road flooding and blocked kerbside drainage

phatbear

hi.

a couple of weeks ago we had some of the heaviest rain ive ever seen and subsequently the road outside my house flooded.

i live in a ground floor flat of a converted house and thankfully i was in when this all occurred so i was able to get everything electrical up off of the floor and braced the front door with every towel i could find and hoped this would ease the tide that was coming thru the outer front door and flooding the communal hall way.

thankfully the water subsided eventually and when i ventured out to ensure that my car hadn't flooded too i noticed that at least two of the kerbside drains were totally clogged up and therefore they could'nt have assisted in the draining process.

so im reticent to go to the insurance company because, as far i know, the only thing damaged is the flooring in the communal hall and the carpet tiles on top of the flooring.

however my air bricks are at ground level so they would have been under water for 10mins or so.

sorry if this is a bit long winded but i dont know what to do next does the council take any responsibility for the drains not functioning? i didnt mention that the flooding was very localised and it seemed everywhere else seemed to drain away as you would expect.

any thoughts/direction would be most helpful

brightontraveller

phatbear wrote: »

hi.

a couple of weeks ago we had some of the heaviest rain ive ever seen and subsequently the road outside my house flooded.

i live in a ground floor flat of a converted house and thankfully i was in when this all occurred so i was able to get everything electrical up off of the floor and braced the front door with every towel i could find and hoped this would ease the tide that was coming thru the outer front door and flooding the communal hall way.

thankfully the water subsided eventually and when i ventured out to ensure that my car hadn't flooded too i noticed that at least two of the kerbside drains were totally clogged up and therefore they could'nt have assisted in the draining process.

so im reticent to go to the insurance company because, as far i know, the only thing damaged is the flooring in the communal hall and the carpet tiles on top of the flooring.

however my air bricks are at ground level so they would have been under water for 10mins or so.

sorry if this is a bit long winded but i dont know what to do next does the council take any responsibility for the drains not functioning? i didnt mention that the flooding was very localised and it seemed everywhere else seemed to drain away as you would expect.

any thoughts/direction would be most helpful

What proof do you have they were blocked pictures/film etc if it’s just your word then chance are slim to none they’d acknowledge they were. You could try checking if others had reported prior to/during flood various ways procedures start by asking local authority themselves how you check if something was reported
Also flooding, and what causes it, is a complex matter which involves many different agencies you could try? Below If you get no joy from council wouldn’t hold your breathe on getting anything from them though

http://www.lgo.org.uk/publications/fact-sheets/complaints-about-flooding/

[FONT=&quot]But if you believe they did cause it regardless of council acknowledgement are they still blocked? If so report them and keep doing so if it happens a few times you may help build a case [/FONT]

phatbear

brightontraveller wrote: »

What proof do you have they were blocked pictures/film etc if it’s just your word then chance are slim to none they’d acknowledge they were.

I have got pics of the flooding and the effected drains, the drains themselves are so clogged and have been that way for quite some time that there is grass growing in them.

I will give southend council their dues the day i emailed them they sent someone round to say they will deal with it and they then put some "polite notices" on the kerb side so the drains were clear for clearing over the next couple of days.

However due to my flat being a 2 minute walk away from a train station commuters constantly park outside my flat and are ignoring the notices.

The council has been around again and made it clear that if people persist on parking over the drains they cant clear them, which is understandable of course, however does this mean i have to put up with my flat flooding again due to the selfishness of the local commuters.

brightontraveller

Sounds like there giving you BS council has powers to ensure no one parks there if its there responsibility and not your local water authority even they have the powers ask for confirmation in writing that they can not do the works stating reason why