Hucknall: Serious questions raised after £400,000 flood system fails and leaves street underwater again

Thoresby Dale resembled a river at times as some residents were unable to get into or out of their homes on Monday night (October 31).

Hucknall county councillors contacted the emergency team at County Hall and asked them to assist residents, bring sandbags and do everything they could to help as people tried to keep water from entering their homes and divert it away down drains.

By the following day, the flood water had receded.

But there was still fury among many residents that a £430,000 flood alleviation scheme installed by the environment agency and Nottinghamshire County Council back in 2018 that was meant to ensure this sort of thing wouldn’t happen, failed to do its job.

And councillors have now demanded an urgent investigation into why the system failed.

Coun John Wilmott (Ash In), who represents Hucknall North at County Hall, said: “This is devastating for residents and as soon as we found out we contacted the emergency team at County Hall.

"We have been on site assisting residents.

“The flood alleviation scheme has clearly been breached and we will be asking serious questions of the council.

The new flood system, which was designed and installed following serious floods in 2013, involved adding a new surface water pipe for Thoresby Dale, along with gullies for drainage, which followed the earlier installation of a flood-relief culvert as part of the creation of Hucknall’s inner bypass nearby.

The new system is meant to channel any future floodwaters at the low point of the road into storage tanks, rather than towards residents’ gardens and homes and was meant to ensure scenes like Monday night did not happen again.

However, the system failed in 2020 after Storm Dennis hit the country and caused major flooding on Thoresby Dale with residents dubbing it ‘Thorseby Lake’.

Residents complained at the time that the flood alleviation system was faulty and the county council looked into the issue.

Now, the calls for a serious investigation into the system will grow louder following this latest failure.

Gary Wood, head of highways and transport at the county council, said: “We completely understand the concerns of residents on Thoresby Dale in Hucknall with the flooding experienced following intense rainfall on Monday night.

“As soon as we were made aware, we attended site to investigate and assisted residents.

“However, no properties were flooded and the water subsided overnight.

“This also involved us inspecting a culvert beneath Torkard Way, where we discovered a sandbag barrier had become dislodged, which our team duly replaced.

“We were back at Thoresby Dale the next day as to carry on with our investigation and as a precaution to pump out water if required and we will also be able to provide sandbags for any residents who remain concerned about their properties.

“We will be on standby throughout the week ready to respond if any further issues occur and will continue to work with partners to see what additional measures may be able to be implemented to provide an early warning and alleviate the impact of heavy rainfall in the area.

"We will be in touch with local residents this week to update them on our investigations.”