A man who has lost £20,000 after sudden spates of flooding at his home in Burton Joyce is asking the authorities to investigate the cause.
Andy Palmer’s property has been flooded four times in the last three months.
Although the incidents follow rainfall, he says nothing similar has happened in the previous decade and the exact cause is unknown.
The first time in October caused damage throughout the ground floor, and ruined thousands of pounds worth of items.
He has been forced to use pumps to prevent water from entering the house three times since then.
Properties on either side of Andy’s house on Nottingham Road have also been affected by the localised flooding.
He has contacted his council and other authorities in an attempt to resolve the problems.
Severn Trent, which is responsible for managing sewers, says it hasn’t found any issues with the network, and is continuing to investigate.
“The first thing I knew was when I got a call from a neighbour on October 20 that water was rising around the house. My wife got home and found the water coming up,” Andy said.
“It rose around the front of the house until the drive was under 50cm of water, then the back garden and came up through the hardwood floors.
“It started around 11am, and we couldn’t get it all out until 1am.
“My wife hurt herself with the strain of moving things away from the water – and then there’s the emotional stress we’ve had.
“It has started coming up through the manhole three times since then, and we have to use the pumps to keep it down. It’s like the drains can’t deal with this volume of rain.
“It’s worrying going out in case it happens again.
“We have contacted the council and Severn Trent, but no one seems to know why this is happening.
“It cost us £20,000 because not all of the items damaged in the garage were insured, and we are only just getting electricity back on downstairs.
“We’ve been here for nine years, and nothing like this has ever happened before. Something has clearly changed recently.
“It feels like everyone else has been drinking mulled wine and looking forward to Christmas, while we’re still recovering from what has happened.”
A Severn Trent spokesperson said: “We’re sorry to hear about the issues Mr Palmer has experienced, as we know just how distressing experiencing any kind of flooding can be.
“We’ve had one report of flooding at this property that our teams attended, and while they found no sewer flooding or issues with the network, we did arrange a follow-on meeting with Mr Palmer as we are aware of a wider surface flooding issue in the area.
“Surface water flooding is when there’s a lot of rainfall in a short amount of time that can’t drain away quick enough through the drains and gullies.
“We’re working closely with the Lead Local Flood Authority, Nottinghamshire County Council, and the Highway Authority, VIA-EM, on this wider issue, to understand what can be done to reduce the flood risk in in the area.
“Mr Palmer has our teams direct contact number, so we’d be more than happy to speak with him and arrange a future visit.”
Nottinghamshire County Council, the lead flood authority, hasn’t responded to a request for comment.
Is the gentleman’s flooding problems related to all the recent building work that’s been taking place in and around Burton Joyce?
There’s been an incredible amount of land disturbance and surely geographically this will have consequences?!
The new road Colliery Way has massive banks either side and the water only goes one way down and the land around Burton Joyce is a natural flood plain for the Trent and Gedling pit regularly flooded and had to be pumped out.
Maybe talk to the Coal Board or local land management experts for future advice?
I also thought that all the rain fall would run directly down the GAR directly into Burton Joyce. This problem did not occur so regularly beforehand.
We live in Burton Joyce and have experienced the worst flood threat in 20 years, our property was inches from being flooded yesterday and, sadly, many other were not so lucky.
The GAR and property developments over the past two years must have played some part in this. The continued property development on the A612 towards Colwick will only add to the problem, why are we building on land that is easily flooded? Who is responsible for granting this permission and what do the environmental impact assessments contain? It is my understanding that these have to be completed before any development takes place – they must be reviewed by an independent body.
Labour bosses at Gedling Borough Council must must must stop building on the green belt, flood plains and green spaces. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know what the consequences of concreting over natural drainage are.
I hate to state the obvious, but surely it’s as a result of horrific weather? I live in Sherwood. For the first time in my fives years in this house my back garden has been water logged … several times this winter. No new building work, just insane amounts of rain.
If you take a look at weatherspark.com there’s a whole bunch of graphs for precipitation for Nottingham over four years. The amount of heavy rainfall in November/December compared to previous years is bonkers.
Totally agree with not building on the flood plains near Burton Joyce, but surely we have to accept this has been one pretty awful wet winter.
Tbh, it’s on the Trent’s flood plain…..so perhaps not all that surprising.
Weatherspark.com thanks Graham for raising what I consider to be a vital issue …the amount of and intensity of rain fall . I have for many years now been aware of intensity of rain fall and have related this to the thousands of wind farms globally … please please someone out there research and produce some evidence on off shore and inland wind farms …thank you again
Unfortunately the weather situation , especially recently is unbelievable for thousands of people around the country and the world, however when it hits home we all realise there’s not much safe anymore no matter what a wonderful village or town we all live in , yes we help each other but sometimes we need more and at the moment, I think we have to live with what we’ve had for years, unfortunately yes it’s getting worse but a spell of dry weather, would help for now, unfortunately it’s going to be back , and at the moment no matter what we introduce it’s not enough.
Mmmm
Councils paying fat cat bonuses annually rather than doing their job
Think we need to look at lack of drain cleanage
Building on flood plains.
Bad idea ?
No dredging of rivers anymore.
There has always been rain.
Nil hedge cutting of country lanes
I have been hit twice already in the last few months.
The garden was totally flooded. The back garden was over a meter fifty under water.
The water did come into the car and house. Is there some support one can get from the council?
I had to seal the front door to stop the inflow of water.
The canal and the road (main road) were a dangerously solid river and Lambley lane (coming from the hill) was one big “flash flood”.
The canals cannot cope with the amount of water coming down. There is no building up the hill it is just water logged and maybe the canal is too small to cope.
Oh for pity’s sake. We’ve had torrential rain for long periods for donkeys years. And years ago it wasn’t an issue. Fields were not buried under housing as far as the eye can see. Brooks and streams were regularly dredged and cleared. A ploughed field absorbs ten times that of an unploughed one. They get in the crops…they should then plough them. But they don’t. These fields are sold off and buried in concrete. Look at either side of Loop Road, once open fields….buried in new housing as far as the eye can see. Stoke Lane…more ST land sold off for housing. Once open fields that soaked up this water before it made its way via drains to the Trent. And it does all go to the Trent, go look at ST outfalls. Untreated when it’s like this, even after doubling in size ST can’t cope so dump it. When did you last get YOUR road drains and gully’s sucked and cleaned out? Everywhere you see standing water on every road. Look at side of Burton Rd Cricket field…How long as this area flooded? Across both sides of the road. It’s an embarrassment. Never got this when I was younger. Never saw leaves piled rotting in gulleys covering the drains, every one of them. Church St in Carlton, every single one of them blocked and covered in dead rotting leaves. We build these new estates on flood plains. Tannery Drive Lowdham…remember it being built 20 years back?..all big fancy posh housing at the time, not so desirable now are they? They always new it was a flood risk but did the developer warn you? Oh by the way your on a flood plain, there’s every chance the Beck will overflow and flood you? Course not. Cocker Beck has flooded since I was a child. Farmers MUST be made to deep plough fields after every crop harvest. All brooks, becks and streams need to be kept clear of debris, not dredged, just cleared. Every single road gulley should be spotless, roads swept clear of leaves regularly. And most important…stop burying fields that are natural flood areas in concrete. Until every single Brownfield site is developed, and there are thousands but it’s not as profitable, NOT one more Greenbelt development. Oh, and if you knowingly bought your house on a known floodplain…quit moaning, you have only yourselves to blame on that one. Do your homework. Perhaps ask GBC why they want another 50 million to improve the town centre whilst they let your gulleys and roads unattended and your road to fill with water?