What’s to stop our homes flooding again?
10:19am Tuesday 13th May 2008
PEOPLE living near a Worcester brook say they fear their homes could flood again after a recent storm swamped their gardens.
Couples Don and Jayne Thomas and Emma and Mark Baker, both of Bath Road, Worcester, saw their back gardens inundated after torrential rainfall, on Wednesday, April 30.
Within half an hour of the first raindrops, both gardens were under 1ft (0.3 metre) of water.
Mrs Thomas, who has lived in her home for seven years, said until July's storms last year there were no problems with flooding.
She said: "It is the stress. Every time it rains we get worried."
The neighbours are convinced that a nearby concrete culvert taking the Duck Brook under the Bath Road is the cause of their problems.
Mr Baker, who only moved back into his home a month ago after being flooded out in July, said: "They put a grille over the culvert's mouth a year ago and it stops the rubbish getting in.
"But it also builds up and stops the water getting down the culvert."
On the opposite side of the brook from the homes is Cherry Orchard Primary School, in Timberdine Close - it also narrowly avoided being flooded on the same day.
Mr Baker said that once the water backs up behind the grille the brook bursts its banks, flooding both the field it runs through and neighbours' gardens.
The Environment Agency fitted the culvert's "trash screen", and cleared bank debris following the July floods after categorising the brook as a high flood risk.
Agency staff did clear the trash screen during the storm but spokesman Michelle Dolphin said responsibility for removing rubbish lay with Worcester City Council, which owns the field and banks of the brook.
She added: "We have the powers to go in and clear the brook if its not being maintained."
Ian Yates, Worcester City Council parks and cemeteries manager, said: "We and the Environment Agency work together to maintain the brook and surrounding land."
Battenhall Conservative city councillor Robert Rowden who highlighted the issue after visiting the scene described the current situation as "unsatisfactory."