Hampshire prepared for 'impact of wet weather' this weekend
Highways teams on standby after Met Office Yellow Rain Warning for Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 July
Last updated 24th Jul 2021
When heavy rain is forecast, localised surface water flooding is always a possibility so Hampshire Council's highway teams is ready to respond around the clock to ensure road gullies and highway drains remain operational and routes remain open wherever possible.
Councillor Russell Oppenheimer, Hampshire County Council’s Executive Member for Highway Operations, said:
“Being prepared for, and tackling, flooding is a year-round job for us and our partner agencies. We routinely monitor weather forecasts, as well as flood alerts and warnings, so that we can react as quickly as possible when bad weather is predicted."
“Although we’ve been enjoying a period of dry, hot, sunny weather, we shouldn’t forget that we’ve already seen some very heavy downpours in recent weeks and the forecast of more heavy rain over the next few days could result in isolated flash floods, and particularly where river levels rise rapidly."
“Our message to Hampshire residents is to be prepared, drive according to the weather conditions, keep yourselves informed and to think ahead.”
Hampshire Highways teams routinely clear and clean thousands of gullies and catchpits every month and also cut intercepting ditches in roadside verges in order to ensure water can drain away. They do this on top of a continuous programme of improvements to highway surface water drainage systems to make Hampshire more resilient to the effects of extreme weather.
Urgent issues on the highway can be reported to the County Council here during office hours, and via 101 outside office hours.
In an emergency, and particularly where there is a danger to life, call 999.
Sign up for Environment Agency flood alerts here.