Heavy rain floods roads and parks across Wakefield district

Snowfall on Monday morning teamed with heavy downpours throughout the rest of the week left roads saturated and fields flooded with pools of water.

At Newmillerdam Country Park, the lake burst its banks, flooding water onto paths and walkways.

And at Sandal Castle, the rain filled the historic moat with water.

The Friends of Sandal Castle said: “After all the snow and rain the moat has more water in it than it has had for many a year.

“It is not totally full, but there is enough water to be impressive.”

Fields between Milnthorpe Lane in Sandal and Pugneys also flooded.

Photographer Kevin Pearson, who usually walks his dog there, said: “Most of it is impassable. It goes deep just a couple of metres in and gets deeper.

“It is worse than I have ever seen it.

“I’ve lived here for 16 years and it has never flooded like this before. It was bad last year but nothing like this.”

In Stanley, Lime Pit Lane was flooded with water, whilst pumps were used to drain water away from houses at the other side of the district in Wentbridge.

Elsewhere, firefighters were drafted in to rescue a herd of cows which became stuck in floodwater near Castleford.

Around 20 cattle were surrounded by water in Ledston, close to RSPB Fairburn Ings, which closed due to flooding on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The cows were taken to higher ground and left with food until the water subsided.

On Tuesday, the Environment Agency had a flood warning in place for the River Aire at Allerton Ings.

Alerts were also issued for the River Calder Lower Catchment (Brighouse to Castleford) and River Aire Middle Catchment.