Worksop: Heavy rainfall causes flash flooding in town

Heavy rain has caused flash flooding in a town in Nottinghamshire that forced some rail and bus services to be suspended.

The downpour in Worksop happened on Tuesday evening following weeks of hot and dry conditions.

A spokesperson for the trust that runs the town's Bassetlaw Hospital said water "was able to get into a few parts of the building".

It asked people only to attend the hospital if "absolutely necessary".

BBC lead weather presenter Simon King said Worksop experienced 93mm of rain between 17:00 and 20:00 BST on Tuesday - almost twice the average August monthly rainfall of 54mm.

Videos posted on social media show roads in the town under water.

Some also show cars submerged and flooding inside a supermarket.

Susan Hale runs a bar in Worksop and said the last 12 hours in the community had been "absolutely crazy".

She said: "We got a flood alert on our phone at about 18:30 last night.

"We decided to go out - we've got a big 4x4 - to see if we could assist anywhere if anybody needed any help.

"There was a lot of damage in the town centre. Sandy Lane flats were absolutely under water - I've never seen that area flood in Worksop in all my years of living in the town."

Mrs Hale said she was called by Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service to visit a woman whose cellar had flooded.

They also went to distribute sandbags, stored in a container in a town centre car park, but she said they had all gone.

The town suffered severe flooding in November 2019 but Mrs Hale said this time it was in a different part of the town.

Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service said it attended three "flooding-related incidents" in the town.

The first was a house, off Kilton Hill, that had suffered flooding inside, with the other two relating to cars that had become stuck in flood water.

Four people had left one stranded vehicle before crews arrived, with a woman and child in the other car helped to safety by firefighters.

At 18:40 BST, Northern railway reported its services between Worksop and Lincoln were cancelled or delayed due to flooding.

Stagecoach said it was also unable to operate buses in the town centre.

Most of the rail and bus services have since been able to resume as normal.

The Environment Agency has a flood alert in place for the Ryton Oldcotes area.

It said: "Please avoid using low-lying footpaths near local watercourses and plan driving routes to avoid low-lying roads near rivers, which may be flooded."

An agency spokesperson added: "We are on site again today monitoring the situation continuing to support partners."

Nottinghamshire County Council said 30 homes and businesses were impacted by the flooding.

Worksop Leisure Centre was put on standby as a rest centre in case of any evacuations.

Meanwhile, a fallen tree was reported in Carlton Road and an 8ft (2.4m) sinkhole appeared in the Matalan car park.

The damage, which includes a wall on the Chesterfield Canal, is being assessed by the Canal & River Trust.

Ian Measures runs a nearby health and fitness centre and said it started off as just a small hole but as the rain fell, it got significantly larger.

"It gaped to about six or seven inches and it started pouring through.

"Then, it just exploded and blew the wall clean out," he said.

He said emergency services arrived soon after and the area had been cordoned off since.

Follow BBC East Midlands on Facebook, on Twitter, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].