Flooding misery in Berkshire as Thames levels continue to rise

More than 40 flood warnings and alerts remain in place in Berkshire, with the River Thames at Reading reaching its highest level in 20 years.

It comes after a week of heavy rainfall last week, some of which came as part of Storm Henk.

Lee Goodwin, who runs the Velolife Cafe in Wargrave, said his business was "completely under water".

The Environment Agency warned that river levels would "continue to rise slowly" in the coming days.

The Thames reached levels of 7.54m on Sunday afternoon, topping the previous high of 7.41m recorded in January 2003.

Among many home and business owners hit by flooding, Mr Goodwin said he had not been able to access his cafe since Saturday to assess the damage.

"We've spent the last week watching the water rise and watching it come into the cafe," he said.

"It's very difficult - you put your heart and soul into something, get it up and running, and then watching it slowly disappear is really difficult.

"It's really emotional - it's our livelihood that goes into rebuilding it again."

The Mill Theatre at Sonning had to cancel performances when its riverside building was deluged with water.

Caroline Richardson, emergency planning officer for West Berkshire Council, said the past week had been "particularly challenging for the community".

"All the communities along all our rivers - the Pang, Kennet and Lambourn and the Thames - have issues," she said.

"There are road closures across the area and properties flooded. It's going to be like that for some time.

"This is a long haul we've got unfortunately."

She said rivers such as the Lambourn and Kennet, which are fed by groundwater, would take "a lot, lot longer to reduce".

Jon Mansbridge, of The Environment Agency, said the flooding was the result of "significant rainfall" in the Thames catchment over recent months.

"When Storm Henk came through we saw some really heavy downpours for consistent periods of time. All that water has to work its way down the whole of the catchment area from Gloucestershire out to sea past London," he said.

"The levels have reached their highest around Wallingford area on the Thames, but are going to continue to rise slowly downstream - Reading, Newbury down through into Surrey."

Residents who are worried about their homes are urged to check the Environment Agency website for more information and help.

Flooding on the rail network also continues to cause disruption.

GWR said there would be disruption on the line between Reading and Bedwyn for the remainder of Monday.

It said rail replacement buses were running between Newbury and Bedwyn, Newbury and Hungerford and Newbury and Newbury Racecourse.

Newbury Station was flooded after heavy rain on Thursday night.

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