A HEREFORD woman is asking where community spirit has gone after her 73-year-old mother was stranded alone in flood water for more than two hours.

The Hereford Times reported online that firefighters rescued a woman and her pet dog from flood water near Bodenham last Friday.

But Claire James, daughter of the woman says she has been left “disgusted” by the lack of help given to her mother before emergency services arrived.

“I couldn’t believe the callous way that people driving by didn’t stop and wouldn’t stop to help,” she said.

“The point is that mum is quite a sensible person and when she came to the flood she knew she had to reverse out but a car behind overtook at such a speed that the water lapped up and pulled the car in.

"As drivers continued through the water, it created a wave effect which took mum further. This happened five times before we got there."

Claire added that just one person stopped to ask if they could help.

Her mum was on her way to pick up a prescription for her diabetes when she became stuck in the water.

She also had her pet dog – a 10-year-old dachshund which has heart problems – with her and called her daughter for help from her mobile phone.

Fire crews from Bromyard and Leominster came to aid of the pair and water ‘first-responders’ from Bromyard attended with specialist lines and floats to perform the rescue.

An ambulance was also called and Claire's mother was checked over at the scene before returning home.

Claire added: "If she didn’t have a mobile phone system I dread to think what would’ve happened. It really saddens me and could’ve been much worse.”

Both Claire and her mother thanked the emergency services for their help.