VILLAGERS effectively cut off by flood water were today bracing themselves for more rain.
Families in Burton Fleming spent Christmas Day bailing out their homes.
Most roads in and out of their village are impassable and the emergency services are struggling with the seemingly impossible job of pumping away flood water.
With the ground saturated, water is coming up from underground through people's floorboards, forcing many to move in with relatives or live upstairs to escape the floodwater.
Standing up to his knees in Bridlington Road in the centre of the village, East Riding Council drainage engineer Russ Towse said: "All we can do is try to protect the properties with a mixture of sandbags and pumping out.
"The water isn't physically flowing from anywhere, it's coming up out of the ground."
Problems started on Friday when the Gypsey Race watercourse burst its banks.
That caused the road to flood at the crossroads of the village.
Water levels steadily rose until villager Dawn Baron, who runs the Burton Arms pub with her partner Tony Gibson, called the police.
Mr Gibson said: "The people in this road have been bailing out non-stop, 24 hours a day.
"The fire brigade has been fantastic and local people have been out helping."
A Humberside Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said: "We've been pumping water since Christmas Day.
"We've got our high volume pump doing 7,000 litres a minute.
"The water is entering residents' homes.
"We've just had a delivery of five tonnes of sand from a local building firm."
Living right next to the crossroads, Annette Duke was ready for Christmas, with children's presents under the tree.
Her house sits at one of the lowest points of the village and water got in.
She said: "We've had to strip the house of all the Christmas presents. All that's left is the tree and that's because it's high up.
"My family were supposed to be coming from Birmingham but they haven't made it.
"It has been a lonely and wet Christmas. I've lived in this village for 11 years and I've never seen anything like this."
Mrs Duke has been inundated with offers of help, particularly for the children.
In turn, she's keeping a steady supply of warm drinks for the crews who are desperately trying to keep more water from entering her home.
That community spirit was never more in evidence than on Christmas Day.
Steven Ramsden, who lives a few yards from Mrs Duke with his partner Lisa Pattern and their three-year-old son Ethan, said: "A lot of people in the village didn't have their dinners. They were busy helping people out.
"Eventually, at the end, we got a few cans out. It's a great village with a good community spirit."
That spirit will be much needed this weekend. The water is not running away and another 10mm of water is forecast before tomorrow morning.
The pumping operation is being led by East Riding Council.
Head of streetscene services John Skidmore said: "We've had water coming off the fields and unprecedented water in the aquifer.
"We have deployed 1,200 sandbags and we have been knocking on doors in the village this afternoon, ensuring that people are not isolated.
"Some residents are frustrated with water coming up through their floorboards but they recognise there's nothing we can do.
"The situation is about maintenance but the feedback I've been getting is there is no change to the situation because there is still a lot of water coming from the springs."
• More pictures: Flooding in Burton Fleming
