Life is slowly returning to our flooded village, but people are desperate for help

Ten days on, businesses are reopening and residents are finally returning to their stinking, sodden homes. But in Mytholmroyd in West Yorkshire, the impact of the disaster still runs deep

" Read how the floods have united people who wouldn't normally mix

When the Boxing Day flood swept through my village, Mytholmroyd in the Calder Valley, it didn't just engulf the newsagents in seven feet of water. It seeped into the very fabric of our community.

Almost two weeks on, people are still ashen faced and speaking in half sentences, because the flood is at the forefront of everyone's minds, whether our homes or businesses were hit or not. Of course, we can't ignore the wreckage that greets us at the beginning of each day and seems just a little bit better each night. Homes are slowly being cleared, utilities fixed and the traffic, once seemingly at a permanent standstill for safety reasons, has started moving again.