Fury as Whitley flood returns

Richard Cutcher • Published 19 Aug 2011 10:15 2 Comments

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EXCLUSIVE

A FLAGSHIP £225,000 flood alleviation scheme buckled at its first challenge yesterday after surging water devastated homes and left angry residents to clean up the mess in Whitley.

The Chronicle was on the scene at Kingsley Close as furious neighbours waded through knee-deep water.

The flash-flooding has brought back terrifying memories of the 2007 floods, the outcome of which led to council signing off the alleviation work.

Claudette Samuels has lived in Kingsley Close for 36 years, and was livid as she watched her house come under threat again.

Mrs Samuels said: "We only started having these problems when the A33 was put in and these flood works earlier in the year were meant to stop this happening again but obviously haven't."

Sian Silman, 35, said: "I don't think you can print what I want to say. I am disgusted that the council's plans haven't had any effect. They said it wouldn't happen again and it has. There is water coming through my floorboards and all we have been given is some sandbags."

The council responded to calls at 1pm from Mrs Samuels and provided residents with sandbags and two yellow tankers arrived on the scene to pump out the water. They also distributed sandbags to other homes on the Swallowfield Drive estate but in a number of roads the rising water at timeslooked menacing but then subsided.

Mamadou Wone, 35, rents a house in Kingsley Close and these are the first floods he has experienced in Whitley.

Mr Wone said: "After all the work they did over the other side of the close I cannot believe it has happened. I will have to stay at a friend's house tonight."

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AW - RG6
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Aug 19, 08:40
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Amazing – Reading / Wokingham get high level flash floods along with a few other towns in the south and all we get is local newspapers carrying the story

Bournemouth and Southampton had extensive full reports about it on both ITV/BBC Sothern news programmes – Reading got one small mention on ITV and that was it

It was the same with the Snow – we got 12-13ins and everything at a standstill but little or nothing mentioned – along the coast, and even Basingstoke got 8-9ins and it became a major news report

In another unrelated report they even went to the trouble to call us ‘a town in Berkshire’ you only knew it was Reading when the reporter happened to say the word or you where local so knew the story

Plus why aren’t we – the County Town of Royal Berkshire, even on the weather maps?

(and lots of villages that no one will know are)

Just what is it that the television southern news programmes have against Reading?

Now that could be an interesting news item!

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Nigel Garage
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Aug 19, 15:18
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This is what happens when you build a housing estate in a moat! On the positive side, I'm sure many of the residents have dreamt of having an outdoor pool so enjoy it while it lasts!

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Aug 19, 15:57
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