Oxfordshire Wildlife Rescue site flooded 'six inches deep'

Oxfordshire Wildlife Rescue (OWR) staff had to “pump and bucket” water away from the site in Blewbury, near Didcot, which flooded at around 8pm.

Rescue animals were moved away from the water and the electrics were turned off for safety.

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The charity had been given 100 empty sandbags by Vauxhall Barracks, a military installation near Didcot, and it issued a desperate plea over social media for sand to fill them with.

It said the fire brigade could not respond unless the electrics were affected, and instead asked for people with pumps to help stop the flooding.

“We're trying to pump and bucket water away but it's coming in so quickly,” it posted on the platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

“URGENT! HELP!” it said in another tweet. “Our centre is flooding! Water inside is 6 inches deep and rising quickly!

“Animals being moved to get them away from water.

“Anyone with pumps, or sand to fill sandbags, or any help at all is urgently required.”

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The charity warned over Facebook that “there may be some disruption to our ambulance service this evening, but we will be continuing as soon as we can.”

It asked people to “remain patient” and said it was “currently working on the situation in hand.”

By around 10:30pm, the team had stopped the flooding and cleared all water from the centre.

Chief executive officer Luke Waclawek said: “Never in the history of OWR, have I been so grateful and proud of our team.

“Tonight our fantastic team all rallied together and have managed to not only stop the flooding but also clear all the water from the centre.

“We have been powering through and providing we are safe to do so, we will be back open and in full operation as of tomorrow morning (today).

“Well done team and thank you to everyone for their help and support we of course, sincerely apologise for any disruption regarding our service, but at least all are safe and can hopefully continue on with tomorrows work.”

He added: “To all of those who answered the call, who dropped everything, and did what you all did tonight. Thank you.

“Because of you, years of dedication and work have been preserved and with little collateral damage.

“You, are the heroes of this charity.”

Oxfordshire Wildlife Rescue is a non-profit wildlife rescue organisation that rescues, cares, and rehabilitates sick injured, and orphaned British wildlife