More than 40,000 sandbags handed out as Doncaster braces itself for heavy flooding

Villagers across town are nervously keeping an eye on the weather with heavy rain forecast during Storm Christoph which has put Doncaster on major incident alert.

Flood warnings are in place across the town and Doncaster Council workers have spent the last few days helping residents to shore up their homes with sandbags and other flood defence measures.

The River Don, River Idle, River Went and River Dearne are all on flood alert this morning – with people living in Bawtry, Bentley, Conisborough, Clay Lane, Fishlake, Intake, Mexborough, Scawthorpe, Tickhill and Wadworth among those told to prepare for the worst.

Doncaster Council Chief Executive Damian Allen has been out with teams monitoring water levels at Boat Lane in Sprotbrough, Fishlake and Denaby amongst other places.

He has also visited businesses including Willow Bridge Caravan Park, to speak to site managers and check that preparations are in place.

A spokesman said: “Homes that were flooded in either 2007 or 2019 have been visited and given sandbags – our dedicated team has been working round the clock to distribute around 40,000 sandbags in the last two days, having spent much of last week dealing with the snow.

More sandbags will be delivered, starting early on Wednesday but householders are being warned that sandbags aren’t available to collect at the council’s North Bridge depot.

Forstead Lane, between Barnby Dun and Arksey and Topham Ferry Lane at Sykehouse are already closed due to flooding.