Welney Flood Watch and Environment Agency trial flood barriers for first time

A new floodgate has been trialled after several weeks of a key village road being submerged in water.

Along the A1101 in Welney, a trial run using flood barriers on the side bridge was conducted by the Environment Agency (EA).

The base plates for the flood barrier were installed in 2022, ready for when water levels reach a dangerous level.

The idea is for when river levels swell to over four metres, the EA will bring in the barrier by lorry from its Ely office and click in into place on the road.

With heavy rain coming early this year, the EA decided to hold the first trial run this week as levels were not far off that mark.

The highest the water has risen to recently is 3.8m above the normal river level and 1.4m above the road.

The barriers have been removed following the trial took place as a safety measure, in case emergency services need to access the river.

However, when it is active in the future, it will stay in place until the water recedes.

The barrier is a replacement for sandbags which have been used before to protect the village from flooding.

Mathew Barker, one of the founders of the Welney Flood Watch group, said: “The flooding has come early this year. Last year it didn’t happen until October 21, which we thought was early then.

“The water is going down by about 18-20cm per day, so I think the road should hopefully be open by some point on Sunday or Monday.”

The road has been covered in water for a few weeks now, with one group of people rowing their way across the water in inflatable boats.

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