Opinion: Suffolk councillor on Storm Babet flooding

Friday October 20, a date forever etched in my memory, started off quite inauspiciously. I opened the curtains, it was raining. Of course it was raining. This had been the wettest October on record. In fact it turned out to be the wettest month of any month since accurate records began in 1959.

I had some work to do in the morning. During my lunch break I had a meeting booked with a business owner in my ward (councillors seldom get a lunch break) and during the meeting my phone was buzzing with messages from friends and colleagues, asking me how my house was; was the River Gipping up? Was I worried? At this point I was complacent, I did not fully appreciate how much rain had fallen that month. It subsequently transpired that two months worth of rain had come down in the previous two days.

Complacency quickly turned to panic and fear whilst walking over the Pickerel Bridge in Stowupland Street in Stowmarket and observing the torrents of water flowing under the bridge and lapping the concrete steps.

The River Gipping reached record height during Storm Babet (Image: James Patchett) I quickly returned home. The first signs of flooding appeared soon after my return, a slow trickle of water snuck under a fence panel. Within minutes my drive was fully covered and car tyres were starting to disappear. My homemade flood defences were now going to be put to their first test. A couple of years before I had commissioned a local builder to construct a brick wall around my doors. The wall had some slots that received a wooden board, which were shored up with a dozen or so sandbags. It held for a short time, too short really.

My hopes of keeping water out of my house were futile and were fading faster than the sun which was disappearing behind the trees. Pumps and wet vacuums were fired into life and were running at full pelt. My chickens were hastily scooped up, passed over the gate and taken to a dry sanctuary (my partner's home). A neighbour had arrived at this point to lend a hand. The help was appreciated, but I think at this moment an army of people would not have held the water back. The hours passed. It was now early evening, pitch black outside, we were soaked through, exhausted physically and emotionally. The battle was over, the water had won.

I write this as a councillor for Mid Suffolk, but also as a resident of Mid Suffolk. A resident who was among the hundreds of houses that flooded across Mid Suffolk last October. As we approach the anniversary of Storm Babet, I cannot help but to look around the fields, rivers and floodplains and wonder, are we any better prepared this season? Unfortunately, I would have to say no.

Councils, residents, emergency services and organisations will certainly be more alert and hopefully more reactive the next time it floods, but what physical measures have actually been put in place by those responsible for maintaining our water courses and flood mitigation structures? I can only really speak with any authority about the rivers in Stowmarket, which are the Gipping and the Rattlesden. The Gipping is, in my opinion, in a worse condition now than it was this time last year. There are huge silt banks that formed after last year's storms that still sit proud above the water line.

I would urge the Environment Agency to take some action. Our rivers need clearing, our rivers need maintenance, our rivers require management. I will be standing as a county councillor in the May elections next year I can assure you that I will fight tooth and nail to ensure that the county council, who are the lead local flood authority, are held to their statutory obligations. Storm Babet saw the River Gipping reach its highest ever recorded height. If ever there was an indicator of the direction that climate change is taking us, surely this is it.

I hope that this winter the weather is kinder to us, and if it isn’t then try to stay alert, take the advice from the flood warnings, keep yourself, your family and your pets safe. Don't try to save possessions. It's only stuff, it can be replaced and people can’t.