Watch ominous scenes as floods at Northampton holiday park force hundreds to flee for safety

Hundreds of residents at a holiday park in Northampton are being told to evacuate the site due to flooding, according to residents.

The flood siren has been sounded at Billing Aquadrome this afternoon (Tuesday, January 24) following heavy rainfall since New Year’s Day.

One resident who lives near to Billing Aquadrome sent in drone footage taken this afternoon from 120ft in the air, which shows the extent of the flooding accompanied by the harrowing flood siren in the background.

Drone pilot Alan Smith, aged 74, said: “The water was very high, it was almost into the car park. It’s not as high as I’ve seen it before but I suspect if they open the flood gates it’s going to get quite bad. And there’s more rain forecast, of course.

A resident on site, who wishes to remain anonymous, told the Chron and Echo he is ‘one of the lucky ones’ as he can call on his family to help.

The resident said: “The security was telling people to advise people to start packing. The sirens are now going off for everyone to evacuate. People were packing and voluntarily evacuating last night. It’s not good for some people, we’re lucky, we’ve got family who can help us out but there are a lot of people who don’t have that.”

The park’s administrators last public message to residents came yesterday (Monday) on New Year’s Day, warning residents to be prepared to ‘evacuate immediately’.

The announcement said: “Heavy rain is currently falling in the Nene catchment. Our staff are out in the area to check the flood defences, clear blockages, and assist the emergency services and council. We will be closely monitoring the situation and this message will be updated by 4pm on Tuesday, or before if the situation changes.

“Please ensure that you are ready and prepared in case we need to start evacuating the area. With the escalated flood warning now in place, the on-park teams will continue to monitor water levels, and should anything change, we may need to evacuate immediately. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.”

This newspaper has contacted the park’s administrators as no new update has been issued today.

Weather and flood warnings are in place across Northamptonshire as 2024 starts with heavy rain and strong winds.

Met Office has issued two yellow weather warnings – one for strong winds and one for heavy rain. Part of the county has been escalated to an amber warning for wind, too. Both warnings cover all of the county and are in place until 9pm today (Tuesday January 2).