Major incident stood down across Northamptonshire as flood warnings removed

The Local Resilience Forum (LRF) has announced this afternoon (Friday November 29) that their response to the flooding will now be moved into the recovery stage. The major incident was first declared on Monday (November 25) after Storm Bert battered the county on Sunday (November 24).

This decision has been made after the Environment Agency reported that the river levels are nearly back to normal with the Northampton Washlands down to 30 percent full and continuing to drain.

Also, the flood warning in place at Billing Aquadrome has been removed this afternoon. However, residents cannot yet return.

The major incident declared by the Local Resilience Forum (LRF) in response to the widespread flooding in Northamptonshire has been stood down.

In North Northamptonshire, the severe flood warning has also been removed from Yarwell Mill after water levels peaked at the site at 9.30pm last night (November 28) and continue to fall. However, residents at the site should also not return until advised to do by the site management company.

Superintendent Steve Freeman, who is heading the response to the flooding through the Local Resilience Forum (LRF) said: “Since we declared a major incident on Monday, the LRF has been working hard to keep our communities safe, support those who have been displaced as a result of the flooding, as well as trying to minimise disruption to the wider public and local businesses.

“The water levels we have seen this week have been higher than that of the 1998 floods, which just goes to show the work everyone has put in to ensure that everyone in the county has been kept safe.

“I’m grateful for everyone’s work and I’d also like to thank the wider public for their cooperation, support and understanding.

“We have now made the decision to stand down the major incident but remain ready to react should the situation change.

“Our focus now will be to move onto the recovery phase of our response however I would still encourage anyone with any concerns to contact the relevant LRF agency who will be happy to help.”

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