14-07-2025
Ryde flooded after delay over barrier, report says
More than 100 properties were flooded after a defensive barrier was only partially sealed after a delay of more than two hours, a report has submerged streets and basements in Ryde, Isle of Wight, on 25 October 2023 following a night of extreme consultancy firm JBA said it could not determine whether the Environment Agency's decision not to build up the barrier to its maximum height made the flooding agency has been approached for comment.
The "intense" rainstorm exceeded forecasts and caught the Environment Agency (EA) with only one emergency team on standby, JBA deluge filled cellars and stranded cars by 10:00 BST, according to The Strand, a pregnant nurse told the BBC she had to dive underwater to escape her basement flat.
The report said the EA decided to partially seal the flood barrier as a precaution at 03: it was unable to contact its contractor ATM in a series of texts and phone 04:15, water began to pour from Monktonmead Brook into Simeon Street Recreation Ground, which is designed to contain floods behind a wall.A second contractor finally sealed the wall at 05:19, more than two hours after the decision was made, JBA two out of five or six "stop logs" or drop boards were installed in each of three gaps in the barrier, the report added.
The contractor was then sent to an emergency in Newport rather than staying to monitor the situation as protocol dictated, according to report concluded: "Floodwater in the recreation ground should have been able to have been contained, with some remaining capacity, if the stop logs had been installed fully."It was not possible for the incident response contractor to complete the installation as they were unable to return to the site due to flooding."Was the flooding of nearby houses exacerbated by the fact that only two boards were fixed at each opening? Not possible to determine at this stage."
Ryde resident Dan Thomas, whose home was flooded, said the report was overdue and said: "I don't think enough attention has been given to the outflow of water from the recreation ground."Why wasn't the water expelled by the time of the high tide at 09:00?"JBA, which was commissioned by the EA to write the "phase one" report, recommended "further hydraulic modelling work" in order to fully learn lessons.
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