FLOODING UPDATE: Busy morning for Banburyshire fire crews

Firefighters from Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service have been busy this morning (Wednesday) dealing with incidents of flooding across Banburyshire.
Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service were in Bloxham this morning (Wednesday) following the earlier heavy rainfall overnight. NNL-160903-141713001Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service were in Bloxham this morning (Wednesday) following the earlier heavy rainfall overnight. NNL-160903-141713001
Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service were in Bloxham this morning (Wednesday) following the earlier heavy rainfall overnight. NNL-160903-141713001

At about 8am Thames Valley Fire Control received a call to flooding in the area of Hook Norton Road in Wiggington.

A single house was found to be surrounded by water, which was starting to enter the house.

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The fire crew managed to release the build-up of water and direct it to the nearby culvert. Station Manager Don Crook attended the incident and said: “The water was just starting to get into the property, but thanks to the swift assessment and actions of the fire crews, we managed to get the water into the culvert which enabled the level to subside rapidly.

Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service were in Bloxham this morning (Wednesday) following the earlier heavy rainfall overnight. NNL-160903-141725001Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service were in Bloxham this morning (Wednesday) following the earlier heavy rainfall overnight. NNL-160903-141725001
Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service were in Bloxham this morning (Wednesday) following the earlier heavy rainfall overnight. NNL-160903-141725001

“The occupiers had already started to plan for the worse by lifting all of their furniture and precious items to higher levels of the house. They had seen the water levels rising coupled with the inclement weather overnight and had taken appropriate action themselves.”

Fire crews from Banbury and Chipping Norton were called to Bloxham, where they had to use pumps to remove surface water to prevent it from entering houses.

Station Manager Chris Wilson attended the scene and said: “The actions of the residents of Tadmarton Road most definitely saved many houses from flooding as they removed debris from the water course therefore allowing the Brook to flow unimpeded along its natural course, which kept the water off the road.

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“The result was that only one house was slightly affected by flood water entering the property. Councillor Keiron Mallon who attended offered his praise to the residents and fire and rescue crews for pulling together and working to prevent the situation from affecting far more properties.”

Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service were in Bloxham this morning (Wednesday) following the earlier heavy rainfall overnight. NNL-160903-141725001Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service were in Bloxham this morning (Wednesday) following the earlier heavy rainfall overnight. NNL-160903-141725001
Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service were in Bloxham this morning (Wednesday) following the earlier heavy rainfall overnight. NNL-160903-141725001

Thames Valley Fire Control then received a call from the driver of a van in Lower Tadmarton marooned in his vehicle due to having driven into flood water.

Further crews from Deddington and Banbury were immediately mobilised to the scene along with a four-wheel drive support vehicle, where they found a substantial level of water flowing across the road at the junction of the B4035.

The driver was removed from the vehicle without injury. Due to the quantity of water in the area, fire and rescue personnel donned drysuits and lifejackets and conducted door to door visits to ascertain if any of the homes in the vicinity were flooding, and to make an assessment on the health and wellbeing of the occupants.

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During this work, the crews found a driver marooned in his van further along Hollow Road. Due to the level of the water the crews deployed a specialist inflatable rescue sled to bring the driver back to dry land.

Group Manager Dave Bray, who attended the incident and was coordinating the Fire and Rescue response to all of these areas, said: “Fire crews moved in swiftly, and made use of their specialist skills and equipment to ensure that as few properties were directly affected by surface water flooding as possible.”

Drivers are reminded to take care on the roads and avoid driving through floodwater if at all possible. Only drive through water if you know that it’s not too deep and test your brakes as soon as you can after leaving the water.

Visit www.365alive.co.uk for safety advice. If you have a safety question call the free phone community safety helpline on 08000 325 999 or email [email protected]