For the last couple of nights, a band of community-spirited Islanders have been travelling around the Island to flood-affected areas and clearing drains and gullies in an attempt to prevent more Island homes flooding.
Instigated by Sam Loba, on Friday night the team of volunteers managed to completely clear three floods in Ryde after “pulling nearly a tonne of debris out of roadside drains”.
Sam said,
“We tried our best to clear the drains on Ryde Esplanade, we lifted and emptied a few but the others were too deep so unfortunately we didn’t have the kit to clear the entire road.”
Joined by the experts
On Saturday night, the team were out again, this time joined by some professionals, including RenoDrain, Stephen Evans and Michael Sutton. Sam put a call out on the Isle of Wight Community Information Facebook page asking Islanders to tell him where drains needed clearing.
Sam said they managed to all clear some major floods, ” which wouldn’t have been possible without their expertise and kit”.
He added,
“What started off with a friendly idea to help some flood victims clear drains has turned into an immense group effort backed by everyone on the Island who gave us the info we needed to tackle the worst areas.
“Areas corrected last night ranged from deep 2m streams in East Cowes, flooding gardens and houses, to every one of the lads involved clearing the entire hospital car park and surrounding roads.
He explained that most of the hospital area was a 1ft deep in water and deeper in other parts.
In just under two hours, they’d drained the entire carpark allowing safe access for ambulances and patients. The main road between Newport and Cowes had also been flooded, with even buses not able to get through. The volunteers managed to clear that flooding too.
Thanks to Island Roads
However, it’s not just the team of volunteers who have been working tirelessly to prevent the Island from flooding.
Staff from Island Roads have been working round the clock to do what they can to deal with flooding across the network.
One Islander who was keen to thank the workers from Island Roads for their help in preventing flooding by her home. Danielle Thearle posted to social media,
“Credit where credit’s due! I called Island Roads and explained we are in a flood risk area and the drain outside was absolutely stuffed to the brim with leaves etc.
“About an hour later we saw them clearing it. Thank you Island Roads … your kindness hasn’t gone un-noticed.”
Sticking up for workers from Island Roads
Sam Loba was also keen to praise the teams from Island Roads too. He told readers on social media,
“I know it’s easy to blame Island Roads, but please remember the workers of Island Roads have families and potentially live in flooded areas. They work tirelessly in full hi-vis gear each day.
“It is not the workers’ fault, we live on an island where all of our storm drains run out to sea so we are restricted by tides, help the workers and avoid slating them, any problems should be taken up with management not the lads and ladies in the muck.”
Out again tonight
Sam is planning to be out again tonight (Sunday), saying,
“Myself and maybe some others will be out again night if anyone else needs help with floods.
“Also happy to remove damaged goods from the house and help in any other way people have been affected by the floods.”
Flooding help
Anyone living in a flood affected area can find out where to get sandbags from and other useful information from the council’s website.
