Following the severe thunderstorm and flooding in and around Dorridge on the night of Friday 25 June, Solihull Council has spoken to 411 households of which 174 experienced internal flooding.
On the night the Council received calls from 9pm until after midnight. The Council’s drainage engineers went onsite to assist the emergency services and the 'Coventry, Solihull & Warwickshire (CSW) Resilience team' deal with the flood water and provide immediate support to households.
Since the incident Council officers have spoken to 411 householders of which 174 experienced internal flooding. Officers also identified a number of vulnerable residents and they have all received visits from our welfare teams.
The Council’s street cleansing team has cleaned-up the roads affected last week, and from Thursday onwards, affected households were offered a disposal service for smaller flood damaged household items. On Saturday 3 July a bulky items service was laid on which on removed 3.9 tonnes of waste.
These disposal services will continue for another week and we will review this service in light of an ongoing requirements and continue the following week if there is still a demand.
The Council will continue to work with affected households and offer any other appropriate support, including around council tax arrangements for those having to temporarily stay in alternative accommodation.
The Council will now turn its attention to an investigation into the causes of the flooding event and a report on the incident will be prepared by the Drainage and Flood Risk Management team. It will look at any potential mitigation measures and recommend those that are feasible and effective, as well as identifying any possible funding available to pay for works.
The Council’s Drainage and Flood Risk Management team is still keen to receive videos and photos from affected households (at drainage@solihull.gov.uk ) this will provide useful evidence for the incident report and could form part of a future application for funding to support the installation of flood mitigation works.
Councillor Ken Hawkins, Cabinet member for Environment & Infrastructure, said:
“We will carry on speaking to those residents who have been affected as I know many will continue to need some support from us as they recover from this devastating flood event.
“I was pleased to see our officers out and about from Friday onwards offering practical advice and support to those affected. It is heartening to see how quickly they moved from identifying the extent of the flooding to helping households deal with the effects of the flooding.
“As well as continuing with our support we will also focus on the reasons behind the flooding. We can then see if there are any measures we can introduce to the area to reduce the severity of any future severe rainfall events that have the potential to turn into a flood event.”