The flooding issues this week prompted us to have a look back to 2000 when huge swathes of land and many homes where flooded in and around Burton. Our article prompted lots of you to get in touch with your memories of that time.

Here we take a look back at how the drama in 2000 unfolded:

What started as a typical autumn storm quickly developed into Britain's worst widespread floods since 1947.

The life-changing events of the November 2000 floods began with a storm during Sunday, October 29.

At first it was just high winds which caused damage and concern, and forced the evacuation of 22 pensioners from a block of flats in Swadlincote. One 82-year-old war veteran described the chaos as being 'like the Blitz' when the Germans bombed London during the Second World War.

Trees and telegraph poles blocked many roads, including the A38 while a massive metal container was blown onto the road near Branston.

Quickly joining the destruction of the gale force winds was driving rain. The weather was horrendous but so far this was just a nasty storm which many expected to pass without too many lasting problems.

But the rain didn't stop and river levels quickly increased. Debris created by the earlier high winds would also add to the problems.

By Tuesday October 31, the Burton Mail reported the start of flooding with warnings issued on the River Trent between Yoxall and Drakelow, and Drakelow and Clay Mills.

There were also warnings on the River Dove between Marston on Dove and Clay Mills, and Doveridge and Marston.

By now the A513 in Alrewas was under two feet of water and at-risk residents were told to prepare to evacuate their homes for potential flooding.

Unfortunately the worst was still to come and by Wednesday, November 1, hundreds of homes and businesses remained under threat of flood as rivers reached their highest levels for 15 years.

The situation forced the Environment Agency to issue a severe flood warning — the most serious flood alert — for the River Trent from Burton to Castle Donington, warning that the whole area was now under threat.

The only good news to report was that the town's new £2.5 million flood defences were holding firm even throughthe Trent Washlands were submerged.

By now, sandbags were being issued to householders in Newton Road, Winshill, and at Clay Mills.

More bad news followed on Thursday November 2 as weather watchers warned of another deluge likely to hit the area by the weekend.

Unfortunately, the weather experts were right and around 5cm of rain fell in a short space of time causing virtually every water course in the area to burst its banks.

The result was that tens of homes and businesses were flooded, roads were blocked and schools closed with the worst-hit areas being Shobnall, Stretton, Hatton, Rolleston and Willington.

In Stretton, a dozen homes had to evacuate their homes following 2ft-high flood water with residents in Harlech Way taking the brunt of the deluge.

By Tuesday, November 7, Burton town centre was at risk of flooding.

Police warned that the town could be under water by the afternoon as the River Trent was only 2ft from the top of the new flood defences and water levels were rising at a rate of four inches an hour.

In South Derbyshire, the Army was drafted in to hand out thousands of sandbags in a desperate bid to protect homes after 17 Hatton homes had to be evacuated after the River Dove burst its banks.

'The Great Escape' was the headline of the Burton Mail on Wednesday November 8 as the flood defences had done their job and flood waters were now dropping – only by three inches in 24 hours, but they were falling.

This trend continued and the floods were over – now the big clean-up began.

While it's possible to clear up the physical mess caused by the floods, the psychological damage remains. Now whenever we experience severe rain, everyone thinks back to the floods of November 2000.