Householders have criticised Wokingham Borough Council for not closing a main road to stop traffic swooshing tidal waves of water against their front doors.

There were complaints that pleas for sandbags were not heeded quickly and that road drains had not been cleared on the A321 Wokingham Road at Hurst.

Watching the waves of water surging towards her home close to the road in the half dark on Friday evening Pamela Naylor, 72, said: “They drive past so fast, swishing the water back to the houses.

“The water’s only a couple of inches from coming in the door. I don’t want to go to bed – I don’t know if I’ll have water coming in the house.

“There’s been no response from the council or from the fire brigade. I’ve been calling the council emergency number, holding on for 20 minutes so far for an answer.

“It’s disappointing there’s no help or preference for people who are older. I’ve put compost bags up by my door. The council told my neighbour to use what you can. She asked for sandbags at 4.40pm [about four hours earlier] but they haven’t arrived yet.

“They said they could only leave them by the side of the road for her to move them [into place] due to health and safety. She’s older than me.

“They also told her they won’t close the road. It would help a lot if they did. I’m just hoping the rain stops and the water drains away a bit by tomorrow. It would help if someone came to assess the situation.

“There’s a lot of flood water in the field opposite. If it breaks the hedgerow there will be real problems.”

She’d been told it was the worst flooding at this time of year for at least 30 years.

Nearby, Roy Austin, retired, whose home is much closer to the road, said: “It’s going to rain all through this evening. Absolutely, I’m worried about the flood water getting into my house.

“I keep telling the council about clearing the drains here. I’ve been here ten years and haven’t seen it as bad. I’ve reported it to the emergency line and they say they’ll get someone here as soon as they can. They said they were extremely busy. We need this road closed.

“If the water comes off the field it’s going to be horrendous.”

Tape Lane at Hurst had a long stretch of flooding, in places above the top of people’s wellies. A plan for 200 homes in Tape Lane has just been refused. Residents said the flooding would be even worse if the homes had been allowed. Islandstone Lane was also badly affected.

Wokingham Borough councillor for Hurst Wayne Smith said on social media: “We have issues all over Hurst. The emergency teams are out reviewing roads that have been reported.”

The Wokingham Borough Council numbers to call to report flooding and problems with drainage are:

• 0118 974 6000, select ‘highway’ option 9am-5pm, Monday to Friday.
• 0800 212 111 out of hours, Monday to Friday, 5pm – 9am, weekend days and public holidays.

They say urgent issues are ones which are very likely to present an imminent threat to life or serious injury, or serious damage to property.

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