An investigation is to be carried out into Southend’s seafront drains after severe flooding which wrecked homes and businesses.

Southend Council has appointed a special team to review the drains at flooding hotspots across the borough.

The team will examine the drains on City Beach, which flooded on September 19, to see what can be done to improve flood responses and see what lessons can be learned.

The team will also look at the drainage system to strengthen the council’s case in lobbying Anglian Water, which runs the drainage system that pumps the water into the estuary, to upgrade the system.

Councillor Martin Terry, who is responsible for public protection, said: “We have first got to prove our systems are working appropriately before we can persuade Anglian Water to make major capital investment.

“It is an unacceptable situation, and it is important the public of Southend knows we are taking this matter extremely seriously and treating it as a top priority.”

The team will be looking at how better to deploy people during flash flooding and overcoming potential delays. The group will also check out the condition and inspection schedule of the gullies.

Southend Council has been criticised for its design of City Beach, completed in 2011, as a contributing factor to the flooding.

Traders claim there has been a reduction in the number of drains on the seafront.

Mr Terry disagrees. He said: “It does not matter how many gullies there are in the road, if there is a lack of capacity underneath, the water will not go away.”

Anglian Water has refused to commit to an overhaul of the drains until a flooding report into the causes of a similar deluge in 2013 is published.

 

'Why did it take so long?' ask traders

SEAFRONT traders have backed the council’s investigation into the drains – but have asked why it has taken so long for some action.

Traders blighted by the deluge have questioned why, 14 months after the August 2013 floods and a month after September’s downfall, the authority has only now decided to do something.

Steve Yeung, who saw the roof collapse on his Pearl Dragon restaurant in Eastern Esplanade, said: “It’s good they are at least doing something, but why they did not do it last year, I don’t know.

“The question is now, whether they will follow through and take action afterwards.”

Martin Richardson, owner of the Happidrome Arcade which flooded out, is looking into the possibility of getting his own engineer to assess the seafront’s design and drains.

He said: “It’s nice the council is doing something, but it is too little, too late.

“The seafront has had a catalogue of design errors and all it likes to do is point the finger elsewhere.”

 

Long-awaited report due out soon

THE long-awaited flooding report into 2013’s downpour will be published early next month.

The report will include input from Southend Council and Anglian Water and will hopefully reveal the main causes and reasons for the severe flooding which hit in August 2013.

However, questions have been asked why it has taken so long to produce the report, when Essex County Council has already managed to produce a report into the causes of Canvey’s troubles in July this year.

But Martin Terry said Southend’s report is more ‘complex’ than Canvey’s.

He said: “It is far more complex than Canvey because it covered a wide area. I would like to have had it out sooner, but it has been a thorough investigation.”

Anglian Water has said it will not commit to any major upgrade of Southend’s drains until the report is published.

Martin Richardson, owner of the Happidrome arcade, in Marine Parade, said: “I just don’t understand how it can take this long to have a report out when other authorities have managed to publish theirs quickly.”