CaRT responsible for worse flooding of town

REFUSING to open a sluice gate in Worksop, Canal & River Trust exacerbated flooding where people had to be rescued from chest-high water, a council leader told the BBC.

Council officials repeatedly asked Canal & River Trust to alleviate the flooding by opening the sluice gate, but the Trust refused to do so, but firefighters overruled the Trust and eventually opened it several hours later to save the town.

Bizarre that CaRT would not open sluice

Councillor Simon Greaves, the leader of Bassetlaw District Council insisted opening the sluice gate was 'vitally important' and it was 'bizarre' that CaRT would not do it, telling the BBC:

"One of the things that has most angered local people is the way in which, sadly, the Canal & River Trust did not step up to respond when they could have done.  We knew it was vitally important that the sluice was opened in order to mitigate the volume of water we were dealing with, and that's why we made repeated demands that it was opened.

"It was almost like ringing someone up that had no idea where we were, what was happening or what the reality of the situation was and the urgency of the situation."

"For several hours there could have been more water being taken from the town centre, helping to alleviate and mitigate the crisis."

Properties evacuated

Worksop was flooded  when the the Ryton overflowed its banks following heavy rain, with 25 properties evacuated, two homeless men became trapped and nearly drowned in the resulting flood caused by the fast flowing water on the streets that turned into rivers.

Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service boat teams helped people escape from their homes.

Another attempting to get action from CaRT was Kathy Frankland, Site Manager of the Riverside Caravan Park, who repeatedly phoned CaRT and asked it to open the sluice gate to relieve the flood.  But it refused, and it was 15 hours before it was eventually opened by the fire service.

The result was that many caravans, including her own, were damaged beyond repair, and cars flooded.

CaRT insisted no flood!

Another resident at the caravan site, Theresa Downing, stated that she phoned CaRT and told that the Ryton had flooded, but the the woman replied that there was no flood alert, even though told that she was looking at water pouring from the Ryton!

One thing for sure—it's NOT 'better by water'!