Police and the Environment Agency were urged to close Bradford on Avon to all traffic as serious flooding hit the town centre on Friday.
The water levels in the area around the mini-roundabout junction of Market Street, Silver Street and St Margaret’s Street were reported to be “thigh-high” in places.
One resident said: “We woke up to about 12 inches of water in our kitchen. It isn’t great and it is rising still. Unfortunately, there is no flood barriers anymore.”
But local people said the flood levels were not as bad as they were in 2013 when the River Avon burst its banks and covered the road over the town bridge.
The River Avon water levels were expected to peak at 11am at the town bridge where you can’t see the top of any of the nine arches.
Bradford on Avon Town Council and Wiltshire Council closed roads to the town centre, and only allowed vans and lorries through as they had a higher clearance than cars.
Some residential and business premises in the town have already flooded and are likely to include the basement cellar at the Swan Hotel which is currently empty and up for sale.
They also include the nearby Courtyard Hair Salon in the Bull Pit, where a flood defence barrier installed by local property owner Chris Bowyer failed to stem the rising water levels.
Today, there were deep pools of water on either side of the bridge but people were able to cross it.
Residents and businesses on either side were busy putting sandbags against their doors, and some had already installed their own flood defence barriers.
Jo Lewis, lettings negotiator at upmarket estate agents Cobb Farr, said that although they had installed a barrier against their front door, the wash from passing vehicles was causing problems.
“Every time a car goes past it is causing a huge tidal wave that is splashing up against our barrier.
“We have asked the Environment Agency and the police to stop vehicles from coming through because they are creating tidal waves.”
Some businesses appeared to have closed for the day because of flooding in their premises, including C S Bowyer Funeral Directors, the Courtyard Hair Salon and Feast Brothers takeaway.
Over the town bridge, Marius Soceria, manager of Ravello Restaurant, was busy trying to pump flood water from its cellar, which is below ground.
“It’s dreadful in there. The cellar is flooded. It is the community’s fault because they should have installed barriers.
He was being helped by local entrepreneur Chris Curtis who blamed the Environment Agency for not taking preventative action instead of just issuing flood warnings.
“The Environment Agency could have prevented this from happening. Nobody had actually died when they took the flood defence barriers out of service last year after an incident in Nottingham."
The agency said today it would comment next week when the situation has “quietened down” due to its officers being committed to the current incident.
Earlier today, it said the flood warning could be upgraded to ‘severe’ – meaning a risk to life - after further rainfall overnight led to flooding of some of the town’s main roads.
The river level was reported to be 3.2 metres high at 11.45am and was slowly receding, being at 3.19m high at 12.15pm.
It was up to the windows at Bradford on Avon Rowing Club and the Barton Farm Country Park was covered in flood water.
Last night, some roads were impassable with several cars stranded in the floods, including two in the lane from Bradford on Avon to the village of Westwood.
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