Teams 'working around the clock' to help Wakefield deal with impact of Storm Dudley, Eunice and Storm Franklin

Three storms, Dudley, Eunice and Franklin, have hit the country in almost as many days, bringing strong winds and heavy rainfall to the district and wider region.

The council’s specialist tree teams have dealt with 86 tree safety requests, 46 of which were reported on Monday.

The issues were mainly branches or trees on the road which have all now either been totally removed or been made safe to remove later. The team have also looked into safety concerns and identified where further inspections are due.

River levels have been very high, which has resulted in some flooding in areas close to points along the River Calder. Sandbags were delivered to support properties at imminent risk of flooding and there were no reports of internal property flooding in the district.

Roads were affected by surface water flooding, but continuous monitoring and recent investment in flood risk schemes and drainage repairs and clearing, has helped to minimise the impact.

Extra resources were pulled in to enable bin collections to keep going last Friday. The bin wagons were followed by Street Scene staff, who picked up any rubbish from the bins – as well as blown over bins – to ensure streets were kept as clean and safe as possible.

There were no scheduled bin collections for Monday and it will be business as usual for waste and recycling collections from Tuesday.

Coun Denise Jeffery, Leader of Wakefield Council, said: “It has been a very eventful period – both during the days and throughout the nights – it is clear that staff have worked exceptionally hard. Whilst river levels are not within our control, our ongoing investment in flood risk schemes and the proactive drainage clearing has enabled the road network to cope better during the severe weather.

“Unfortunately, it looks as though the bad weather isn’t over yet, so I’d ask everyone to please take care and remember that we have teams on standby to help with any issues.”

Residents can keep up to date with any disruption on the Council’s social media channels and are urged to report any concerns at 0345 8 506 506.

Power outages should be reported to Northern Powergrid https://www.northernpowergrid.com/ and flood warnings can be found at https://check-for-flooding.service.gov.uk/.

Residents who are prone to flooding should take action, advice is available at https://www.wakefield.gov.uk/roads-and-transport/winter-weather/flooding.