floodwater• 2500 residents were forced out of their homes by floodwaters.• At Challow in Oxfordshire, deepfloodwater meant it was strictly snailspace only for motorist.• Each wave brought more floodwater through those broken windows, negating the work of sump-pumps.• Elsewhere, vehicles were stranded in the middle of lakes of floodwater.• The rate of rise of floodwater in normally drywatercourses is, in many cases, extreme.• Looking out to the west, I thought I could see floodwater, but it was smoke.• No one in town has taken floodwater, though some basements are wet from seepage.• The floodwater, carrying branches and driftwood, was over the roadway on the curvedironbridge.• Mekinock was evacuated when floodwaterwashed through town.