Flood checks on 300 miles of West Yorkshire rivers

Nov 25 2009 Huddersfield Daily Examiner

A NEW bid to prevent winter flooding in West Yorkshire was launched today.

Staff from the Environment Agency have started a huge scheme to check for possible blockages along 300 kilometres of West Yorkshire’s rivers.

They will be walking the banks to inspect the watercourses, looking for the kind of objects that could cause flooding problems by blocking the channel or trapping more debris and building up a dam.

The hazards can be natural ones, such as fallen trees that have been washed downstream, or man-made problems such as abandoned vehicles or flytipped waste like fridges and furniture.

The Environment Agency’s operations staff will tour all the main watercourses between November and March and remove those obstructions that can safely be pulled out of the river.

However objects such as trees and large flytipped items cannot be easily or safely dealt with, so staff have to return with lifting equipment at a later date.

The move comes in the wake of terrible flooding in parts of the UK, notably Cumbria, and flood alerts on rivers in West Yorkshire.

Agency staff are monitoring river levels along the Calder through Mirfield and Dewsbury and both Fenay Beck and Batley Beck, as well as the Rivers Colne and Holme.

Peter Holmes, operations manager for the Environment Agency, said: “We keep an eye on watercourses throughout the year looking for potential flooding problems, but in the winter we carry out intensive inspections.

“Sometimes we can clear blockages easily from the bank, but there are lots of other things that need more time and care.