Flood Report Blames Rain, Tide…
and Southern Water
HUGH SULLIVAN
A report commissioned by East Sussex County Council into the flooding of Hastings Town Centre in October last year has been delivered by consulting engineers Ardent. This was the second major flood within ten months after a previous devastating inundation in January 2023.
As anticipated, the report concludes that, while it happened in the context of very high local rainfall and a high tide, the principal cause was the failure of Southern Water to seal the manhole at South Terrace, adjacent to Priory Meadow shopping centre, which was their responsibility.
Qaker meeting Hall during flood.
Ardent had confirmed in an interim report in April last year, following the first flood, that this manhole should be effectively sealed. But according to the addendum to this report released last week, it was not until 4 October – more than five months later – that a contractor was allocated by Southern Water to do it. An application to the county council highways department for requisite permission to close the highway was still to be made when the second flood took place on 28 October.
Two days later, on 30 October, Southern Water undertook works to remove the manhole altogether under an emergency notice.
Up to 55.5mm (2.2 inches) rainfall was recorded in Hastings over a 13-hour period of 27-28 October, described by Ardent as a 1-in-25 year probability. It followed a previous period of 17 days in which there was 104.4mm rainfall (4.1 inches), so that the upstream catchment was already saturated and the volume of surface water run-off therefore maximised.
The heaviest rainfall also coincided with high tide. Ardent conclude that this “may have contributed to the flooding through tidal locking of the culverted watercourse outfall”.
Following the flood event, Southern Water installed ten temporary pumps on Denmark Place to pump water from this culverted watercourse towards the sea at Pelham Beach so as to reduce the risk of water backing up. They indicate that they have also made a repair to a flap valve upstream of the Pelham outfall pipe, and that, following this, the pumps will be “removed shortly”.
However, the “surcharging manhole” on South Terrace is described as the primary source, not only of the majority of the surface water flooding but also of several town centre basements being deluged, as the capacity of the sewer network was overwhelmed.
‘DECREASE OF RISK’
The report concludes that the actions undertaken since 28 October by Southern Water would “decrease the [future] risk of this scale of flooding occurring, in a similar flood area”.
Southern Water’s spokesperson issued a statement last Friday: “We welcome the publication of this report. As it makes clear, multiple factors were involved in the 2023 flooding events, and different areas of the town underwent localised flooding for different reasons. Although we do not agree with all aspects of the report, we will review its findings carefully as we are working closely with the agencies who have responsibility for flood management in the town to help to prevent incidents like this happening in the future.”
Many business owners and residents are unimpressed, feeling that a number of questions remain unanswered. A source from Love Hastings Ltd, which represents town centre businesses, has indicated disappointment at lack of calculations or estimates for water flow rates, failure to comment on the adequacy of Southern Water’s pumping solutions, and at the scant attention paid to residential properties affected by sewer flooding. Love Hastings advocates “comprehensive solutions”, including re-engineering the culvert’s final stretch and reinstating an emergency outflow for the town centre.
They also highlight the failure of Southern Water to compensate for losses incurred in the January flood despite some pay-outs for the October repeat.
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