Rev Caroline Hewlett has made to leave her vicarage in Swaledale in Yorkshire where the army has been called to help.
"A lot of rain fell very suddenly and the water came in a great big deluge, and it covered a vast area," she explained on Premier's News Hour. "Lots of houses have been washed out and farms have been devastated.
"I had four foot the water straight through the vicarage in about 45 minutes. It was up to the windowsills and we had furniture and things floating around outside - my garden shed is now two fields away down on a farmer's field."
Evacuations have been taking place in several areas in the north of England.
The Environment Agency issued a severe flood warning for an area of Derbyshire on Thursday, suggesting a danger to life.
Encouraging people to pray for all those affected by flooding, Rev Hewlett said: "People are just absolutely shocked. The news media all here at the moment, but they'll all disappear within a few weeks so keep us in your prayers longer term, because this is going to be a very long term recovery.
"Pray for me and my colleague, Allison in our work and being out and about and seeing where we can help, and also just as I get back on my feet and try to keep running the parish and being available to people, even as I'm trying to sort out a big mess myself."
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