Storm Bert: Father saves son from sinking car as flood causes disaster | UK News

Tragedy almost struck a family in West Yorkshire when a father had to suddenly rescue his 11-month-old son from a flooded car.

Andre Randles, 22, was driving with baby Luca from Hebden Bridge to his father’s home in Todmorden to watch a football match on Saturday afternoon.

He deviated from the main route when he hit a pothole and went “straight into a puddle”.

Speaking to Sky News’ Shingi Mararike, Mr Randles said he thought it was a shallow puddle that he could drive through, but soon his car began floating.

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He called emergency services but soon “water started seeping in”.

“I thought I had to get out, I had to break a window,” Mr. Randles said.

He closed his and his son’s windows and got out before rescuing his son.

“The water was chest deep, so I held him up as high as I could to keep him out of the water.”

“It wasn’t raining that hard, I drove in much worse rain,” he added.

Mr Randles, a self-employed roofer who relies on the car to get to work, said he remained calm throughout the ordeal and that it helped that Luca was asleep during the rescue.

Mr Randles’ partner Paige Newsome, who was not in the car at the time, said the incident was “really scary”.

“I don’t know how I would live if I thought I might lose both of them,” he said.

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The couple said the road has been flooded for at least two decades.

“What does it take for the council to resolve this issue? Does it take a fatal incident? This has been going on for years,” Ms Newsome said.

Besides celebrating Christmas, the couple is also worried about buying another car.

But Mr Randles said: “I’m grateful we got out safely and were able to spend his first birthday and Christmas as a family.”

The Met Office said Storm Bert brought more than 80% of November’s average monthly rainfall to some areas in less than 48 hours.

There are nearly 300 flood warnings and alerts in place in England, 100 in Wales and nine in Scotland as heavy rain and melting snow cause further disruption across the UK.

Rhondda Cynon Taf Borough Council in south Wales declared a major incident after homes and cars were submerged.

‘It is destructive’

Gareth Davies, who owns a garage in Pontypridd, a town in Rhondda Cynon Taf, told Sky News’ Dan Whitehead that the floods had “brought his small business back to square one”.

As the River Taff flooded, many of the vehicles in Mr Davis’ garage were so damaged that he says they will have to be written off.

“I’m gutted,” he said as he stood in his flooded garage, which was also largely covered in oil after a barrel overturned.

“How long will it take to fix this problem? I’m going to lose money either way. I can’t work on people’s cars while I’m trying to figure all this out.”

“Devastating.”

Mr Davies said he had never had any problems with water coming into his garage so far.

Pointing to a car that was lifted into the air before the water reached it, he said: “I’m lucky I came this morning just to lift that car into the air.

“I don’t know what to say, I’ve been working on and off for two years to create this and something like this happens and it ruins everything,” he said.

“This set me back to square one.”

Councilor Andrew Morgan, leader of Rhondda Cynon Taf District Council, said on Sunday that at least two to three hundred properties had been affected by flooding in South Wales.

He said the buildings affected were a mix of residential and commercial properties after the weather was worse than expected.