Shropshire Council working hard to keep residents safe

Shropshire Council teams worked tirelessly over the weekend to keep residents safe after the county experienced an exceptional amount of rainfall over the course of just two days.

During this time, the council’s highways team alone received over 300 calls from concerned residents and organisations and closed many roads and car parks.

Along with the council’s contractor, Keir, the highways team delivered sandbags, flood boards and drain cleaning equipment to help those people whose homes had been affected by the rising floodwater, on a priority basis.

The council also worked closely with other services and agencies over the weekend to ensure a co-ordinated response to the situation.

Peter Nutting, Shropshire Council’s Leader, said:

“Our teams are well-rehearsed when it comes to managing flooding across the county and, despite the speed at which water levels rose over the weekend, they did a brilliant job and I’d like to thank them for dedicating their time to help others.

“During extreme rainfall events we respond on a priority basis, with highways teams allocated to areas most at risk and where infrastructure and properties are worst affected.”

Even though the rain has stopped, river levels in some parts of the county are continuing to rise, meaning that a number of roads and car parks will remain closed until further notice.

Those roads closed due to flash flooding – caused by rainfall on already waterlogged ground – are being cleaned before being reopened, with road sweepers being redirected away from routine duties to ensure that this is done as quickly as possible. Some maintenance is also being carried out on the highway drainage infrastructure as part of this.

Where residents have reported flooding to property, the council’s flood risk team are attempting to make contact and investigate the cause and extent of this flooding. They will then, where appropriate, provide support, advice and implement schemes to improve or deliver new drainage schemes as required.

Peter Nutting added:

“The weekend was an extremely busy one, but our teams are still dealing with the aftermath of the floods and rising river levels to ensure that people can continue to travel safely around the county.

“As well as our highways team, our emergency planning team remain on high alert and have a duty to assist emergency services to help people find a safe place to stay if needed.”

People can sign up to get warnings in England by phone, email or text message if their home or business is at risk of flooding. The service is free. For further information and to sign up, they should visit the Environment Agency website (https://www.gov.uk/sign-up-for-flood-warnings).