Staff had to squash rumours that livestock had died in the floods, and reiterated on its Facebook page that all animals were safe and unharmed.
A post on its Facebook site said: “Our amazing colleagues fought through the water to ensure all of our pets were safe and cared for during the flooding.
“We would like to assure everyone that all our pets at our Rotherham store are safe and being cared for with the help of our amazing colleagues, who are being supported by the fire service.
“All our procedures to deal with a situation like this were followed and it has been a great team effort by everyone involved.”
A woman was swept to her death by a flooded river near Matlock, and more than 1,000 homes have been evacuated. Train services across the region have been cancelled and many parts of Fishlake, Doncaster, remain a metre (3ft) under water. The River Derwent has swelled to record levels of 3.35m (11ft).
The River Don, which flows through Sheffield, Rotherham and Doncaster, also broke records at 6.3m (21ft), higher than it was in 2007 when it also flooded.
