Waterside Garden Centre in Baston prepares to reopen after flooding from River Glen following Storm Henk downpours in January forced closure

A garden centre will reopen to customers five months after being ‘wiped out’ by a flood.

Waterside Garden Centre in Baston was badly hit by flooding from the River Glen following Storm Henk downpours in early January.

Despite every effort from owner Andy Parrott, there was nothing that could be done to stop the flood water breaching his self-made defences and entering the building.

Andy said: “The river didn’t burst, it crept over.

“It wasn’t like how you see on the television, the water rose very slowly.”

Inside, the water - which in some rooms was 5ft deep - swept away displays, ruining stock in the process.

Although it entered slowly, the water left the building at a much quicker speed leaving a trail of devastation in its wake.

The damage caused ran into six figures.

“At the beginning we had no idea of the impact,” said Andy, who founded the business 34 years ago.

“We had absolutely nothing left; it completely wiped us out.

“We had to come to terms with the enormity of. It took a few weeks to understand how much damage was caused.”

But one thing remained certain for the team - they were determined to reopen.

Before anything else could be done, the garden centre had to be emptied of all the damaged stock, which took up at least 90 skips.

The floods also caused structural damage, resulting in every wall being replaced and the rewiring of electrics.

Andy said: “I’ve got about 100 staff who have all worked so hard.

“People have had to do jobs they haven’t done before such as restaurant staff who were painting, sweeping and cleaning.

“So much work went in just to get it tidy, some of the jobs were horrible.”

Although Andy admits he has wobbles where he questions his decision to rebuild, seeing everything come together has made him relieved.

The ‘wonderful support’ from the community has also kept spirits high.

An opening date has been pencilled in for May 4, a bank holiday weekend, however Andy hopes to have the garden centre ready for visitors before then.

He is encouraging visitors to be patient on the opening weekend and consider revisiting at a later date if most of the 400 car parking spaces are in use.

“A lot of people are really desperate to see us again and to get their garden going,” he said.

“We imagine we will be very busy.”

Will you be visiting Waterside Garden Centre when it reopens? Let us know in the comments.