Severn Trent Water has reported that the current rain and storms mean its teams have had to deal with 30 per cent more flooding incidents than normal.
James Jesic, waste water manager said that over the last few days, the firm had had to deal with significantly more incidents of flooding than would normally be the case at this time of year.
The utility had already put contingency plans in place ahead of the predicted storms. Extra staff are manning the phones at its call centre and made additional teams available out and about across the region, working round the clock to deal with flooding issues.
Severn Trent Water has also installed pumps, with teams working in several areas including Worcester and Shrewsbury and keeping a close eye on areas known to be at high risk of flooding.
The company is offering practical advice to customers who are experiencing flooding – Mr. Jesic commented:
“If you have flooding at your home, check to see if it’s just rainwater or if it’s sewage that has come from an overflowing sewer, possibly through a manhole cover in your garden or outside your property. If it’s just rainwater, the flooding should subside when it stops raining, although it can take up to four hours for water to drain away, so be patient. Where sewage is escaping this is obviously a priority for us, so please call us on 0800 783 4444 and we’ll get a team out to help as quickly as possible. “
“If you’re concerned about flooding from drains and gullies in the road, you should call the local council as they are responsible for road drainage, but again, we generally find that the flooding will go away when it stops raining. If the flooding is coming from a river or stream, get in touch with the Environment Agency, as they have responsibility here.”
He added that in stormy weather of this magnitude, the drains and sewers often have significantly more water flowing through them than they are designed to take, which could lead to overflowing and flooding. Mr. Jesic said:
“We design our sewers to take a higher than normal volume of water to allow for heavy rainfall, but the storms and weather patterns we have been seeing lately have brought significantly more rain in short bursts than we expected when the sewers were put in place.”
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