After Storm Babet brought us unusually persistent and heavy heavy rain to round off last week, village residents and businesses are thankful a drier spell of weather is now with us, and that damage and disruption was much more limited here than in many other parts of the country.
With the ground already sodden due to unseasonably high October rainfall, the accurately forecasted deluge began on Thursday night (19th October) and continued unabated throughout Friday. Many drainage systems just couldn’t cope with the sheer quantity of water, and flooding occurred on several roads in and around Ruddington yesterday.
Among the more serious consequences were the closure of the A52 westbound at the Nottingham Knight Island, towards the A52 Clifton Boulevard, and also eastbound between the A60 Loughborough Road and A606 Melton Road at Wheatcroft Island). As well as creating significant extra traffic through our already busy, roadworks-ravaged village (top left), it also left Ruddington bus passengers stranded; with the Green 10 forced to stop at the top of Greythorn Drive and not serve our village or business park for several hours. The 863 Ruddington to East Leake and Keyworth bus service was also suspended.
To make things worse, flooding also affected some of the outside classrooms at Rushcliffe School yesterday – meaning Year 12 and Year 13 pupils were sent home to Ruddington after lunch, just as these road closures were introduced. There was also some flooding in the grounds of St Peter’s Junior School on Ashworth Avenue, but staff were able to continue with lessons as normal.
Vehicles and Navy 3 buses along Wilford Road had to take extra care as a ‘ford’ was created in the dip between the A52 bridge and Grange Farm area – with some drivers of smaller cars opting to turn back for safety. It followed an accident along that stretch earlier on in the day. However, further along Wilford Road, the usual flood-prone area outside Ruddington Dental Practice stayed “dry” this time, following recent culvert clearing work.
Lorries travelling to and from Artex, and residents on the Pasture Lane estate, were not so lucky – finding themselves driving through floodwater just off the roundabout from Clifton Road. Meantime, householders in the Brookside Road area kept a watchful eye on their own flooded streets and pavements as the rain continued (top centre). Postal deliveries there were curtailed due to access issues. On the Bloor Homes development being built adjacent to them, Packman Dyke burst its banks onto the new flood plain for the first time – which served its purpose of protecting the recently constructed dwellings.
In the village centre, the Co-op had to close its doors for several hours as the leaking roof inundated the store once again (top right). Gwen Eyre from the store tells us the long-awaited roof repairs have finally been scheduled for November 6th. Meantime, High Street traders breathed a sigh of relief after further culvert and drain clearing avoided a repeat of the big flood experienced there just over three years’ ago.
Volunteers from Ruddington’s Great Central Railway also posted pictures of flooded railway lines around Rushcliffe Halt (below) – although no heritage passenger trains are using them at the moment.
With winter only just beginning, the ground already saturated, and more rain forecast next week, Ruddington Parish Council says it’s looking at what it can do pre-emptively in the future to react more quickly, especially to localised flooding which threatens village properties.
It’s Chair, Cllr Graham Fletcher, asks: “We are calling on all villagers effected yesterday with flooding in their homes that needed help with sandbags from Rushcliffe Borough Council, to let us know whereabouts you are and how bad it was so we can map out where to focus on first in the future. Please contact us; office@ruddingtonparishcouncil.gov.uk, Cllr.GFletcher@rushcliffe.gov.uk or via our social media.”
RUDDINGTON.info is grateful to everyone for photos already received, some of which are shared above, to highlight some of the problem areas of our village.
We’ll keep you posted with further weather-related news throughout the winter months ahead.
