Local Euro MP takes region's flooding disaster to European Parliament to seek solidarity

6.00.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 10th Jul 2007

Local Liberal Democrat Euro MP, Diana Wallis, has taken Yorkshire's flooding disaster to the European Parliament in Strasbourg to seek the support of her parliamentary colleagues.

In her speech to the European Parliament's plenary session this afternoon Diana Wallis, a parliamentary Vice-President, said:

"I find it odd as a MEP from a developed wealthy country to be standing here in order to draw attention to a natural disaster of huge proportions in the area I represent.

"Last week I visited homes not more than a few miles from my own where apparently all is normal except there are piles of furniture in the street, in each garden. Some homes have been abandoned completely; people not brave enough to come back yet. Inside there has been flood water up to a metre. with 2 months of average rainfall falling in 12 hours.

"Thousands of homes destroyed, which will take months to repair. Schools closed indefinitely. Businesses and farms wiped out. This is often in communities that were previously in receipt of European structural funding. Yesterday there were buses bringing humanitarian aid; buses that normally service communities in Africa. The whole thing is incongruous, unreal. But it is very real and very devastating to the individuals whose homes and community infrastructure have been destroyed.

"We hope our government will make an application to the EU solidarity fund, which I would hope this House will support. It would also be appreciated if this House could show its support to those communities in the region of Yorkshire"