Drone footage shows severity of flooding at Billing Aquadrome and Northampton Washlands as residents face a third night in temporary accommodation

An aerial image shows large sections of the holiday park submerged, with water engulfing caravans, roads, and facilities. Other images show the nearby Washlands submerged in water.

Heavy rainfall over the past few days caused the nearby River Nene to overflow, leading to the widespread flooding.

In an update this morning (Thursday), West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) said: “Agencies are continuing to support Billing Aquadrome’s management with their evacuation plan whilst it remains temporarily closed due to flooding and with further flood warnings in place.

"Around 28 people and five pets stayed at the rest centre overnight and were provided with emergency bedding, toiletries, and hot food and drink, supported by community volunteers from the British Red Cross and WNC staff. A further 21 people and their pets left the centre last night having made arrangements to stay with family and friends.

"WNC is assessing everyone remaining at the site for their temporary accommodation needs so that further arrangements can be made until it is safe for them to return. All agencies including the Fire Service, Police and Environment Agency are continually assessing the conditions at the site and the ongoing weather; however, with more rainfall expected, a flood warning remains in place for the site.”

According to WNC, the park’s management is working with electricians, plumbers and other contractors with a view to ensuring preparations are made to move people back once the flooding risks have passed and it is safe to do so.

With more heavy rain expected over the next couple of days, residents are urged to continue to take extra care, as six flood warnings and 10 flood alerts remain in place across West Northamptonshire. Water levels across the area remain very high.

Geoffrey Smith, Chief Executive of Meadow Bay Villages, which owns Billing Aquadrome, said: “We received initial flood alerts and promptly communicated this information to our guests and holiday homeowners, to enable a safe departure from the park “After liaising closely with the Environment Agency and West Northamptonshire Council, the decision was taken for all guests and homeowners to leave on Tuesday evening as the flooding affected more areas of the park. "We are grateful for the ongoing support and partnership provided by all the emergency services, council and Environment Agency to ensure this process went as smoothly as possible. We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to our guests and holiday homeowners for their cooperation and understanding. “Currently, a flood alert remains in effect and is expected to continue over the weekend at least. Park management and the Meadow Bay Villages' leadership team have been on-site throughout this period and will continue to maintain a presence in the coming days. Once the alert is lifted, we will conduct a thorough assessment of the park to determine when the resort can safely reopen. We have our own team and contractors on park working tirelessly to facilitate this."

Ben Thorley from the Environment Agency explained the scale of the flooding. He said: “During this rainfall incident, we saw two months of rain in two days. The drainage infrastructure is not designed to take that volume of water in such a short period of time.

"One of the big challenges we have is climate change as we’re seeing warmer summers and wetter winters.

"In terms of the future of the Aquadrome, that’s something we need to talk about with partners in terms of how best to manage the amount of people that are now located on the park.”

Secretary of State for the Environment Steve Reed visited the area on Wednesday (September 25) and emphasised the need for better use of allocated funding for flood defences.

Mr Reed said: “We have to make sure that money – for barriers along rivers, for drainage that can divert flood water away from communities – is actually being spent, because in some cases it was just sitting in banks for years rather than being spent.

"It [flood defences] can’t happen overnight unfortunately... but we’re focused on it right now to make sure we can move it ahead as quickly as possible. We’ll be working with the local authority and Environment Agency to make sure where things can be speeded up locally.”