In early January following Storm Henk, Carolyne visited homes affected by groundwater flooding in East Ilsley, where she is flood warden. Some homeowners were new to the area since the last significant flooding in 2014, and were not aware of how bad the flooding had been then.
Carolyne updated residents with information from the council and the Pang Valley Flood Forum several times a week. She reported blocked gullies and grates. She also attended the Pang Valley Flood Forum public exhibition later in January and spent several hours talking to residents, fellow flood wardens, and representatives of Thames Water, the Environment Agency and other organisations. Carolyne also kept in touch with flood wardens across West Berkshire in her role as chairman of Scrutiny Commission, because of its ongoing work to scrutinise Thames Water and the Environment Agency.
West Berkshire Council provides advice about flooding here www.westberks.gov.uk/flooding Specific problems with drainage and flooding can be reported on the following web page by zooming in and pinpointing on the map https://westberks.highway-iams.uk/Live/PBLC/PIP/?cg=Drainage WBC uses reported incidents on this map to prioritise where action is most urgently needed.
The Pang Valley Flood Forum contains a dashboard of information, including a gauge labelled ‘groundwater’ which is an average of groundwater level readings in this area https://www.floodalleviation.uk/dashboard/ It also contains interesting historic data. You can report sewage incidents to Thames Water: www.thameswater.co.uk/help/report-a-problem
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