Sheffield weather: Heartache for Catcliffe village hit by flooding again after 2007 disaster

There is a sense of disbelief in Catcliffe today that once again the Rotherham village is under water.

The River Rother flows through the village, with the surrounding roads now under water.

It is impossible to get from Catcliffe to Treeton.

Firefighters spent much of yesterday and all night at the scene and were forced to knock on doors in the early hours to alert residents to rising water levels.

Some moved their cars to higher ground and spent the night on the nearby Morrisons car park, waiting for news about their village and homes.

Police officers are in the village this morning too.

One resident, Lisa May, lives on California Drive, where water has reached the front doors of most homes.

The water is as high as the street sign.

In 2007, when South Yorkshire was hit by catastrophic floods, one of the iconic images shown across the UK was of the phone box at Catcliffe submerged in water to illustrate the height water levels reached.

Lisa, a mum-of-two, said: "We received an automated phone call at 2.15am from the Environment Agency saying the area was going to flood and to take immediate action.

"A little later the fire service started knocking at doors and neighbours were alerting each other too.

"It was frightening how quickly the water rose up the street."

Lisa's home flooded in 2007, with the water level reaching the height of her fire place. But she said some other residents closer to the river had their entire ground floors engulfed. The water reached the ceilings.

"There is definitely a feeling of disbelief that it is happening all over again, it certainly brings everything back that we went through in 2007," she said.

"It is really unsettling, there is a feeling of 'here we go again'."

Local resident Janet Banks spent a stressful morning trying to save cats at a cat rescue in Catcliffe which flooded.

She had to wade through deep floodwater to reach the animals and transport them to safety in cages.

South Yorkshire Police said that in Doncaster, both Bentley and Fishlake are being closely monitored. These areas have also suffered severe flooding previously.