South Yorkshire Times, April 18th, 1970
Biggest April Shower For 26 Years!
Mopping up operations were going on throughout Mexborough, Dearne and Rawmarsh areas this week after nearly 18 hours of continuous rain had caused havoc on the roads, flooded homes and factories, and swollen local rivers well past danger level.
Mexborough fireman worked non-stop on Sunday night pumping water from flooded roads and homes after the heaviest “April shower” on record. The Don and the Dearne were running up to six feet above normal level at Mexborough by early Monday morning and at Adwick, the Dearne threatened to spill over on to the main Mexborough road.
Foot deep
Pastures Road was under a foot of water and the fire brigade was called to deal with flooding at Doncaster Road Junior School and Roman Terrace Cooperative store. Calls also came from householders in the Burcroft Hill area of Conisbrough and the cellar of one house was under 18 inches of water.
Pumping operations were also necessary at All Saints’ Church, Denaby. Water four inches deep was pumped from the cellar at Mr. Lawrence Eaton’s home at 64, Crossland Street, Swinton and part of the G.E.C. works was flooded, but work continued while pumping operations were taking place.
Houses in Charles Street were also affected and local fire brigades were inundated with calls from householders in the area whose cellars were flooded. In Goldthorpe, houses in Charles Street were among the worst affected and water stood several inches deep in the cellars, while Lidgett Lane, a notorious spot whenever there is heavy rainfall, was flooded.
Several motorists had to have their cars towed from the flooded road at Town End, Wath, on Monday morning as water rose to a depth of two feet.
Local police said that at one stage the road, along with Station Road and Recreation Road, was impassable. The bowling green and football and cricket pitches of Wath Athletic Club were under three feet of water and the club’s cellars were flooded.
Water had to be pumped out of Roman Catholic School at Rawmarsh and the cellars of the Fitzwilliam Arms at Parkgate.
Swept Down River
A barge which broke loose from its moorings at Cadeby Colliery was swept down river to Sprotborough weir. Bawtry Meteorological Office reported that almost the entire average rainfall for the whole of April, 1.33 inches, had fallen between mid-day on Sunday and 7am on Monday with most of it falling within a 15-hour period, The previous highest recorded figure for an April day was 1.1 inches in 1944.
And the outlook? Changeable with rain at times.