Anger as Peterborough street floods during storms

Thorpe Park Road in Peterborough was left under water when the storms hit yesterday (Sunday) and on Thursday.

Today resident Chris Judge said it was an ongoing problem.

He said: “The flooding on Sunday was the worst we have seen. The water was two inches above the pavement.

“Water came in and affected seven homes - gardens were like lakes.

“The road was impassable, so we had to block the road itself. The police wouldn’t come and close it.

“But cars kept on trying to come down - one person said they could come through as they were in a 4x4 - it just sent waves into homes.

“We got no support from anyone - police, fire and council would not come and help. It was a catastrophe.

“It has been happening for a year. And it is not the first time. 22 years ago there was a big problem here, and it turned out to be a blockage in the drains.

“The drains just can’t cope.”

A Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said across the county there had been 78 calls related to the flooding yesterday.

The spokesman said: “We had 78 calls to flooding/storm related incidents yesterday across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

“We mobilised crews to five of these. Four were incidents where the electrics had been affected and crews isolated the supply to make it safe. At one of these incidents crews pumped water out of the property as the resident was elderly.

“We also attended an incident in Peterborough where lightening had struck the property and affected electrics. Crews made the electrics safe.

“With flooding, we will attend if there is a risk to life.”

Cambridgeshire police said they received seven calls related to flooding.

The Fire and Rescue Service spokesman added: “If the heavy rain across the county has caused flooding in your property, please call Floodline on 0345 988 1188.

“If you are in immediate danger, you should call 999 and ask for the fire service.”

A spokesman for Anglian Water said: “Following the exceptional amount of rain that has fallen this weekend, our teams have been working with the local authorities to respond to flooding on Thorpe Park Road in Peterborough. Flooding is often an extremely complex issue with many different owners for the drainage network such as Highways, local councils and even private owners, as well as ourselves.

“Intense rainfall can cause standing water to build up, especially on hard surfaces because there’s nowhere for it to go, this causes surface water flooding. It’s a bit like a bath plughole, and it takes time for the water to drain away. Our teams will this week carry out further investigation work on the systems around Thorpe Park to ensure that our network is running as it should and can take this surface water away as quickly as possible.”