THE riverside town of Upton was one of the worst hit areas in the country, but its residents used camaraderie to cope with catastrophe.

Although the town was completely cut off by flood water for the weekend, and residents were forced to flee their homes, spirits remained high.

Incredibly, the town’s annual blues festival went ahead.

“It wasn’t quite the festival we expected or intended,” said organiser Richard Tippin, “but everyone was fantastic and in good humour.”

The few musicians who had reached the town before it was isolated put on shows in a handful of venues – and even held an impromptu street party on Sunday. The main venue under the river bridge was abandoned, the festival office in East Waterside evacuated and the festival campsite relocated to the Hill Community Centre, but, according to Mr Tippin, it “went well considering”.

Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance (WNAA) delivered emergency medical supplies to the town over the weekend.

Pilot Neil Parkinson said: “Being cut off like that with no supplies is highly dangerous. We were impressed by the camaraderie there; fire trucks were waiting to take the supplies off to medical centres and local people formed a human chain to load them up as quickly as possible.”

Volunteers from Malvern and Worcester St John Ambulance set up an emergency medical centre at Tunnel Hill and worked alongside the emergency services Further upstream, at Callow End, the mother of a one-week-old baby girl was rescued from a home threatened by flooding.

Following torrential rain on Friday, Tracey Ames woke up the following day to find water from the river Severn creeping towards her home.

“We were quite cool and calm initially because it never normally comes up to the house,” she said.

“But people were going up to the shop to get a newspaper and coming back and they were just cut off – it came up that quick.

“I had only given birth to Willow the Friday before so it wasn’t great timing. I was panicking a bit, that’s for sure. It was frightening.”

However, quick-thinking residents living in other parts of the village came to the rescue using a dinghy, a tractor and a trailer.

Meanwhile, landlords at the Blue Bell on Upton Road, Callow End, helped people whose homes had been flooded, despite the fact their pub was flooded.