A421 could be closed for days because of flooding
National Highways says it could be several more days before it’s cleared flooding on the A421 in Bedfordshire, despite having removed more than five million litres of water from the road. Following torrential rain over the weekend, the A421 was shut in both directions between A6 at Bedford to M1 junction 13 near Brogborough/Marston Moretaine. […]
Staffordshire County Council road crews help communities in heavy weather
Highway and recovery crews were out in force with emergency sandbags in the community after a weekend of torrential rain. On Saturday night Staffordshire County Council’s Highways team moved 300 sandbags to help 10 homes in the Upper Tean area of the Staffordshire Moorlands and returned on Sunday with more for other houses threatened by […]
Report looks into January flooding in Reading
A new report detailing the actions taken by the Council and other responsible bodies during flooding in Reading this January, and recommended actions to tackle future flood threats, has been published. Three months of extremely wet weather followed by intense rainfall on saturated ground during Storm Henk led to 24 properties being flooded in Reading […]
New scheme to help in the event of flooding incidents in Herefordshire
On behalf of Herefordshire Council, Balfour Beatty Living Places has established the county’s first Community Flood Signage Scheme in Orleton The scheme enables trained Flood Warden Volunteers to close a small stretch of highway during a flood event to prevent vehicles driving though flood water, preventing accidents, breakdowns and damage to property caused by bow […]
Newmarket: Fifty million litres of water pumped off A14
Workers have pumped more than 50 million litres of rainwater off a section of the A14 that has been continually flooded during the last couple of months. There has been disruption since 22 February on the eastbound carriageway, between junctions 37 and 38 at Newmarket on the Cambridgeshire-Suffolk border. One of three lanes remains closed […]
Suffolk’s wettest ever winter breaks highway response records
After months of extreme and sustained downpours, highways teams in Suffolk are breaking response and repair records whilst battling their most challenging operational period ever. Storm Babet saw nearly two months’ worth of rain fall in 24 hours, the subsequent storms and severe weather events saw more sustained rainfall, leading up to what Met Office […]
Somerset Council teams respond to heavy rain and flooding
Somerset Council’s Highways teams have been responding to incidents across the county following heavy rain this week. They responded to more than 40 incidents, many of them minor road closures due to flooding, as rain swept through the county. More than 20 schools took the decision to close as a result of the bad weather […]
Thousands of litres pumped off Portsmouth roads as part of storm response
More than 44,000 litres of water was pumped off one Portsmouth road as part of work to keep the city moving during Storm Ciarán. Gully tankers removed the remarkable amount of water from the Eastern Road, in addition to thousands of litres removed from roads across the rest of the city. As well as pumping […]
Rise in flash flood compensation claims
Local authorities in England are grappling with hundreds of compensation claims for flash floods, as central government budget cuts leave councils struggling to upkeep local roads and ageing drainage systems. Between January 2020 and December 2022, councils received 740 claims from property owners for flood damage caused by sudden downpours. Councils accepted liability in 128 […]
Devon County Council starts smart gully trial to help prevent highway flooding
Devon County Council has announced it has appointed technology company Previsico to trial connected water and silt level sensors along a subset of Devon’s highway gullies. This forms part of the on-going Devon Resilience Innovation Project (Drip) Smart Gullies Trial, which aims reduce flooding on major roads. During heavy rainfall, gullies and drains can become […]
