FLOOD damage in the Calder Valley this summer is expected to top £12m.

And that could leave a massive financial headache for Calderdale Council, it is feared.

Council officials have estimated they may have to find at least £3m to repair damage to council-owned buildings, roads and bridges.

Many other bills will be settled by insurers but the cost is continuing to rise.

The estimates of the damage do not take into account all of the floods which have hit the Calder Valley from Todmorden down to Brighouse over the past three months.

And like many other authorities, Calderdale Council is faced with enormous pressures on its budget. The council is making stringent cutbacks in many of its services.

Finance chiefs have estimated that across the whole of Calderdale, the floods damage will be more than £12m.

Some businesses and homes are still cleaning up from the first of the floods back in May.

At the weekend, the Environment Agency issued another flood alert for the Calder area stretching from Todmorden down past Brighouse.

Torrential rain late on Friday put tremendous pressure on drains, but thankfully there were no reports of serious problems.

By yesterday all the flood alerts on the River Calder had been lifted.

The council, backed by the Local Government Association, is hoping that the government will come up with money to help fund road repairs.

Calderdale Council is hoping for cash from the Department of Transport and has also submitted an application for emergency cash help from the Government-run Bellwin scheme.

That is a fund to provide emergency capital aid.

But council leaders believe the help they may get may be negligible.

Calderdale Council leader Clr Tim Swift said: “Since the floods, Calderdale has been visited by a number of government ministers, including the Prime Minister David Cameron. Prince Charles also visited.

“They have made sympathetic noises and given reassurances that Calderdale will be helped. But we are still waiting for the Government to adjust the Bellwin scheme to enable special funds to be paid out”.

The council has already set aside £350,000 to help homes and businesses hit by the floods.