Crawley Borough Council prevents flooding
Crawley Borough Council officers prevented flooding in Ifield and Maidenbower over the weekend.
Despite the threatened 40mm of rain not materialising, the 20-25mm that did fall in the early hours of Sunday morning would have flooded Crawley if council staff had not lowered Tilgate Lake and cleared rubbish grills in the town’s waterways.
The council’s Emergency Planning Officer, Tim Mordaunt, said: “Throughout the week we worked with the Environment Agency and Met Office to forecast the rain and plan contingencies.
“With the already saturated ground the rain that fell still had the capacity to cause major flooding in Ifield and Maidenbower.”
On Saturday and Sunday the council’s contractors lowered the levels at Tilgate Lake to allow for extra rainwater storage and all trash grills were cleared, which allows the water to flow freely along waterways.
Tim continued: “During high rainfall several tons of rubbish is moved by the rain, which becomes trapped on the trash grills, restricting the flow of water and causing flooding.
“Without this regular clearance we would have flooded in Crawley at the weekend. We also cooperated closely with Gatwick Airport Limited and local authorities in Surrey to ensure the continued clearance of flood waters away from Crawley.
“Many thanks not only to all the staff that were out during this heavy rain at the weekend but also to those who changed their weekend plans and carried a phone with them at all times to make sure they was available if required.”
Councillor Bob Lanzer, Leader of the Council, thanked staff who had helped.
He said: “Thanks very much to everyone involved for your hard work over the weekend.
“Prevention does not always receive the right acknowledgement or profile but we know what happens when it fails. Yours efforts to protect Crawley and its citizens over the weekend are much appreciated.”
