Access has been restored to a cut-off village and thousands of tonnes of debris has been cleared following Monday’s severe flash flooding in the Chard area.
Somerset County Council’s Highways Teams has been working tirelessly on the ground since Monday evening’s (28-06) floods which caused widespread damage to some local roads.
Roads were left impassable due to the volume of tarmac and debris washed up by the floodwaters but by Wednesday afternoon access was restored to Whitestaunton on a temporary running surface. Debris from the badly damaged White Ash Lane was cleared and stored nearby for removal with the support and help of the local community.
Elsewhere, Scrapton Lane in Combe St Nicholas and Court Mill Lane in Wadeford suffered similar damage. It’s expected to take Council’s contractor Milestone a week to remove all the debris.
Teams have also been inspecting the surrounding area and assessing and planning what will be a comprehensive repairs programme with the contractor, while ongoing work on inspecting gullies in Chard and the surrounding area continues, with a view to starting clearance work imminent.
It’s not just Chard that’s been affected – sites as far as Winsham and West Crewkerne were also badly hit.
Somerset County Council’s flood team is investigating following Monday’s extreme weather event, which not only saw unprecedented levels of water cascading through the streets but also watercourse levels rising which caused flooding in outlying villages.
“This extreme weather has caused extraordinary damage to local roads and our teams have been doing brilliant work to clear up in preparation to carry out repairs,” said Cllr John Woodman, Somerset County Council’s Cabinet Member for Highways. “ I’d also like to thank local people for their initial efforts on the scene which were fantastic. This may take some time but please be assured we are responding as quickly as we can.
“At the heart of this are the people who have had homes and businesses flooded which is awful and our thoughts are with them. Seeing the local community rallying round has been fantastic and we’d like to thank them for their patience as our teams continue to work flat out to help keep our communities moving.”
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