Clean-up continues for areas hit by Storm Bert

Residents and businesses are continuing the clean-up operation after flooding caused by Storm Bert.

Heavy rain and high winds caused widespread disruption across Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire, with damage to homes, shops and roads.

People were forced to leave their houses in Yate and the town centres of Bradford-on-Avon and Chippenham were brought to a standstill with roads and schools also closed on Monday.

Areas already saturated from the weekend are bracing themselves as more heavy rain is forecasted and flooding from 19:00 GMT on Tuesday.

Lydney in Gloucestershire, and Frampton Cotterell in South Gloucestershire were also among the worst hit areas in the West.

The water level of the River Avon in Bradford-on-Avon, was the highest ever recorded, surpassing that of December 2013.

Great Western Railway said services between London Paddington and Swansea via Bristol Parkway are cancelled due to heavy flooding on the railway.

Mayor of Lydney, Tash Saunders, told BBC Radio Gloucestershire that Monday was a “a day of tears everywhere we went”.

“The devastation was much worse than we expected as the water receded. By the time I got into town the destruction was then more evident,” she said.

“We do still have houses underwater and the big clean-up mission continues."

One of the biggest area of concern in the town was its small humpback bridge, that links one side of the town to the other.

Council highways teams were on site on Monday, but Ms Saunders said that they have not yet heard the results of the bridge inspection.

Alan Lancaster lives in Frampton Cotterell where the River Frome also spilled over.

He told BBC Radio Bristol earlier: “The river is still very high. It’s still higher directly outside my house than it has been in the last 20 years.

“It’ll still be affecting local roads because it’s higher than the roads are.

"One of my neighbours has pumped the water that came into their garden back into the river, and they couldn’t keep up so the fire brigade came in. The damage was already done by then.”

There continues to be a number of flood warnings in place, as watercourses continue to respond to the amount of water running off into them.

Ian Withers, from the Environment Agency, said: "There are flood warnings in place for lower Avon, from Twerton down through Keynsham, Saltford into Bristol. And from the River Frome from Knibbley down to Stapleton.

"Low lying areas will be at risk and people need to be checking the gov.uk pages for flood warning information."

He added: "We absolutely need to recognise that climate change is happening and our rainfall is becoming worst, and we need to act individually to protect ourselves.

“Flood warning is a serious thing to consider. It means be prepared, act now.

"If we think flooding may well happen, think about what it means for you.

"It’s not to be regarded as a trivial issue, it’s a real possibility that when we issue a flood warning there may well be flooding into your property or business."

Travel disruption also continues for motorists, with the following roads closed due to the flooding.

In Wiltshire:

• Bradford-on-Avon: A363 Town Bridge in both directions from Station Appoach to Bath turn off
• Melksham: A3102 Bath Road in both directions from Waitrose to Lidl
• Staverton: B3106 in both directions closed due to flooding from Holt turn off to B3107 Bradford Road
• Chippenham: High Street in both directions from The Bridge to Market Place

In Somerset:

• Bathford: A363 Bradford Road in both directions from Box turn off to The Crown Pub
• Kelston: A431 Bath Road in both directions from Blacksmiths Lane (Kelston) to Upton Cheyney turn off (Bitton)

In Somerset, by Monday evening about 300 incidents had been dealt with and crews were continuing to work to clear roads of trees and flood water.

More than 200 trees were removed after they had been blown across roads by the high winds, including on the B3227 in Norton Fitzwarren and the A30 Hendford Hill in Yeovil.

In total 644 reports of incidents were made across the county.

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