After heavy rain for several days the River Don burst it banks in the early afternoon, flooding large parts of Sheffield’s industrial area. This resulted in the only road out of Jessops Riverside Business Park, being blocked by the flood. However, the situation was to become much more serious as rain continued to fall and water levels rose.

Unable to leave the estate, and as a precautionary measure, the staff set to work moving computers, stock and work in progress to the 2^nd floor offices. By early evening more of the area’s flood defences had been breached and Audionics were under 30cm of water with the roadway a 3m raging torrent.

At this point three Air Sea Rescue helicopters began to lift people out of the units. Audionics posted banners in their windows informing the helicopters how many people were in the building and that they were all OK. Director Phil Davies gave live telephone interviews to both the BBC and Sky national news organisations. As night fell, the airlift was stopped and the staff were left for a long night with no power, lighting or telephone lines. Eventually at 5:30am the waters had receded enough for the them to escape the area.

Commenting on the incident, Director Phil Myers stated “This was the worst flooding Sheffield has seen since 1864, when a nearby dam burst. Our staff did a sterling job ensuring that all our stock and work in progress was not damaged, they returned downstairs on several occasions during the night, wading through muddy water in pitch black conditions.”

After two days of cleaning out the premises, normal production resumed, which was fortunate as they are currently working on major orders for Sky Italia, GCap Media and Guardian Media Group.

On a sadder note three people lost their lives in the flooding incident.