Across the Levels & Moors, a number of flood alerts and one flood warning remain in place:
The weather has continued to be dry, with a settled short-term forecast. All spillways have stopped running and water levels in all moors continue to drop.
With the reduced level of risk and the improving situation, we and our partners at the Local Resilience Forum made the decision to stand down the Major Incident yesterday (Tuesday 24 January). This does not change or reduce the level of our operational response. We will continue to monitor the situation closely and are well-placed to react swiftly should the need arise.
Pumping activity is underway at Currymoor, Saltmoor, Northmoor, West Sedgemoor, Long Load, Westover, Huish Episcopi, Midelney and Dunball. In addition, there are temporary pumps running at Elson’s Clyce, Haymoor, Fordgate, Kitch Drove and Bridgwater docks. We have been moving some of the smaller pumps throughout the incident to ensure they are working in the most effective way – for example, by relocating pumps to deeper water when the levels have dropped. The public are reminded it is not safe to enter areas or compounds where pumping operations are underway.
The reducing water levels at some of our pumping stations means that we have had to turn off some of the additional temporary pumps. However, we are continuing to run the permanent pumps at these sites to ensure water levels on the moors fall as quickly as possible. We encourage riparian owners to check their culverts and ditches, and clear any blockages to ensure free-flowing water to our pumps. For more information on riparian owner responsibilities see: Owning a watercourse.
We will keep our enhanced temporary capacity in place until the end of the winter. Some of the pumps we have used come from our national pool of emergency pumps and might be needed to support pumping in other parts of the country if we have serious flooding elsewhere. To ensure this does not affect our ability to respond locally if conditions change, we are already planning how we would source other pumps.
We are running one drop-in session this week at Moorland Village Hall, on Thursday 26th from 57pm. If you have any questions or concerns, please drop in at any time to speak to staff.
Somerset County Council Highways have reopened the A361, and as water recedes they will make the decision about when it is safe to open Cutts Road, New Road and Langport Road. As water recedes, we continue to urge motorists not to attempt to drive through flood water.
