Flood drama highlights problem in village

Residents living in Ellisfield witnessed a torrent of water gushing along Green Lane as the heavy downpour turned the road into a flowing river.

Paul Turner, who lives along the road, said: “The run-off to the field was incredible; it’s not just the water, it’s everything it carries with it and it carried on all the way to the bottom. A couple of cars were flooded. I don’t think they believed it could be that deep.”

Glen Horgan said the flash flood highlighted an ongoing problem in Green Lane.

The father-of-four helped a family whose car was ruined by the flood water after they attempted to drive through it, inviting them into his home whilst they waited for their vehicle to be recovered.

He told The Gazette: “I have lived here for nearly 16 years and this was a major problem when I first moved in.”

He said all the water from the surrounding fields runs off into Green Lane, resulting in it becoming a river during heavy rainfall, carrying debris along with it.

Mr Horgan, who lives in Green Lane, said the run-offs are only cleared once a year, which he believes is not enough, and he has now written to Ellisfield Parish Council asking for the problem to be looked into.

He believes the run-offs should be cleared more frequently and that a ditch should be built to take away some of the water from the fields.

He added: “It started raining quite badly late morning and there was flash flooding down the lane and my children and I went out to play in it. Then all of a sudden the top of Green Lane became a river and it got remarkably deep. A branch about 10ft long came down the road and nearly knocked my son over.”

The 61-year-old saw two drivers attempt to pass through the floods, before their vehicles broke down.

He said: “Something needs to be done about this. Although this was exceptional, to some extent Green Lane becomes a river every time there is a downpour.

"The run-offs are not sufficient, they are not maintained often enough and something needs to be done about the water running off the field. The dirt and muck the 'river' carries down the road is damaging the road itself and our property."

Mr Horgan spent four hours encouraging motorists to slow down before they entered the flood water.

Police closed the road later that evening, but by the morning the flood was gone.

Councillor Tim Guinness, chairman of Ellisfield Parish Council, played down the problem, and said: “I don’t think we have had anything in Ellisfield in the last year like what we had on Sunday. I was surprised by how little problems we have had this last year.

“I have driven around the village every day for the last three days and at no stage did I see any flash floods.”

However, he said the council is looking at combining with other councils in the area to set up a grip maintenance system to prevent flooding.

He added: “Ellisfield is a village which has periodically had problems when we get strong rains, they form little rivers and they do pour down the roads.”

Councillor Sean Woodward, executive member for economy, transport and environment at Hampshire County Council, said: "Ellisfield and Axford tend to suffer during very intense, heavy rainfall, as most of the land in the area slopes towards the roads.

"The situation there has improved since we completed an Operation Resilience drainage scheme in the Axford Road/Green Lane area, but given the topography of the land, drainage capacity on those roads may not always be able to cope with periods of intense rainfall.

"The levels of rainfall recently experienced have been particularly high. We will investigate whether anything more can be done but options are limited. In the meantime, we would very much appreciate the assistance of landowners in maintaining their own private ditches to help the situation.”

Other areas reported to have been affected by flooding on the roads on Sunday included Bramley, Carpenters Down and Stratfield Saye.

The Met Office issued a yellow warning for Hampshire on Monday, predicting that heavy showers could result in up to 10mm of rain falling in an hour which could cause localised surface water flooding.

The Environment Agency also warned that the River Loddon could be at risk of flooding, reporting on Monday that water levels were rising slowly, but that no property flooding was expected.

Hampshire County Council's highways teams have been out non-stop since the heavy rain hit the county over the weekend.

Emergency crews responded to 95 calls of flooding and removed 18 fallen trees across Hampshire on Sunday.