Family of five rescued after being trapped for two days by floods

A FAMILY of five near Dumfries have been rescued from a cottage after spending two days cut off by floods.

The only access road to their home in the village of Holywood was under several feet of water after heavy rain on Tuesday.

Dumfries Fire and Rescue was called out to help them yesterday morning. Using river rescue equipment, they removed Heidi Gordon and her partner, Billy Harvey, from their home, along with the couple’s children Shauney, Mitchell and Zander.

Ms Gordon said the family noticed they had been cut off on Wednesday and had become gradually more concerned. “When the bad weather was coming in there was and more rain, I thought we were going to get stuck for a while”, she said.

“It was time to get out. I am mortified, but the kids think it’s brilliant, getting the boat and seeing the fire engines. We’ll just have to wait until the waters go down before we can get back in.”

Joe Hamill, group commander at Dumfries fire station, said the family were in no immediate danger. “The children have got to go to school, and [the parents] have got to get to the shops and things,” he said.

“They expressed an interest to relocate to other members of the family in Dumfries, and we have just facilitated that.”