Water from River Welland floods through bank hole reported near Crowland
Water can be seen flooding through a breach in a river bank.
Concerns have been raised about the high levels of the River Welland following a deluge of rain brought by Storm Henk on Tuesday.
A hole has been photographed by Haden Brittain in the Welland Bank area, which is near Crowland.
Mr Brittain, of Moulton Eaugate, shared pictures earlier today of the River Welland overtopping the banks and flooding out onto the Crowland and Cowbit washes.
A spokesperson for the Environment Agency said: “Flows in the River Welland are currently high. The highest water levels being experienced today (Thursday, January 4) are slightly higher than those recorded during December 2020.
“Water is flowing into Crowland and Cowbit Washes over the Cradge Bank. This is as expected with the high river flows and levels. Other actions we have taken locally to manage flood risk include lowering the river level at Marsh Road Sluice in Spalding to make space for the high flows.
“We will use data from both this incident and December 2020 to inform our assessment for future needs for flood risk management in this part of the Welland catchment.”
They did not address the hole in the bank.
The Crowland and Cowbit Washes, which were constructed in 1664, are coming to the ‘end of the design life’ according to the Environment Agency.
They were designed to take excess water from the Welland and were flooded on an annual basis until a series of improvements, including the Coronation Channel, after the 1947 flood.
The agency – which came under fire for not looking after its assets when the Bourne Eau burst its banks yesterday – secured £2.8million of Government funding to investigate the ‘best use’ of washes in 2022.
Farmer Daniel Abbott said this was the highest volume of water seen in the area since the flood of 1947.
It was during this flood that the Buffalo amphibious vehicle was deployed to the town and sunk in the ground until Mr Abbott led a project to unearth it recently.
Consultants have been engaged to undertake modeling project.
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