The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
The emergency services around Lincolnshire were under huge pressure over the weekend with hundreds of calls made in the wake of Storm Babet.
The police dealt with 712 emergency 999 calls on Friday, compared to an average of around 400 at this time of year.
“The storm led to emergency services declaring a major incident. This led to much demand on all services that assisted with floods. I would like to thank everyone who was involved for their efforts,” said Supt Nicola Templeman, head of the force control room.
The storm increased river levels around the county and bursting banks led to floods across the weekend.
A yellow weather warning for heavy rain remained in place on Tuesday as more water fell on already saturated ground.
Fire and Rescue teams were called to 14 vehicles trapped in flood water.
On Sunday alone some 500 calls were received with 25 crews supporting flood-related incidents.
Ian Reed, head of emergency planning at Lincolnshire County Council, said: “Storm Babet brought about two months’ worth of rain to Lincolnshire over this weekend, causing issues right across the county. Whilst the situation is now improving, we’re monitoring water levels closely; they remain very high – particularly in the Witham and the Trent – and with more rain forecast this week, we could see more issues in some areas.
“As part of our multi-agency response, Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue has responded to over 500 flooding-related emergencies, and the county council’s highways team have responded to over 450 emergency call-outs on the roads.
“Tragically, we know of just over 180 properties across the county that have been flooded internally. We do expect that number to rise as the full impact of Storm Babet on Lincolnshire becomes clearer.
“As all this water works its way through the system, some roads remain closed and some flood warnings are still in place. I’d advise residents to stay vigilant, don’t take risks on flooded roads, and sign up for flood alerts if you haven’t already.
“Flooding is a dreadful thing to happen to your home or your business, but there are steps you can take to be more prepared should the worst happen, and you can find advice on the Lincolnshire Resilience Forum website.”
Lincolnshire County Council said river levels remain high in the aftermath of the storm.
Balmoral Avenue in Spalding was listed among flooded roads which were closed on Tuesday.
Lincolnshire had the equivalent of two months’ rainfall in less than 24 hours.
“We are glad to see a return of normal autumnal weather after the deluge of heavy rains,” said a police statement.
South Holland District Council said its customer services team had ‘high call volumes’ as a result of the storm and said waiting times would be ’longer than usual.’
A notice on its website urged people to make contact outside peak times, or email.
