Environment Agency teams are asking people living along the River Witham, a river which runs almost entirely in Lincolnshire in the east of England, to sign up for flood warnings as excess water is discharged out to sea.
Since the beginning of September, Lincolnshire has been coping with significant and prolonged rainfall resulting in some of the highest levels ever seen in its watercourses.
Image by Martin Clark / River Witham near Boston / CC BY-SA 2.0
Levels in the River Witham in November were the highest ever recorded, exceeding the previous 2007 level. September saw two times the average rainfall, October saw two and half times the average rainfall, and the entire month’s average fell in the first two weeks of November.
Throughout this time the Environment Agency has been operating the flood storage reservoirs around Lincoln, and Louth, Horncastle and Market Rasen, holding back water to protect around 8,000 homes and businesses in the county,including 7000 in Lincoln.
Together, the four washlands that protect Lincoln held over 6 million cubic metres of water.
During the current relatively dry period the Environment Agency said it would be using the opportunity to drain the washlands, which will take up to a week and will involve channelling the stored water along the River Witham and out to sea.
The Agency said the process will be carefully managed to minimise the risk to downstream communities, so it can be ready to help protect them again in the event of more rain.
Norman Robinson, Environment Agency Area Director (Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire) said:
“Our defences and flood storage reservoirs have performed over the last few weeks – however, we want people to stay vigilant whilst we drain the washlands and also be prepared for further rainfall, particularly as the ground is so saturated.
“Our priority now is to find and repair any damage to our defences we become aware of. We have teams on the ground assessing urgent repairs to damaged or over-topping defences across the Lincolnshire as well as understanding the longer term options for recovery from the flooding.
“We are working closely with partners including local authorities, the emergency services, drainage boards and the National Farmers Union, as well as communities, to ensure flood risk is minimised and land drainage can resume.”
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