Nottinghamshire County Council committee calls to better stop ‘arrogant drivers’ causing further damage in floods

More measures are needed to stop people driving through closed roads in floods, councillors have said.

More than 340 homes were flooded during Storm Henk in January as the River Trent reached record levels.

Nottinghamshire County Council is the Local Lead Flood Authority, meaning it is responsible for running flood risk management.

It is required to write a document known as a Section 19 report for each different location where flooding occurred, with recommendations to minimise flooding and damage in the future.

The reports into flooding across 16 communities came before Nottinghamshire County Council’s Place Select Committee on Monday (July 22).

A total of 69 road closures were put in place as the county faced “immense disruption”— but many drivers didn’t respect them.

Sue Saddington said there needed to be better ways to stop people driving through closed roads.

“Many times a flood warden puts a sign out, but then a driver comes along and removes it, and the water flushes straight into someone’s house,” she said.

“They’re idiots, and it was happening all over the place [during the floods].”

She said some of her flood-hit residents were still out of their homes, and wouldn’t be able to return until Christmas.

Neil Clarke, the portfolio holder for environment and transport, said: “I absolutely agree — arrogant drivers totally ignored the signs.

“I was helping in my division when I saw one send a bow wave into someone’s front room.

“People don’t realise the potential dangers — there could be a manhole cover missing under the water which a car or person can disappear into it.”

It is a criminal offence to drive through a road which flood wardens have closed, however it is difficult to enforce these.

Gary Wood, the head of highway and transport, added: “We can’t put hard road closures in place to keep access for emergency vehicles.

“We will talk to the police about making it clear that people are breaking the law, but it’s not something we can enforce ourselves.”

Lowdham was the hardest hit, according to the Section 19 reports, where 60 properties were flooded internally.

A total of 32 homes and businesses flooded in Newark, 27 in Zouch and 25 in Woodborough.

Extra resources to prevent more flooding have also been put into emptying gulleys and clearing ditches.