Comment | Read Comments (3)

Bullstake Close residents with Oxford City Council staff

Hopes were rising last night that water levels were falling and homes in Oxford had escaped flooding.

The Environment Agency and Oxfordshire County Council both said they believed the worst of the danger had passed as river levels around the county began to stabilise or recede.

The city and county have been on high alert for six days after heavy rain swelled rivers, with four flood warnings issued over properties at risk near rivers late last week.

Kelmscott, in west Oxfordshire, was worst-hit, with 17 homes flooded.

In Oxford, families along Botley Road were told to take precautions as the Thames and its side-streams filled with water from the swollen rivers north and west of the the city. At one point it was thought more than 100 homes in Oxford were in danger.

Pumps, barriers and sandbags were brought in and last night officials were optimistic the threat had receded. According to the Environment Agency, the defences put in place had saved 30 city homes from flood damage.

Oxfordshire County Council's emergency planning officer, John Kelly, said: "Looking at the speed the waters have gone down since Saturday, we're fairly confident the situation is under control now.

"From the information we have been receiving from the Environment Agency, there don't appear to be any areas under threat."

In Bullstake Close, west Oxford, residents praised the work of city council staff to protect their homes.

Julie Lawrence, 49, said: "The lads from the city homes team worked so hard to help us. I don't think they could have done any more than they did. I honestly believe we would have been flooded out on the first day if it hadn't been for them."

Ann Sloper, 69, only moved home last November, after the summer flooding - which began six months ago yesterday. She said: "Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would be in this situation again so soon.

"The council have been absolutely fantastic and done a wonderful job."

Sean Fry, operations support manager for Oxford City Homes, said: "I think this work has made a big impact on the residents and helped keep Botley Road open."

Environment Agency operations delivery manager Andy Croxford said: "We advised and worked with the city council to ensure the temporary wall in Bullstake Close was an effective defence. This work protected 30 homes from flooding."

On Osney Island, Bridge Street resident Thomas Rijks, 54, said: "I really felt that the way these floods have been handled was far smoother than during the summer.

"The barricade along West Street went up at the first hint of flooding and from what I can see has really worked well."

See www.environment-agency.gov.uk for the latest information on flood alerts.

6:44am Monday 21st January 2008

Print

Email this

Comment

Add your comment

Name:
Email: *
Location:
**
	e.g. 123-123
Comment: Please note: All HTML tags will be ignored. Format Text:
By posting a comment, I confirm that I have read and agree to the terms of use. Comments are not moderated but we will react if anything that breaks the rules comes to our attention and we may delete inappropriate postings. Please treat other people with respect. You must not post anything that is abusive, indecent, unlawful or defamatory. Remember, you are personally liable for what you post on this site. If you wish to complain about a comment, contact us here.
* Your email address will not be displayed ** To avoid register now or login