Floods
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Anger as road floods again
AN urgent call has gone out to flood chiefs in a bid to prevent roads and homes becoming swamped with water after another weekend of downpours.
Hailey Road, in Witney, was awash with water as the drains were unable to cope - a repeat of what has happened after similar storms over many years, including last July's summer floods.
Although water did not come through the doors of any homes, the road had to be closed to traffic for several hours on Sunday.
It has left local people asking when efforts will be made to make sure the area can deal with floods in the future.
Barry Clack, Hailey Road resident and professional photographer, captured the scene at 7.30am on Sunday.
He said: "I think there were a lot of lucky people. If the rain had continued for a lot longer, we could have had more homes flooded once more.
"When is this going to be sorted out once and for all? There seems to have been a lot of talking, but still we have the problem in Hailey Road."
Malcolm Willis, who lives near the junction of Crawley Road with Hailey Road, watched the floodwater going past his house on Sunday morning, after a night of heavy rain.
He had only moved back into the house recently, following damage in last summer's floods, with new downstairs carpets fitted last Friday.
Mr Willis is one of many residents who have formed a local Witney Flood Action Group to press for solutions.
The district council has confirmed it did issue sandbags to some properties in the area. It also dished out bags to some homes at Mill Green, Bampton, over the weekend.
The heavy rain sparked a flood warning on the River Windrush. There were also flood watches on the River Thames down to Eynsham lock and Evenlode valley, with flooding occurring on low-lying land and some roads, including Main Road in Clanfield. In Hailey Road, Oxfordshire County Council and the Environment Agency recently commissioned infra-red cameras to assess the state of the drainage system.
The Witney Flood Action Group was told at a meeting at the House of Windsor pub, West End, that the main drain narrows at the junction with Eastfield Road. Mr Clack added: "It loses capacity just when it needs more. It's mad."
But yesterday, it emerged that two possible lines of action are being considered by the county council, district council, and Environment Agency.
One is to upgrade the culvert, or main drain, in Hailey Road. It will be carried out by the county council as highways agency, but no date has yet been agreed.
The other is to solve the main problem, the build-up of water on farmland on higher ground at the back of the housing estates off Hailey Road.
Martin Ralph, district council manager of building and engineers, said: "That is the basic problem.
"We have looked at that with the Environment Agency, and it seems that a series of balancing ponds are needed. It is a very expensive option, but I think it is what is needed. Again, we have no date on it yet."
David Robertson, county council cabinet member, who lives in Witney, told the Gazette that the main drain had been scanned with infra-red cameras. He said: "One thing we discovered is that, though there was no blockage, some NTL cables had gone through the pipe. That will be fixed. And there are points where it narrows from one metre to 750mm. But we feel the pipe is adequate. It is the sheer volume of water coming off the land. If that can be controlled, we may solve the problem." On April 4, Witney MP David Cameron is to meet with the action group and representatives of local councils and Environment Agency for an update on the issue.
3:30pm Tuesday 18th March 2008
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CommentPosted by: interested but not surprised at censorship, somewhere in oxfordshire on 10:13pm Tue 18 Mar 08
its interesting to see that comment can be made about flooding but not about the stabbing incident that has really english surnames!!!!!!
its interesting to see that comment can be made about flooding but not about the stabbing incident that has really english surnames!!!!!!
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