Roads closed due to flooding
With water levels rising once again over the past 48 hours, four sets of flood gates on Somerset roads have been closed. The A361 between Burrowbridge and East Lyng is the only road closure that appears on the “Travel Somerset” map.
The other three sets of gates are as follows:
- Muchelney to Langport
- Cutts Road, Athlney
- Moor Lane (between North Curry and East Lyng)
The A361 was closed at 6pm yesterday evening. Please plan your journey in advance and bear in mind that low lying roads without flood gates are likely to be flooded.
A yellow weather warning for rain will be in place from 9pm tonight (Wednesday) to 6pm Thursday. A flood warning remains in place for Currymoor and Haymoor. This means it is increasingly likely the road will need to remain closed for several days.
Travel Somerset (https://www.travelsomerset.co.uk/) produced by Somerset County Council is useful for A roads. Sadly it is little help for flooding incidents on smaller roads. Given that Somerset has an awful lot of those and many are prone to flooding, this is disappointing. The disappointment is because this is what residents of the Levels were promised in 2014. SCC promised a travel map with updates for flooding to cover roads across the Levels. To date we really do not have that.
Meanwhile the Environmen t Agency are using pumps when opportunities arise. D-J Gent of the Environment Agency told us: “the rainfall has not been as severe (as in 2014) and there have been windows of opportunity to pump the water levels down in our storage areas. Additional pumps can be deployed to keep water levels low at Northmoor and Saltmoor while we reduce the level of Currymoor. Once Currymoor’s water level reduces, then the Athelney spillway will stop running and no more water will flow to the A361 or Saltmoor floodplain.”