Water levels had begun to rise that morning as the previous days' rain ran off fields upstream.

Priory Terrace residents had anxious hours as lawns and flowerbeds disappeared beneath the brown water and water seeped closer to their back doors.

The Courier spoke to Ronnie Goldstein and Janet Ainley as the river was at its highest.

Mr Goldstein said: "The garden is the thing at the moment. It's gone. It's disappeared."

The couple moved to the house in 2000. They were aware of the 1998 flood but did not believe there would be another one like it again.

On Saturday, puddles appeared on the back lawn at 10am and by midday the garden was covered. The couple had moved their belongings from the cellar but admitted they felt helpless.

Mr Goldstein added: "Our thinking was that it had happened in 1998 so it was not going to happen for another 200 years. We weren't quite right.

"But if it doesn't get any worse than this it is something I will put up with just to live here. It's only the garden. It won't take too much extra work to do it up, but if it comes into the house I am much more concerned."

Mr Goldstein added: "We don't know what to do, that's the main problem. We feel we ought to be doing something but we don't know what."

Another couple whose garden was under water were Guy and Emma Webber, who have lived in Priory Terrace since 1996.

Mrs Webber, a garden designer, had recently planted drought-resistant plants which would survive hot summers.

Mr Webber said: "It is quite amazing that the basement hasn't flooded yet. As it stands we have our fingers crossed that it won't."

The couple remember the floods in 1998, which reached the back step of the house.

Mr Webber said: "If you are going to live next to a river you accept the consequences."

"The most helpful thing the authorities can do is say when the river might peak. At the moment we haven't got a clue."

Mrs Webber had gone to buy sandbags when the Courier first called, but said on Monday that she was optimistic most plants would survive.

She added: "It's a bit silty and there are shells amongst the gravel.
"You have to wash it off but silt is quite a good additive for soil.
"It's a bit of an anxious time but there is nothing more you can do than sit and watch."