"I am really frightened. There is a lake all around me" - memories of Chichester's awful 1994 flooding

The biggest blaze in Chichester in living memory – the destruction of Sainsbury’s just before Christmas – was quickly followed early in the New Year by the worst flooding for more than a century.

The good citizens of Chichester and the surrounding area were left wondering what next? After the fire and the floods, when would the pestilence arrive? Not until 2020, as it turned out, and it swept the world. But at the time there was certainly an air of disbelief as huge rainfall turned so many thousands of lives upside and thoroughly drenched them. The army had to move in. Big temporary bridges were the only crossing-points in the worst affected areas. For businesses, it was devastating, with so many premises – and indeed so many homes – flooded.

The River Lavant, usually so mild, burst its banks and brought chaos to the eastern side of the city. Firefighters manned pumps around the clock. And Chichester found itself in a prolonged and painful national spotlight, its daily life for so many a nightmare they could never have imagined. Areas of Bosham, Chichester, Fishbourne, Lavant, Singleton, and Wittering were among those affected as the army dished out tens of thousands of sandbags.

I was one of the reporters covering for the crisis for the Chichester Observer at the time. A year later, I compiled this list of some of the things people said to us.

The floods.

Fire brigade spokesman: “It has been just flood, flood, flood. Bosham, Wittering, just about everyone has been affected. It has been the whole of the county.”

Farmer Gary Scott: “Out of the blue a torrent of water came rushing in.”

Singleton landlady Ruth O’Connell: “Water is coming up through the floor. We have

run out of sandbags.”

The misery.

Tricia Gick, of Bosham Hoe: “Before I knew where I was, the car was up to the headlights in water. I didn’t know what to do. My instinct was to put my foot down and go through it. But in fact the problem was solved for me when the engine cut out.”

Singleton resident Lillian Mills: “I am really frightened. There is a lake all around me. and I am just about marooned in my house. I have never seen the river so high.”

The trauma.

Fishbourne resident David Thair: “I was on my bike’s lowest gear to keep going. The water was knee-deep in Fishbourne Road East.”

Undertaker Kevin Holland after funerals were cancelled at Chichester crematorium: “The families have been very sympathetic to us, knowing that it is an act of God rather than anyone’s fault.”

The traders.

Anon: “It’s like being on a sinking ship.”

John Dent, of Chichester Bookshop: “Yesterday we had three sales and on Monday two. Trade is really suffering.”

The heroes.

Geoff Georgiades, Hornet cafe owner: “Our police and our firemen are like public relations officers. They come in smiling. There is a great spirit of all being in it together.

Flood victim Maureen Davis-Poynter, of Chichester: “The firemen have been absolutely incredible and we cannot praise them highly enough. They have been cheerful, considerate, courteous and caring.”

Flood spirit.

Roadworker Paul Adams, of Bognor Regis: “The job had to be done and you just had to go on and do it. The British are good at this sort of thing. They thrive in a panic situation. We noticed that everyone was cool, calm and collected.”

The big effort.

Steve Lawlor, catering manager for County Hall: “It was really a case of in at the deep end. In the last week, we have served around a thousand hot meals a day.”

County Hall chief cook Sally Drake: “One soldier told me we were feeding him better than his own mum!”

The reasons.

The Rev Richard Griffiths, rector of St Pancras: “It is clear that when you put a lot of buildings on what people call a flood plain, all the water that used to flood there must still go somewhere.”

Teresa Cash, National Rivers Authority spokeswoman: “The cause is exceptionally atrocious weather conditions, a very wet autumn culminating in a deluge just after Christmas. We have already had double the average rainfall for January at this stage, and we are only half way through the month.”