Flooding disruption as rainfall continues
Royal Borough and Bucks: Bus and car rescued as road floods
Flood defences were operated as heavy rainfall caused disruption in the area this week.
The B4447 at Cookham Moor was shut by police on Tuesday as water engulfed the road, moor and the nearby National
Trust car park, while the main road in and out of Holyport was hit by flash flooding, forcing another road closure last week.
The UK has been battered by ‘Storm Christoph’, leading to rising river levels along the Thames and forcing the Environment Agency (EA) to issue a series of flood alerts and warnings in the area.
Alerts are issued when flooding is ‘possible’, whereas warnings are given when flooding is ‘expected’.
Maidenhead Waterways has also been impacted, with water levels rising on the Green Lane weir and at The Cut.
Radio station Marlow FM – based at Longridge Activity Centre in Quarrywood Road, Bisham – had to fight off flooding with sandbags.
“We are working hard to stay on air and making plans for an alternative studio, should it come to that. Please bear with us and stay safe and dry,” the station told its followers on Facebook on Tuesday, adding ‘the studio currently remains dry’.
The B4447 in Cookham remains closed from School Lane to Terrys Lane, with flooding also impacting Ferry Lane, towards Bourne End.
The Royal Borough tweeted on Tuesday to say that ‘crews are monitoring the situation’ and that diversions are in place in The Pound.
Cookham borough and parish councillor Mandy Brar (Lib Dem) said that a car and a bus had become stranded here before being pulled out by rescue crews.
“It is worrying; it is quite difficult for the residents to use the shops in the village, they have to go into Bourne End or Maidenhead, or they have to walk,” Cllr Brar said on Tuesday.
“We are in contact with Simon Dale [interim director at the Royal Borough]. They are monitoring the situation.
“Hopefully the water level will go down but it does not look likely at the moment. With the pandemic going on, this is the last thing we need.”
The EA announced during the week that it was operating the Jubilee River flood defence, which diverts water away from the Thames around Maidenhead in the event of possible flooding.