Floods in Rolleston - November 2000

Monday 6 November saw part of Rolleston under Dove with a few roads several feet deep in water including Brookside, Station Road and School Lane - early in the morning the brook overflowed covering Burnside. Both the village school and the Burton College Rolleston Campus remained closed. People affected by the flooding were upset that their appeals to close roads to traffic - fell on deaf ears. The water started to recede about midday and by 2.15 pm most of the roads were clear in time for Arthur Woolley's funeral (attended by over 400 people - a few still wearing their wellington boots!). Below is a sample of the many pictures taken.

ROLLESTON-ON-DOVE - FLOOD DEFENCE WORK (Rollestonian - Autumn 2001)

The Environmental Agency agreed to provide the following summary to "Rollestonian " at their update meeting with the Parish Council.

The flooding that was experienced in many areas of England and Wales during October and November last year followed a period of significant rainfall. Autumn 2000 was the wettest on record for over 270 years. In many places, the flood levels were the highest on record and flooding occurred in areas that in the past did not have any previous record of flooding.

Over 10,000 properties were flooded at over 700 locations and there was widespread disruption to road and rail services. The total costs were in excess of £1.0 billion.

The Environment Agency, Severn Trent Water and East Staffordshire Borough Council attended a parish council meeting in February to discuss the flooding problems that had been experienced throughout the village. As a result of the meeting, the Environment Agency agreed to co-ordinate an Action Plan, detailing the works that the various bodies would undertake as a result of the flooding.

Throughout the village, there were several areas that were affected by the flooding. These included Station Road, Brookside and Alderbrook Close.

Each body identified the actions that fell under their powers and produced a set of actions to complete the broader Action Plan. In summary these were:

ENVIRONMENT AGENCY

- Dredging works will be undertaken at various locations within the village. There are several areas where there has been a build-up of silt, which will be removed as part of the works.
- Rebuilding the embankment adjacent to the River Dove, which suffered damage during the November floods.
- A new flood warning area has been created in Rolleston This uses information from the Anslow gauge station and affected residents will be invited to join the service in the near future.

Severn Trent Water
- CCI'V inspections of assets throughout the village to confirm the extent of siltation.
- Pump flow efficiency test of Rolleston Pumping Station.
- Investigations into alleged illegal connections.

East Staffs BC

- Undertake a feasibility into providing a pump to help over pump the flow to the west of Alderbrook Close.
- Provision of sandbags in conjunction with the Parish Council.
- Joint works with Severn Trent Water to undertake ditch clearance works at South Hill/Station Road Junction.

All these works are proposed to be completed before the winter period. For further information regarding the works within the village, please contact Barry Russell at the Environment Agency on 01543 404819.

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