Biggleswade families fight to save homes from flood water and fear problem ‘will only get worse’

Residents of Mulberry Close and Hazel Walk fought waves away from their doorsteps on the afternoon of August 16, as they say water flowed down from the Fairfield estate and wreaked havoc in their roads.

The families are now urging Central Bedfordshire Council and Anglian Water to take action to find the cause of the problem, with the flooding becoming a serious threat to their properties.

Resident Samantha Conder, 48, of Mulberry Close, said: “I have been here two-and-a-bit years and every time it gets worse. The storm drains can’t cope, I think because we are at a low point in Biggleswade.

“The water then breaches the kerb; you have to get out there within 10 minutes to move your car before the water comes up above the pavement.

“We are lucky that it didn’t rain in the middle of the night, so we saw what was happening!”

Nine houses were affected by the overflowing drains, with the water reaching their doorsteps.

Luckily, before it breached any aqua bags or front doors, a freshwater drain was opened to rid the street of the water. However, one resident was away and they cannot be sure that their home was not affected.

Samantha added: “I had to move all the furniture upstairs, and we started putting towels down, doing anything we could. One of my neighbours had a timber wall made out of sleepers which floated away!

“We were just trying to keep brushing the water away.”

Samantha claims that she was informed by CBC Highways that it was a problem with the capacity of the drainage system because it can’t cope with all the new houses.

She also told the Chronicle that Anglian Water is carrying out investigations in the town, checking all the drains to see if some on private land need dredging.

She added: “We have got to do something. There was about half a football pitch of water.”

There were pockets of flooding across Chronicle country during Sunday’s downpours, with Preen’s Shortmead Street warehouse also flooded.

Samantha would like to thank Amanda Cawthorn, chair of Biggleswade Community Safety Group, the Bedfordshire Emergency Volunteer Service, Biggleswade Town Council, and anyone else who lent a hand on the day.

An Anglian Water spokesman said: “Flooding is often an extremely complex issue, with many different owners for the drainage network such as Highways, local councils and even private owners, as well as ourselves.

“Intense rainfall can cause standing water to build up, especially on hard surfaces because there’s nowhere for it to go, this causes surface water flooding. We are working alongside the local council to carry out investigation work.”

A CBC spokeswoman said: “The drains located in Mulberry Road are made up of our highways storage drainage system, which starts at road level. This then feeds into an Anglian Water drainage system underground.

“We cleaned our drains with the Supervac yesterday and found no blockages or damage. Anglian Water have confirmed they will be conducting an investigation into their drainage system.”

The water main that burst on August 18 causing Sun Street to be closed is not connected to the incident. CBC says that the closure will run until August 24, but it is hoping to open it sooner. Anglian Water is completing checks.