After Storm Ciaran, we saw 48 hours of heavy rain onto already saturated ground, lifting river levels and causing high outfall from local springs.
On Saturday afternoon surface water began to rise in several places in Tilling Green. In Cooper Road and Lea Avenue it was up to 12 inches deep.
Soon after 3:30 pm, East Sussex Fire and Rescue (ESFRS) arrived and it was assessed that one of the two Southern Water owned flood pumps (Marley Road and Henley Close) had probably failed. With the east of the estate reasonably dry, the Henley Close pump was suspected. A visual check indicated that it was silent.
In response to a call for sandbags, REACT provided some from a stock held locally. Contact with the Environment Agency at Scots Float provided an offer of more. We remained in touch with the Agency throughout.
ESFRS advised motorists not to drive in the water because the water disturbance could cause ingress into those houses where levels were up to front steps. Pedestrians wading in the water were also advised of the risk of under water hazards such as open drains.
As contact with Southern Water through their report number (0330 303 0368) proved impossible by phone with a variety of recorded messages- there is a high number of calls; your call is valuable; have you tried our website - it was fortunate that at about 4pm, a representative of Southern Water appeared. He quickly explained that he was not from the flood department, but agreed to call for an engineer to check the suspected pump (Henley Close - asset 103076)). Later we were informed that engineers had been alerted as "Priority 1" by the company.
ESFRS remained for two hours until around 5:30pm to carry out checks and to close parts of Cooper Rd, Lea Avenue and Pottingfield Rd and help reassure residents. When the crew left, the levels were judged as stable.
By 6.00 pm there was a good deal of surface water but luckily none in homes, however around 50 homes remained at risk.
Meanwhile further calls to check Southern Water action at 5:33pm and 7:21pm were unsuccessful, but by this time, residents in the area and others were also calling.
By 7:30pm, water levels were increasing again and there were reports of sewage levels rising in some lavatories. ESFRS returned and pumped surface water from Pottingfield over the river defences into the sewer which drains into the Tillingham. This alleviated the situation.
At some time in the late evening and after ESFRS had contacted the Sussex Resilience Forum, there were local reports that Southern Water engineers had arrived and water began to subside. Presumably they had restarted the Henley Close pump, however there was no contact with them.
Checks on Sunday at 8am verified that both pumps were working and roads were back to normal. Only some puddles and mud indicated what had occurred on the previous day.
Some speculated that runoff from Valley Park had aggravated the situation. With Valley Park's integral Sustainable Drainage System (deep "swale" draining to two "retention basins" and an "aquabrake" to slowly release water to the Tillingham) there was no justification for such speculation.
In the absence of any report from Southern Water, we maintain that what lay at the heart of the problem was the silent Henley Close pump. At the height of the flood, we have video evidence of the Marley Road pump working but the Henley Close pump was silent.
In the aftermath, as the two flood pumps are crucial to keep Tilling Green dry, we need to secure assurance from Southern Water that during high risk periods, vital equipment would be checked. With the Environment Agency and others, we will work on this.
