Huge sigh of relief as river levels fall (From Cotswold Journal)

Huge sigh of relief as river levels fall

8:11am Thursday 3rd January 2013 in News By Freya Leng

AFTER a very wet and rainy Christmas, Vale residents can breathe a sigh of relief as river levels slowly recede.

After peaking at 3.6 metres on Christmas Day, the river Avon in Evesham has been gradually dropping over the last week, with levels a metre above normal, at 1.28m.

Several roads in Worcestershire remain closed following the recent deluge. However, Eckington Bridge near Pershore, Waterside in Evesham and Mill Bank, in Fladbury, are now open.

Crown Meadow, which was completely under water last week, has now dried up after water started to subside on Monday.

Serena Balsdon, Environment Agency spokesman, said the weather situation was looking up.

“We are monitoring the situation closely. The weather situation is generally improving over the next 10 days although we will still see some light showers.” While the Avon was not as high as it was in November, residents and businesses have been keeping a close eye on water levels.

Mohan Rahman, manager of Rilys Indian restaurant, Waterside, said despite it having a lucky escape this time, after the cellar flooded in November, business had been hit with the road closure. He said: “We had about three days when it affected us quite badly. Because the road was closed a lot of people don’t even know we were open.

“The water came up close for a few days. It’s been coming up and down so much over the last few months. It’s amazing how quickly it can come up.”

Ronald Briggs, chairman of the Waterside flood defence trust, said they could now breathe a sigh of relief as water levels were slowly reducing.

“The past week the river has been steadily reducing,” he said.

“It’s no longer a flood risk but the one problem is the river Severn at Tewkesbury which is just over four metres high. The Avon has to flow in to the Severn. It’s finding it difficult to get away.

“We have left the Waterside flood barriers in for the time being just while we watch and see it go back down again. We would have been flooded if it hadn’t have been for the flood defence scheme put in.”

Meanwhile staff at the Northwick Hotel, on Waterside, are still clearing up the damage caused by the November floods.

The hotel was not affected this time by the recent heavy rain.