THE town was flooded for the third time this year when fork lightning and thunderstorms erupted over Ross-on Wye on Friday afternoon.

The traders in Brookend Street and Broad Street, aware of the Met Office warnings of heavy rain and thunderstorms took advantage of a pallet of sandbags secured by town and County Councillor Ed O'Driscoll.

At the height of the flood, the water was described as being ‘knee deep’ in places.

But despite using the sandbags, a number of properties were flooded. Hairdresser Lorraine Davies moved her clients to the back of the salon while other staff members mopped the floors.

It was a similar situation across the road with the Cats Rescue Shop mopping up after being flooded out despite using sandbags.

Herefordshire Council’s roads and regulatory services cabinet member Barry Durkin (C, Old Gore) was in Brookend Street overseeing the remedial work on Saturday morning.

He said the resurfacing of Broad Street and Brookend Street that had previously been planned to take place this week will have to be pushed back and added that longer term works will be needed to avoid this recurring issue, if a problem is found.

However, Cllr Durkin said on Monday morning that the resurfacing of the road would take place from New Street down to Kyrle Street.

In May this year, Ross was hit with torrential rain which flooded Brookend Street and caused severe damage to Broad Street with the collapsing of sewer pipes.

And at the beginning of this month the town was flooded again following another deluge.

A spokesman for Welsh Water said: “Due to the exceptionally high rainfall and resulting excess water creating floods in parts of Ross last week, Welsh Water have checked all our assets in the area and can confirm that they are working as expected with no problems identified.

“Our teams have been in the area Friday, Saturday and Sunday supporting the local council with their work.

“We’ll continue to monitor the situation and provide support as amber weather warnings are still in place.”

Local businesses and traders were seen pulling together and closing the road themselves.

One local resident, who declined to be named, said: “It's clear this flooding issues is a result of a combination of factors - our drainage system is simply not able to cope with that volume of water going in it within such a small space of time.

“When the drains have not been cleaned or unblocked, the issue resurfaces time and time again. 

“Regular drain cleaning and maintenance is needed and a full investigation into cause of any blockage would be the only solution to the problem, otherwise it'll continue to happen.

“I left my car on Brookend Street just as it started to rain and when I returned 20minutes later had to walk in 30cm of water to retrieve it.  

“The businesses had sandbags delivered at 3pm Friday but the flood was inevitable due to blocked or insufficient drains and sheer volume of water.”

Leon Davies, who has been involved in ground works for 40 years said: “I believe that a contributory factor to the flooding issues at the bottom end of town is that a culvert which used to run from the old brewery to the river, has been blocked up. The water reaches Brookend Street, but has nowhere to go,

Ross Town Councillor Milly Boylan has previously requested that the proposed town centre resurfacing should be postponed until a solution to the flooding can be found.

A Herefordshire Council spokesperson said: “We are currently working to address flooding in various locations across the county following extreme rainfall on Friday afternoon, which saw over 75mm of rainfall in just three hours.

“We are aware that this is at least the third flooding incident to hit Brookend Street in less than six months, and we are working with Welsh Water to understand the causes and mechanisms of this latest incident.

“Whilst there will be times when any system is simply unable to cope with extreme volumes of rainfall, both ourselves and Welsh Water are committed to finding a solution to reduce the risk of the flood events that have been seen since May.

“Operatives from our highway teams attended Brookend Street to again cleanse the highway drainage system and over the weekend Cllr Durkin visited to better understand what had occurred on this occasion, and speak with local residents and those immediately affected in order to gather their first hand experiences.

“Operatives from Welsh Water were also in attendance over the weekend to monitor and address any further event.

“Meetings between the Council and Welsh Water have already been programmed to consider investigation into the flow of water and the best way to reduce the risk of flooding. 

“We are also currently investing an additional £1m into highways drainage improvement until the end of March 2025. Working with parish councils, we have also invested a further £445,000 into a new Local Drainage Fund which we are currently encouraging parish councils to apply for to improve drainage in their areas.”

● The Morrisons store in Ross also had to close on Friday afternoon when water started coming through its roof. The retailer said it was urgently investigating the cause of a leak in its store. A video on social media showed water pouring in through the ceiling.