LETTER: Check on sewers after flash floods

In response to an article in the October 16 edition of the County Times entitled ‘Flash flood chaos across Horsham’, I would like to take the opportunity to clarify the situation.

By The Newsroom

Published 8th Nov 2014, 06:00 BST

The flooding across Horsham in October was indeed caused by the torrential rain which deluged the area.

When this rainwater enters the local drainage network it can cause the system to back up and cause localised flooding.

We are working with Horsham District Council and West Sussex County Council to get a better understanding of how the system performed.

We are not aware on any issues with the public surface water sewers in Horsham, however, we will carry out a series of CCTV surveys to check them thoroughly.

It is important to note that surface water systems are simply not designed to cope with such intense rainfall and the associated surface water flooding which can result.

MARTIN JONES

County sewerage engineer, Southern Water, Yeoman Road, Worthing