Holme: Nottinghamshire village cut off by road due to flooding

A village has been completely cut off by road due to flooding.

Roads leading to the Nottinghamshire village of Holme on the bank of the River Trent, about four miles north of Newark, are submerged.

Newark and Sherwood District Council said emergency services were in contact with residents, with the Environment Agency confirming 40 properties in the village had been affected.

The council said officials were on site providing support to residents.

The Environment Agency said in addition to the affected properties in Holme, it had received reports of about 75 flooded homes across Nottinghamshire.

BBC Radio Nottingham reporter Rob Rose, who was on the outskirts of the village, said farmers' fields either side of the road leading to the village were completely submerged with water and described it as "being like a lake".

Nottinghamshire Police sent officers to the village at 02:00 BST to knock on properties to inform residents as a precaution.

Neil Clarke, cabinet member for transport and the environment at Nottinghamshire County Council, said the Environment Agency believed the flooding had come from the Slough Dyke, which feeds into the River Trent.

Mr Clarke added 4x4 vehicles had been able to access the village.

However, he warned people to stay away from the area.

Resident John Whittaker told the BBC he thinks the flood water will last for several days.

"From 4pm [Monday] onwards, I knew the [water levels] would keep rising simply because I have seen it before, but it was 20 years ago," he said.

"Depending on the rain, this will be here for at least another three, four, five days.

"I think being in the countryside we do accept these types of things but unfortunately this is happening more often than is normal."

The population of Holme is 184, according to 2021 Census data.

Meanwhile, some residents in Retford, where people in up to 500 homes were urged to evacuate at the weekend, said they were angry at the lack of preparation for the flooding.

Environment Secretary Therese Coffey visited Darrel Road, one of the streets affected by flooding, on Monday.

Kevin Maunder, 72, said the road had flooded almost every year for the 48 years he had lived there.

"This year has been the worst year there's ever been," he said.

"It's the first year it's come across the road, but it's progressively over the last number of years got worse, it's come higher and higher up into the houses opposite and onto the street.

"This year was a one-off event so they say, but I don't believe it will be a one-off event."

He said: "She [Mrs Coffey] was just here to polish her halo. Because [she said] 'I will promise you billions, we've spent billions', but you've done nothing, so where have you spent the billions?

"48 years and nothing has been done. So do you think something will ever be done? I don't."

A spokesperson for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: "Following the unprecedented rainfall in Retford, the environment secretary visited the area to meet with local people, MPs, councillors and Environment Agency staff members to assess the situation.

"The significant amount of funding put into flood defences demonstrates how seriously flooding is taken with over 374,000 homes better protected since 2015, and we're going even further by delivering a record £5.2 billion investment to better protect hundreds of thousands more."

Three flood warnings and nine alerts remain in place for Nottinghamshire, according to the Environment Agency.

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