FLOODED FOUR TIMES IN ONE MONTH
WARTIME FIRE ENGINE AND LOCAL VOLUNTEERS COME TO THE RESCUE OF BELEAGUERED BOSS
BOSSES of a garage in Nottinghamshire say constant flooding is “crippling” the business.
Epperstone Bypass Garage in Lowdham was severely flooded yesterday, after heavy rainfall overnight and into the morning – the fourth time the business has been flooded this month.
A Second World War fire engine was drafted in to help clear the water, with some local residents pitching in to help.
The company has spent more than £50,000 on repairs and installed flood defences to protect the inside of the building, but told the Post the problem can’t continue if they want to remain open.
Josh Eddy, a company director at the garage, said: “At 5am I logged into the camera system and I noticed the whole compound was obviously flooded.
“Over the last two years, we’ve installed flood defences inside our building, so that’s actually stopped the water from entering the workshop itself.
“But as far as the car park is concerned, this is the fourth time this month this has happened.
“This is the worst of the four times by an extra couple of feet. “This is crippling our business. “We can’t get any work in or out of our workshop – it can take up to two days to pump this out.”
He praised the efforts of those who helped to pump water away from the compound, but added that the flooding issue at the garage was unlikely to go away unless something was done.
He continued: “This has been a monumental effort. A couple of chaps from (Nottinghamshire County Council) have come down. The problem we have is that we’re receiving all of the water from Woodborough and HMP Lowdham.
“The existing pipe work that the council put in maybe 20 years ago can’t cope with the volume of water and the rain we have today. So the only place the water can go is into our premises.
“This is something that needs to be taken care of.
“Fortunately we don’t get it into our workshop any more. We were flooded before we put in our flood defences – that cost us over £50,000 to repair.
“This is costing us a lot of money. “We can’t do any work today, and tomorrow, and that will continue to keep having a knock-on effect. While we’re flooded, we’re closed. This keeps me up at night, honestly.”
Peter Cross, chairman of Lowdham Flood Action Group, was one of the people who gave up their time to help Mr Eddy and his business.
He feared the worst for the village when he was alerted to the possibility of the cricket pitch lagoon flooding. No homes in Lowdham were flooded, but he soon learnt of the problems at the garage and rushed to help.
Mr Cross said: “We got our alert at 6am. We weren’t expecting that. We thought the rain was not going to be as bad – I think many people have been caught out.
“We had an alert at about 8am that it had peaked – which was a relief, without any flooding at all in Lowdham.
“But then I got a message from Josh. Sadly we’re seeing flooding here again.
“We’ve now got a good team of people behind us for events such as this.”
Mr Cross was joined by David Moore, a farmer who owns the vintage fire engine, which he uses to help out whenever there is flooding in the village. Once up and running, the vehicle can pump four tonnes of water per minute.
He told the Post: “They were designed as an emergency pump. They’re a pretty rubbish fire engine, but a brilliant pump. I’ve used it in Lowdham three times now.”
Nottinghamshire County Council has been approached for comment.