Ryde flooding response to be examined at County Hall

County Hall’s environment and community protection committee (ECPC) is set to discuss investigations into the events of October 2023: prepared for both the Isle of Wight Council and the Environment Agency (EA).

More than 100 properties were flooded in Ryde’s Monktonmead area on October 25 following Storm Babet.

It was described as an ‘extreme rainfall event’ with a ‘large volume of rainfall occurring in a relatively short amount of time’.

A flood risk investigation report prepared for County Hall said: “As rainfall levels were high during the month of October compared to the same month in previous years, it is likely that the catchment was highly saturated prior to the event.

“The reported cases of flooding were mostly in the vicinity of the Monktonmead Brook at Simeon Recreation Ground.

“A number of other properties were also impacted across Ryde and responses to the stakeholder engagement survey identified several issues with drainage as a potential factor of flooding, with issues such as blockages and insufficient capacity generating surface water runoff and pooling in other areas of Ryde which correlates with the 2022 investigation.

“The presence of foul sewage in the flood waters indicates the combined sewer system was also a secondary source of flooding.”

The report added the flooding had ‘significantly impacted residents’, with many forced to leave their homes into ‘alternative accommodation’, on either a ‘temporary or permanent basis’.

It also highlighted a ‘loss of business’ because of its impact on a number of local firms.

The EA previously admitted ‘lessons have been learnt’ over its response and that if the flooding was to happen now, it would handle aspects ‘differently’.

Its report published in July said there was a near two-hour delay in EA contractors installing two flood boards at each gate at Simeon Recreation Ground.

There was also a breakdown in communication, resulting in uncertainty over whether any boards were in place at all, according to the findings.

The report concluded the EA had deviated from its flood response procedures.

An EA spokesperson previously told the press: “Every decision we took during the response was taken with the best intentions of protecting residents from the impacts of flooding from all sources, but there are aspects of our response that we would now do differently based on the learning from this incident.

“We have built these improvements into the defence structures themselves and how they operate.”