The flooding of people’s homes could have prevented if a pumping station had not been decommissioned says the chief executive of an internal drainage board.
Daniel Withnall, who is the chief executive of the Black Sluice Internal Drainage Board (IDB), feels that the Black Sluice Pumping Station could have stopped homes and roads in the Boston area being flooded.
A major incident was declared in Lincolnshire yesterday after more than 150 homes have reported flooding following the torrential rain.
Black Sluice Pumping Station, Boston. Photo: Google Maps
The Black Sluice Pumping Station had been decommissioned by the Environment Agency in 2014 following the ‘Black Sluice Catchment Works’ study two years earlier. A report which went before Lincolnshire County Council in 2021 reported that evidence from this study found that ‘whilst the gravity sluice and dual-purpose lock play an important role in managing flood risk to people and property, the pumps do not.’
But Mr Withnall feels that last night’s events have proven that this modelling was ‘incorrect’ and believes that some of the pumps could be made operational again.
He said: “Black Sluice IDB is very reliant on the South Forty Foot Drain as most of our pumping stations pump into it. The South Forty Foot Drain is main river and under the control of the Environment Agency from the outfall in Boston down 32km to our pumping station at Black Hole Drove, near West Pinchbeck.
Black Sluice Pumping Station, Boston. Photo: Google Maps
“The poor people flooded in Boston last night have had their gardens flooded a number of times but on this occasion the water has found its way into their homes. I believe that if the Black Sluice Pumping Station was running last night this could have prevented this flooding, but this will never, I would suggest, be able to be proven with computer modelling or science.
“The Black Sluice Pumping Station was decommissioned in 2014 and the Environment Agency’s computer modelling showed that without it only small pockets of agricultural land would be flooded, I think last night has proven this was incorrect and maybe some assumptions were not included in the computer modelling.
“The engines and pumps are still in Black Sluice Pumping station and whilst three of these would need extensive refurbishment or replacement I am led to believe that the two new pumps which are higher were not as affected by the December 2013 tidal surge and may need less working to get them operational again.
“Speaking on behalf of Black Sluice IDB, we were never convinced about the 2013/14 modelling, we tried to raise our concerns following Storm Babet and Henk.”
Concerns have also raised in Billingborough that the pumps could have also prevented some of the flooding there.
The South Forty Foot is also reported to overlapped in Dunsby, Quadring and Wyberton West Road in Boston but there have been suggestions that the water is quite high in the West Pinchbeck area.