A REPORT on the floods which hit Witney during Christmas 2020 details what has been done to limit future flooding.
On December 23 and 24, approximately 54 homes and businesses were affected by internal flooding, with a formal investigation carried out.
That investigation led to the ‘S19 Flood Investigation Report for Witney’, which was on the agenda at West Oxfordshire District Council’s (WODC) climate and environment overview and scrutiny committee.
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The report reads: “It was deemed necessary to complete a formal investigation into the flood incidents in Witney due to the number of properties that reported flooding internally.
“At least 54 residential and business properties were confirmed as flooding internally on December 23 and 24, 2020.
“This included residents at Mill House Care Home, Riverside Gardens and Riverside House needing to be evacuated.”
On December 23, the report states: “The amount of rainfall and its intensity that fell on that day overwhelmed some parts of the highway drainage systems which are very reliant on outfalls to watercourses which had started to become compromised by the rising river level.
“This was followed on December 24, 2020 by river flooding when the upstream catchment flows reached Witney and river levels peaked.
“The level peaked just after midnight on December 25, 2020.”
The 2020 floods were greater than the current Environment Agency (EA) modelled ‘one in 100-year’ flood event.
Despite site visits and meetings carried out by the WODC flood engineer and the EA, the report states the EA hasn’t carried out ‘significant works on or adjacent to the River Windrush’.
“The EA sent two crews in the immediate aftermath of the flood to check the river for blockages and spoke at length to affected residents to offer advice on flood protection,” the report says.
“The EA has acquired funding in the current (2021/22) financial year, to investigate flood risk in Witney.”
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The report adds that the EA has ‘revised the threshold at which they consider issuing the flood warning, which needs to provide two hours’ notice of property flooding’.
The EA receives an alarm when this threshold is crossed and uses model outputs to predict this in advance.
Meanwhile, according to the report, the Witney Flood Mitigation Group regards a series of actions as ‘quick wins’.
These include ‘significant maintenance’ carried out from Woodford Mill to downstream of the footbridge through Langel Common, and new gauge boards installed from Woodford Mill to Langel Common footbridge.
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This story was written by Liam Rice, he joined the team in 2019 as a multimedia reporter.
Liam covers politics, travel and transport. He occasionally covers Oxford United.
Get in touch with him by emailing: Liam.rice@newsquest.co.uk
Follow him on Twitter @OxMailLiamRice
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