Flood panic!

The images you see are not taken in York or Wales but from Reynolds Avenue Chadwell Ward. An astute resident contacted me on realising that the road works that I have promised for a while now are finally underway. They were concerned that the new road surface would be subjected to the wet conditions seen in the pictures and rather rapidly lose its pristine image. Her are some of the complainants comments:

"Every year we have this problem of flooding when there is heavy rain even if its only for ten minutes. I have thought of raising this issue before but was not sure how to go about it. I did phone the council once but was told to phone when the road is actually flooded. The problem is that the flood does not last long enough for someone to be able to come and inspect it. When the rain stops, 10-15 minutes later the flood water drains out. My concern is that if the rain lasts longer than ten minutes then mine and some of my neighbours houses can get flooded. Since there is going to be work done to the road maybe this problem can be looked at the same time."

The Group Manager for our Civil Engineering department has copied me into an email sent to Thames Water:

"Post code RM6 4MT. Please see attached email and photos. The symptoms described are typical of those of a surcharged surface water sewerage system. The highway gullies are described as working a short while after the rain has stopped. Can you please advise of what action you will be taking."

An application has been sent to the owners for a potential Carriageway crossing which will be installed on Reynolds Avenue at a price reduced by 25%, due to the major works being carried out. Other interested parties should avail themselves of this opportunity.