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Floods in Leicestershire: Schools and roads closed as floods cause more problems

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Schools were shut, roads remained closed and stranded animals had to be tended by RSPCA officers as floodwater continued to create problems.

Two primary schools – Dovelands in Western Park, Leicester, and Latimer in Anstey – were forced to shut their doors yesterday after water filled their boiler rooms, cutting off the heating.

Emma Turner, head teacher at Latimer, said the school's premises officer discovered the cellar's boiler room filled with water on Sunday.

"He spent his birthday weekend bailing water out of the cellar," she said. "The water had turned the boiler off and we had to close the school to check that it was okay, and that it could be lit again. Engineers came out to check, and it was fine."

Miss Turner said the school was due to be open as normal today.

Overflowing drains caused the boiler room at Dovelands to flood with two feet of water.

In a message on its website, head teacher Cathy Moss said the broken heating system meant the school would still be closed today.

In the county, RSPCA officers had to wade through waist-deep water to feed six horses stranded in a field.

Sharon Knight, animal collection officer at the RSPCA worked with the fire service to deliver hay to the six horses trapped in flooded fields off Granite Way, Mountsorrel.

During the weekend RSPCA officers attended about 10 reports of animals affected by flooding.

Inspector Michelle McNab said her team helped rescue four horses in a field off Slash Lane, in Sileby.

"Most of our incidents were a case of going out to monitor and check the animals were okay to just be left," she said.

"One that we got tons of calls about was horses in water in a field behind PC World, at Fosse Park.

"We thought they might be stuck in the mud, but upon inspection they were fine – they were just having a dip," she said.

Tom Duffin, of Stonehurst Farm, spent yesterday morning leading 40 of his cows to safety after water continued to pour over the banks of the River Soar in Mountsorrel.

"Fifty years of farming and I have never seen anything like this," he said. "It was wet over the weekend, but by this morning it was up to their bellies.

"We had to take food out to them to lead them out to a drier field."

Tom and his colleagues began the rescue at 6am, finishing at lunch.

"We are supposed to be gearing up for the busy Christmas period, but instead we were leading cattle through two-and-a-half feet of water," he said.

The Environment Agency removed several "imminent" flood warnings it put in place over the weekend, but alerts were still in place for the River Wreake at Frisby on Wreake, and the River Soar at Sileby, Mountsorrel, Barrow upon Soar and Zouch.

Several roads throughout the county still had problems yesterday, with flooding closing all four main routes into Barrow upon Soar, forcing residents to take long detours through either Loughborough or Cossington to get in and out of the village.

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Floods in Leicestershire: Schools and roads closed as floods cause more problems


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