More than £100,000 raised for people affected by Whitchurch canal collapse

More than £100,000 has been raised for boat owners affected by a canal breach just before Christmas.

YouTuber Paul Smith-Storey set up an online fundraising page to help them and said he expected to raise £3,000 at most.

He said he had been “blown away” by people’s generosity and the money would “make life a little easier for the three boaters involved in the breach”.

One side of the Llangollen Canal in Whitchurch, Shropshire, broke on 22 December, creating a hole which swallowed up two boats and left a third hanging over the edge.

The emergency services declared a major incident after gallons of water escaped into a nearby field, leaving a gaping trench in the canal bed.

The Canal and River Trust said it had since been able to refill parts of the canal on either side, allowing other stranded boats to be refloated.

It has also been looking into the cause of the breach and once that had been established, engineers would prepare a plan for the “huge and likely lengthy task of rebuilding and then reopening the canal”.

Mr Smith-Storey said: “When there is a tragedy like this and people can see how it has touched people’s lives and they have lost their homes, the response from all over the world has been incredible.”

Mr Smith-Storey recalled speaking to one of the boat owners, Paul Stowe, on his boat the Pacemaker.

He said: “I was listening to him saying he only had the clothes he was wearing and that was it. He did not have any bank cards, any cash, any clothes.

“We just thought if we could raise two or three thousand pounds, it would be nice for Christmas.”

He added that the proceeds would go solely to the owners of the three boats most-affected by the breach.

“A lot of people have been thanking us and saying it’s an amazing thing that we’ve done, but we feel like it was the least we could do,” Mr Smith-Storey told the BBC.

“We spoke to one of the boaters yesterday… Bob, who was the first to lose his boat, and people’s kindness had touched him and he was moved to tears.”

He said people’s generosity had gone beyond the fundraiser as well.

“It’s just incredible… people that have reached out to us offering help with accommodation, transport, food, offering the boaters most affected holidays in the spring in their homes abroad,” he said.

“It’s just really touched us, and I think it brings out the best in people and restores your faith in human nature.”

Following the canal burst, Mr Smith-Storey said many narrowboat owners had been left with no way of moving their boats elsewhere.

“They are being told it could be six to nine months that they are trapped on that section of canal,” he said.

“There is no other way for them to get off, unless you start paying to crane boats off.”

He believes up to 50 boats are stuck on the canal and said: “A lot of people come onto this canal in the winter because it has got the flow that feeds the reservoir and it tends not to freeze over, and obviously it is a really lovely place to cruise as well.”