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Farmer faces huge clean up operation after flash flooding washes livestock away
A farmer has spoken of the huge clean up operation he faces after flash flooding destroyed his farmyard and washed away livestock and winter forage.
Ben Briggs
Douglas Barningham, Home Farm, Langthwaite, in the north eastern corner of the Yorkshire dales, saw his yard and building decimated by heavy rain on Tuesday night, which had caused to Arkle Beck to burst its banks and redirect through his yard.
With potentially thousands of tonnes of stones washed in to the yard, the torrent swept away about 80 Mule gimmer lambs, destroyed vehicles and displlaced in the region of 300 silage bales.
Mr Barningham, whose house was also partially flooded, farms 700 Swaledale ewes and 25 sucklers, the latter of which were on the hill away from the floodwater.
He said: "It was like something out of a disaster movie. You could hear the water and rocks being washed through the yard and it was a scene of devastation.
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"It will take months to clean up and longer to rebuild the stone walls and fencing.
"We had a lot of bales this year and a lot have been washed away."
Mr Barningham said he would take stock of the situation before deciding a longer term plan, but the main priority now was to get the yard clean and sort out some of the store cattle which avoided the flooding.
The family managed to rescue sheepdog Pip, whose kennel narrowly avoided being washed away, while their pony, Crunchie, managed to swim to safety as water washed in to the building she lives.
Farmers Guardian editor Ben Briggs joined Mr Barningham on BBC Breakfast on Thursday morning to talk about the devastation and how the local community was responding.
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