A year ago in Colwick....

This time last year, after the wettest winter in 130 years, the River Trent rose to near record levels, leading to the watercourses and road drains that run through Colwick to back up.

16 homes and 5 businesses were internally flooded. Some residents had water coming up through their floorboards and some flooded due to vehicles driving through the flood water causing bow waves to enter their homes.

Borough Cllr Russell Whiting and County Cllr Mike Adams were on the scene working together to coordinate and distribute sandbags to residents. A number of residents were absolute heroes throughout, helping with sandbags, the clean up, and providing advice during and after the flood.

I was recently reminded that Colwick is built on a flood plain and has historically experienced many floods (via the group Nottingham Memories !!!.The Way We Were, source of photo from 1910).

Although Colwick is protected from the river bursting its banks with the Trent Left Bank flood defence, we still rely on pumps to stop the watercourses backing up, and we are vulnerable when the road drains hit capacity and there is simply nowhere for the water to go.

Since then, we've set up a Community Flood Signage Scheme so that in future we can close the road and stop the bow waves, we've cleared the blockage of litter from one of the watercourses so that the water can now flow freely, and we're in the process of creating a Community Flood Store so that we always have sandbags to hand.

What can you do to help?

Join the Community Flood Signage Scheme - get in touch to sign up for the training at 6:30pm on Feb 11th @ Colwick Community Centre
Report blocked drains to Nottinghamshire County Council via their app or website
Make your home resilient to flooding: search online for Flood Mary's advice for Property Flood Resilience

With the current wet and wintery conditions, living in a flood plain means it's wise to stay prepared so that we can ensure the problems caused by Storm Henk can be avoided. As residents we can take action - it's about rolling up our sleeves and working together to safeguard our community. We've already shown what's possible when we come together, and we'll continue building on that to make Colwick stronger and more resilient for the years to come.