Marlborough flood – looking forwards

Marlborough has been recovering slowly from the Friday deluge. (Some) business are re-opening, many residents who were flooded are gradually getting their properties clean, dried and hopefully habitable as soon as possible. The insurance companies will be busy sorting claims, but recompense is never the real answer, not having to deal with the flooding in the first place is what matters. Being flooded leaves memories and scars so the emphasis from now on is to plan for any such similar situation in future.

Will it happen again? Yes, (very) most likely, but no-one can say exactly when, so being prepared in future is the key.

At the ‘extraordinary’ meeting of the full Town Council on Monday evening (08 Jan) Councillors agreed to update the existing ‘plan’ and create something that could deal with and alleviate as much of the disruption were (when?) such an event to recur.

Devizes MP Danny Kruger visited Marlborough late on Friday afternoon to witness at first hand exactly what had happened and the extent of the disruption. He came back again the following day to see all in daylight. It is now for Danny to work with the Environment Agency, at the highest levels to help them focus on creating measures that will reduce the impact of future deluges on both residents and business in the lower lying areas of Marlborough adjacent to the River Kennet.

Click here to see Danny’s newsletter about his visits to Marlborough on Friday and again on Saturday.

Businesses such as Dible & Roy (D&R Furnishers) in the Parade were hit badly and have been closed since, but they have just announced that they will be re-opening on Thursday (11 Jan), although some areas of their shop will not be accessible.

Roy Meek, owner of Krumbz cafe, on the corner of Kennet Place told the BBC: “We took this business over a year ago and in the first year there was a flood. [It was] Nothing like this, the floors were salvageable – nothing was overly damaged. But this time around we did not expect anything like this to happen. We have got a proper flood protection in place and we felt safe. But with the amount of water that came down, it was inevitable for this flooding to happen.

“Our shop is completely gutted. There is nothing left.”

The Police thanked the many members of the community who got up, out and helped. Inspector Ben Huggins, leader of this area’s Community Policing Team (CPT) told marllborough.news: “I would like to extend my thanks to those members of the public who have worked hard to support the efforts in Marlborough over the last few days. From a Policing perspective I have been struck by the clear closeness demonstrated by the Marlborough Community – coming together, volunteering, and helping to look after those in need. It is often in times of crisis that we the best of people and this has certainly been true for the people of Marlborough.

Your local Policing team have supported the operation in a variety of ways alongside other emergency services and we will continue to provide a visible presence within the Marlborough community. Please do come and talk to us”.

Today – Wednesday 10 Jan the Wiltshire Council waste team have been out removing the piles of flood damaged rubbish – furniture, floor coverings, appliances – everything that was non-salvageable from outside the houses and businesses affected.

For the future: click here to sign up to the Government website to receive any future flood warnings. And click here to reach the Wiltshire Council flood emergency page. Hopefully this won’t be necessary, but if/when it is at least there will be some time created to prepare.