Severn Trent Water has been working round the clock this week to tackle sewer flooding during stormy weather.
The company has been dealing with significantly more incidents of flooding than it would normally see at this time of year as a result of rain and storms in recent days.
Commenting on the situation, Severn Trent said:
“We know that sewer flooding is one of the worst things that can happen to our customers and although this situation is challenging for us, we are working hard to do everything we can for those who have been affected.”
The water company had already put a number of measures in place in anticipation of the poor wather conditions, including extra staff on the phones in its call centre and additional teams available out and about across the region, working round the clock to deal with flooding issues.
Following the heavy rainfall over the weekend, Severn Trent has deployed pumps in Worcester and in Upton upon Severn to help protect customers from the possibility of internal flooding.
Two pumps were fitted in Hylton Road in Worcester and another one in Upton upon Severn as a precaution after the River Severn rose more than two metres in 24 hours. Another three pumps are on standby (two for Hylton Road and one for Upton) if the river continues to rise.
Simon Carey, Senior Network Technician for Severn Trent, said:
“Once it became clear that the Severn was rising so quickly, and with the promise of more rain on the way, we moved quickly to get the pumps in place in order to protect our customers in Upton and in Worcester.
“Given the weather forecast, it’s clear that they’re going to be there for some time so we’d like to apologise for any inconvenience but they’re obviously doing a vital job in keeping people safe.”
This is the third deployment at Hylton Road and Upton this winter, with the pumps last being put out over the Christmas Bank Holiday.
The Severn Trent pumps are part of a multi-agency response with the Environment Agency to control flood water getting into the sewers and on into people’s homes.
The water company is also advising customers of which organisation to contact depending on the source of flooding, including the local council who are responsible for road drainage in the event of flooding from drains and gullies in the road, and the Environment Agency for flooding which is coming from a river or stream.
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