Doncaster residents asked to leave sandbags in place - in case flood alert returns next week

The Environment Agency removed the flood alerts which were in place in Doncaster late last night. The alerts were in place due to concerns Storm Christoph may put people’s homes at risk.

Some roads have still been closed because of high water levels.

A major incident was declared in Doncaster and 45,000 sandbags were distributed to residents around the borough.

Officials at Doncaster Council said today that while it was good new that the flood alerts had now been taken down, water levels still remained high and they will continue to monitor the situation closely with staff on the ground tthroughout the weekend.

They added they would like to ask residents who had received sandbags to keep them in place for the time being at least.

A statement added: “Rain has again been forecast for the back end of next week, and whilst it’s too early to say whether this may have any impact on water levels and flooding we don’t want to take any chances.

“We will of course be monitoring the situation very closely, and if we do have any concerns we will inform residents straight away!

“If you do have any contaminated sandbags then please dispose of them.”

Mayor Ros Jones said: “The final flood alert in Doncaster has been lifted.

“I would like to thank all our staff and partner agencies who have worked tirelessly this week to prepare for the worst.

“This has been an anxious time for our residents, businesses & communities.

“We have been lucky this time.”

The Environment Agency has been running pumps to remove standing water from the washlands next to the Rivers Don near Fishlake.

Adam Bayliss, asset performance team leader at the agency said: “We’ve installed two high volumn pumps at Fishlake to pump water out of the Fishlake Woodhouse Washland.

“We’re moving 2.4 million of litres an hour of water back into the River Don.”

Fishlake residents have expressed concerns over the effect any further heavy rain would have, as the flooding in 2019 came when heavy rain in October was followed by heavy rain in November.

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