ENGULFED!
But what caused Town Centre flooding?
There was a clear natural cause of the flood which engulfed Priory Meadow, South Terrace and other parts of the town centre, as well as Alexandra Park, in the early morning of Monday 16 January: over an inch and a half of rain falling in a few hours on ground that was already saturated.
The human machinery – drains, pipes and pumps beneath the ground that are supposed to direct water flows from the Priory Stream out into the English Channel – simply couldn’t cope. But whether that was because of defects in their operation, including blockages in the pipes or drains, malfunctioning of the pumps, or a whole system that was inadequate for its task, remains to be argued in the weeks, months, possibly years ahead.
Southern Water, the company responsible for maintenance of the system, issued a statement asserting that “our assets continued to work properly throughout the latest bout of floods”. Alex Saunders, head of their wastewater networks pointed to “months of exceptional rain” which had left the ground waterlogged. Rivers in the area such as the Brede and Rother have burst their banks. “Every fresh fall of rain has nowhere to go,” he said.
The local Met office has confirmed that 40 mm of rain (1.58 inches) fell in the 24 hours up to 9am on the Monday morning – not quite beating the January record of 42.9mm (1.69 inches) set in 1879.
Why previous floods?
However, John Bownas, acting as promoter and advocate of businesses in the town centre as manager of Love Hastings Ltd, is far from happy to accept that the flood tide should be ascribed to a freak of nature. If the system was working as designed, which is what Southern Water seem to be contending, why have there been other more minor floods in the area in recent years? “The big question is – what was different about that Monday from similar weather patterns?” he asks.
Property insurance companies seem to have already rated Hastings town centre as an area of high flood risk and have either refused cover or offered it at such prohibitive premiums or large excesses that few (if any) businesses will have any aid from that quarter. It could be that this rating arises from the proximity of the sea rather than from the threat of surface water or river overflow. Mr Bownas suggests that’s something to investigate.
In any event, virtually every business in Priory Meadow was affected, with Primark’s ground floor left wholly under water, and HMV, Hastings Furniture Service and Subway among those suffering major loss and damage. Marks & Spencer were able to reopen on the following day; many others lost trade all week. The only retail shop that, as of the start of this week, has announced permanent closure in the aftermath is Handsome Bicycles in Harold Place (see Low, Wet and Handsome No Longer). Mr Bownas says he is hoping all others will “pull through”. But, as he added: “If you’re independent, you’ve got a heavy load to bear.”
South Terrace, to the east of Priory Meadow, is the lowest-lying street in the town centre and, not for the first time, suffered the deepest water accumulation, one car in the street being virtually submerged. The Quaker Meeting House at no. 5 has had to be abandoned for the time being, last Sunday’s meeting being rearranged to take place at the Salvation Army premises in St Andrew’s Square, which escaped damage.
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