DARTON Post Office was flooded so badly that bosses do not know when they will be able to reopen it.

A spokesman for Royal Mail said the Church Street branch had suffered substantial damage and it was impossible to say how long it would take to repair.

She added that attempts were being made to try to find a temporary base elsewhere and apologised to customers for any inconvenience caused by an unavoidable situation.

Meanwhile Darton residents who battled to try to stop flood water gushing into their homes have complained sandbags supplied by the council arrived 14 hours too late.

Diane Taylor, of Mill Lane, said she received a flood warning at 5am on Friday but the bags only arrived at 7.30pm, after countless phone calls for help.

But she praised the camaraderie of her fellow villagers and said: “It was like being at sea and all hands on deck. Buckets, mops, brushes, water pumps — anything to bale us out.”

Executive director for the environment Geoff Birkett said: “Barnsley Council worked as quickly as possible in these extraordinary circumstances and got sand bags out as quickly as they could be filled to the areas that had been reported, over 1,400 sand bags were distributed.”

He added that the delivery drivers had struggled to get through flooded and congested roads.