Drain rescue disorganised - witness

Geoffrey Claxton, 76, was giving evidence at the inquest into the death of Michael Barnett, who died during the floods which overwhelmed Hull on June 25.

A jury has heard how Mr Barnett became trapped in a temporary grill in a storm drain behind the business where he worked in the Hessle, just outside the city. He eventually died from hypothermia following an unsuccessful four-hour operation to free him from neck-high raging floodwater.

Mr Claxton, whose family owned the nearby tropical fish business where Mr Barnett worked, described how he watched as divers, firefighters and local residents battled to pull out the 28-year-old.

He said that at one point Mr Barnett went completely under the water as rescuers tried to pull the grille - which was actually a piece of steel park fencing - with a Land Rover winch. Mr Claxton described how the divers managed to bring him back above the water which he said was "unbelievable - like Niagara Falls".

Choking back tears, Mr Claxton said neighbours from surrounding houses in Astral Close were helping with the operation, with one man standing on an adjacent garage holding a rope.

But he said he had been in the water himself earlier and as he was cold and exhausted he eventually went back to his nearby house.

He told the jury: "Everyone was doing what they could to get him out. He was visibly shaking with cold. He wasn't saying much by then."

Mr Claxton went on: "There wasn't any organisation as far as I could see. Everybody was doing what they could, I suppose, but it didn't seem very professional." He added: "Nobody seemed to know what to do."

Mr Claxton went on: "I couldn't understand why they couldn't have put a harness on him and pulled him out. One of the tragedies for me that I can't still get over is the fact that Sea King (helicopter) flew over us and I felt I could just jump up and catch it."