By Joe Locker, Local Democracy Reporter
Dozens of homes have been evacuated and more than 40 roads have been closed due to flooding as Storm Babet continues to cause severe disruption across Nottinghamshire.
The Environment Agency says up to 100mm of water is expected to fall throughout Friday (October 20) and multiple flood warnings and alerts have been issued.
Road closures have been reported in Kirkby-in-Ashfield, including Mill Lane, Selston, including Park Lane, and Hucknall including Ward Avenue, Waterloo Road, Wighay Road.
Other areas affected include Cropwell Bishop, where Colston Road has been closed, and Main Street in Woodborough.
Dozens of other roads, including the A60 Loughborough Road in West Bridgford and Arnold Lane in Gedling and the A46 Fosse Way to Newark, are passable but warnings have been issued.
Lowdham has been hit by significant flooding and the emergency services are in attendance.
A spokesperson for Newark and Sherwood District Council said: “Our teams are assisting emergency services in delivering aid to the worst-hit areas, including Lowdham.”
Schools have also been closed, including Caunton Dean Hole School and Gotham Primary School because of extensive flooding in surrounding roads.
Cllr Neil Clarke, the County Council’s Cabinet Member for Transport and Environment, added: “Storm Babet has brought heavy rain to Nottinghamshire and at present, two weather warnings for rain are both in place across the county until 6am tomorrow morning.
“Parts of Nottinghamshire are already experiencing flooding due to heavy rainfall and we are working closely with our partner agencies to keep residents safe.
“A number of road closures, over 40 at present, are in place and these can be found on the current disruption page of our website.
“We would like to remind motorists not to drive through flood water and to never ignore road closure signs as these are put in place to ensure safety for all road users.”
Several bus services have been cancelled, including the 853 Hickling to Keyworth and Gamston Morrisons, the 863 Ruddington to East Leake and Keyworth, the 747 Oxton to Calverton and Lowdham, the 536 Beeston Bus and Tram Interchange to Bramcote Avenue and the 108 Sainsburys to Worksop, Kilton and Worksop.
The DRT Z1 and Z2 North and South Ollerton are affected but still operating.
Train services across the county and region are also “severely disrupted” due to heavy rain flooding the railway between Grantham and Newark Northgate, LNER says.
It has recommended people avoid travelling.
“The impacts of heavy rainfall are likely to be felt across the next few days especially as river levels increase and so we would urge all Nottinghamshire residents to visit our preparing for a flood and what to do during a flood website pages,” Cllr Clarke added.
“We would like to thank Nottinghamshire communities for their patience and resilience whilst we deal with flooding.”
