Flood warning removed too early, say villagers

Families living in two Nottinghamshire villages have complained their homes were left exposed when a flood warning was prematurely removed.

Residents in Whatton and Aslockton received a flood warning from the Environment Agency (EA) on Monday morning, followed by a further text that evening telling them the warning was no longer in force.

Driveways and roads then proceeded to flood into the early hours of Tuesday amid heavy rainfall, and people in the area told the BBC they had felt "helpless" and "under-prepared" because of the agency's advice.

The Environment Agency said it "empathised" with those impacted and would work with partners to "understand the sources of flooding" following this event.

Nik Jones, 34, lives with his wife and three children on Dark Lane.

He received a knock on the door from a neighbour at approximately 02:00 GMT on Tuesday warning him the street was beginning to flood.

He said: "I'd barely had an hour's sleep, and then I was frantically lifting furniture upstairs and preparing for the worst.

"Because they removed the warning, we weren't prepared. We had an hour to sort everything before it got to the house."

Mr Jones's home narrowly escaped flooding, as water covered his driveway and reached his front door but "fortunately" did not make it inside.

He said this had been very much down to community effort, with Rushcliffe Borough Council's Streetwise team delivering sandbags to residents in the early hours.

"The sandbags arrived at around 02:30, and then myself and other neighbours were placing them in front of each other's houses for support," he said.

"Without that, I'm not sure what would've happened."

Another resident Cynthia Molloy said the removal of the warning had given her "false hope" about the situation.

"Me and my husband are getting older - lifting everything upstairs so last minute was hard for us," she said.

"Elderly people were out in the freezing cold trying to protect their homes.

"I rang multiple places. No answer. The places that did pick up told us that they couldn't help until it came into the house, but that's too late.

"Nobody was prepared. We were helpless and left on our own."

Councillor Chris Grocock, who represents the Cranmer Ward at Rushcliffe Borough Council, said 10 residents of Dark Lane had approached him about the warning.

"Local weather conditions have changed and the Environment Agency must check its warnings to make sure the system is up to date," he said.

An Environment Agency spokesperson said: "We understand the distress that flooding causes.

"We are currently responding to a large-scale flooding incident and our staff are working a rota system 24/7 to protect people from flooding.

"We are urging people to make sure they are signed up for flood warnings and alerts."

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