Impact of Storm Babet ‘still being felt’ by communities as two flood reports on Wickham Market and Needham Market published

Storm Babet’s impacts are ‘still being felt’ by communities as two reports attempt to shed light on causes.

Suffolk County Council has published two flood reports on Wickham Market and Needham Market, two of the ‘most severely impacted locations’ by Storm Babet last October.

The report revealed at least 85 properties were internally flooded during the ‘significant disruption’ caused by the extreme rainfall, with many more affected in some way.

According to the report, the storm brought with it between 50mm and 80mm of rain to much of Suffolk after a period of already significant rainfall — on average Suffolk sees only 65mm of rain for the whole month of October.

Cllr Paul West, who deals with flooding at the county council, urged anyone who suffered internal flooding as a result of Storm Babet to apply for the £5,000 grant to make their homes more resilient in the future.

He added: “The impact of Storm Babet is still being felt across the county with some people still not back in their homes.

“Communities such as Needham Market and Wickham Market have suffered as a result of this storm and these in-depth investigations will help us work with them and other communities to lower flood risk and build resilience ahead of future flood events.”

A mix of reasons was cited for the extent to which both communities were impacted, including the overflowing of both local rivers, the overwhelming of drainage and flooding infrastructure, and the fact a many areas were low-lying and surrounded by a steep rural catchment.

Saturated conditions in the ground leading up to the event have also been cited as a possible cause of lack of water infiltration.

To address this, a range of measures have been put in place, many of which are already ongoing.

These include the production of community flood plans, the removal of blockages within watercources and drainage infrastructure, and investigating improvements to already existing infrastructure.

The council has also committed to localised river desilt projects, due to start over the next few months, and hydraulic modelling in Wickham Market to map flooding, due to start in 2025 and take two years to complete.

Applications for the grant close in April next year, and can be done by emailing the council at floodgrants@suffolk.gov.uk.