Complex sentence: The dale beneath the stricken Dale Dike reservoir is rural with very few habitations, however the farmstead of John Empsall and his family which stood by the Annet bridge was completely swept away by the torrent.
Split into simpler sentences: The dale beneath the stricken Dale Dike reservoir is rural with very few habitations. However, the farmstead of John Empsall and his family which stood by the Annet bridge was completely swept away by the torrent.