SEVERAL Broomhill men who tried to save houses from flooding by using a mechanical digger to dig a channel through a pavement may be prosecuted for causing damage.
As flood water rose on Monday in Highgate, also known as Pontefract Road, a man with a digger cut a two-metre trench in the pavement to allow water trapped on the road to run off into fields.
One man who helped dig the trench spoke to the Chronicle but did not want his name revealed. He said: “I’m not feeling smug about it, I know I shouldn’t have done it, but we had to resort to desperate measures. The council can’t control the rivers at Darfield and Wombwell, but here at Broomhill it’s a preventable drainage problem. They should have got it sorted but we’re still having to take matters into our own hands.
“Once we dug the trench, 99 percent of the water was diverted from the houses, so it worked. I’d definitely do it again if I thought the houses were at risk.
