"No guarantee" Horncastle Storm Babet flooding won't happen again, says Environment Agency

An aerial photo by Kurbia Aeria showing the flooding in Horncastle caused by Storm Babet.

Despite the rollout of an £8.1million Flood Alleviation Scheme in 2017, 197 properties in town, and a further 31 homes in Kirkby on Bain, were impacted after the county received what was reportedly two months’ worth of rain in just 24 hours last October.

A subsequent investigation by the Environment Agency revealed a two-and-a-half-hour delay in closing a sluice gate. However, it maintains that even if the gate had been closed on time, the peak of the river would have only been delayed by around an hour.

Leigh Edlin, Environment Agency Area Director for Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire, acknowledged that more frequent and severe storms are becoming regular due to climate change.

Nonetheless, while the scheme continues to reduce the risk of flooding, the agency cannot guarantee that similar events won’t occur again in the future.

He said: “What we’re seeing with climate change is absolutely playing out with more frequent and severe storms.

“Going forward, we need to look at what we learnt from the investigation, and we need to implement the findings, which will make the scheme itself more resilient.

“Also, we need to look at whether there are any other opportunities to reduce flood risk in Horncastle. The scheme reduces flood risk from the River Bain, but there are a number of other rivers that flow into Horncastle. This is, unfortunately, why the town is so vulnerable to flooding.

“So, we need to look at the possibility of whether there are any other works that we can do there. What I will say though, is the likelihood of us being able to produce a scheme that would protect Horncastle from an event of this magnitude is very slim.”

Leigh continued, acknowledging the flood defences already in place: “No flood scheme can stop flooding; they can only reduce the risk of flooding. This flood scheme has been reducing flood risk to the people of Horncastle since it was constructed back in 2017.

“It was built in the right place and continues to reduce flood risk, but this event was exceptional in that it just exceeded the design of the reservoir, and unfortunately, we cannot guarantee that this won’t happen again.”