Two sister dailies have urged the government not to forget about their readers one month since flooding devastated their respective patches.

Both the Yorkshire Post and the Yorkshire Evening Post marked a month since the floods with front pages yesterday, with the YP splashing on its open letter to David Cameron, pictured below.

In the letter, the YP warned the Prime Minister thousands across Yorkshire were enduring a “living nightmare” in the disaster’s aftermath.

The YP also ran a 16-page picture special, reporting on the stories of some of those affected.

Its front page letter reads: “Exactly one month after Yorkshire woke up to some of the worst floods in the county’s history, your wellington boots – Prime Minister – might have dried out, and the residual mud been brushed away, but thousands of our residents and businesses across the region are enduring a living nightmare which you cannot afford to ignore or overlook for a day longer.

“Despite your offers of assistance, and your visit to York to support the rescue services and volunteers who worked miracles to prevent a far greater disaster from occurring, they feel neglected by your Government and the countless broken promises made by you, and your Ministers, since 2010.

“They feel like ‘second class citizens’ who have been forgotten in their hour of need, and are angry that their properties have been put at unnecessary risk because successive administrations, your own included, failed to invest sufficient sums in flood defences.

“You did say, Prime Minister, that you would take personal responsibility for the Government’s response to this crisis and this has included an extra £40m being made available for flood-hit Yorkshire communities; the appointment of your flooding envoy Robert Goodwill (the Scarborough and Whitby MP) and the construction of a temporary crossing in Tadcaster when the town’s bridge collapsed under the weight of water.

“However The Yorkshire Post is duty-bound – as Yorkshire’s national 
newspaper – to stand up for our readers, and the whole county, and make you aware of the level of disquiet that has been expressed over the past four weeks about the wholly inadequate nature of your Government’s response.

“This anger is palpable and heartfelt. Even if Yorkshire cannot speak with one voice on devolution, a point you alluded to last year, it is united in the belief that the North has been left more vulnerable to flooding because of decisions taken on your watch.”

It concludes: “Writing on behalf of this county’s five million residents, we ask you – and the relevant Ministers – to read The Yorkshire Post’s comprehensive analysis of the disaster, and the simply heart-rending stories of the many victims which are included in today’s special edition, and then provide a belated response which reflects the expectations of a county that not only feels badly let down by your Government, but which is also very fearful about future flooding threats.”

Yesterday’s YEP front page