With heavy rain yesterday, the council is reminding local people that excessive rainfall and high tides can cause surface water issues across the Borough.
While most of the time rainfall doesn’t cause a problem, occasionally when it rains heavily or for prolonged periods and combines with particularly high tides, the central seafront area and other parts of the Borough are liable to surface water flooding.
Southend-on-Sea Borough Council is seeking to reassure residents that they work with Anglian Water and their contractors to solve issues and are carrying out environmental studies to make drainage improvements further upstream.
Cllr Ron Woodley, cabinet member for transport, capital and inward investment, said: “Yesterday we saw across the county the issues that heavy rain can cause and Southend-on-Sea is no different. Whilst people should only be driving for essential purposes, we know that this can still cause disruption for those who need to be travelling. Compared to other areas we were less affected yesterday but that is not always the case.
“There are two large rivers at the north of the Borough, which can fill very quickly with the surface water from heavy rain. A significant proportion of town centre rainfall flows down to the seafront and the overflow pipe valves run out to the estuary.
“When it is high tide, the rain cannot run out of the overflow pipes into the estuary and so we get a backlog of water which can cause pressure to build in the system and drain lids to be forced off for example. We saw this yesterday at one site on the seafront.
“We have completed work in Chalkwell and London Road to reduce the pressure on the drainage system and we are currently investigating solutions at Eastwood Brook.”
“During surface water flooding incidents staff and contractors work hard to close roads if necessary, and clear roads and tidy up debris as quickly as possible. When the bad weather passes, teams go out to assess the damage and record any work which needs addressing urgently.”
We also work with Anglian Water to combat any issues.
An Anglian Water spokesperson said: “Our teams continue to help people experiencing flooding following recent rainfall. Our priority is to work with local councils as the Lead Local Flood Authorities, the Environment Agency and the emergency services to help prevent flooding to people’s homes, because we know how devastating it can be. We’re making sure our own network is operating as well as possible, and where we can, we’re tankering excess water away.
“Drainage systems are complex and managed by a number of organisations including councils, private drainage companies, the Environment Agency and Anglian Water amongst others, and we work very closely with all of them. We do all we can to help, but sewers are simply not designed to carry water from rivers that have burst or spilled over, or the volume of floodwater we’ve seen following such persistent rainfall. This is what causes the flooding we are seeing.
”We would encourage our customers to sign up to the Environment Agency’s Flood Warning service for the latest alerts in their area”
Any standing water in Southend’s parks and green spaces will naturally disperse and dry out over the next few days.
If you need to report a council-related issue please call out of hours on 01702 215000.
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