Somerset Council has taken action to close the A361 across the Somerset Levels after flood water spilled onto the road late last night (Friday 5 January).

Road users are being urged to plan ahead and use an alternative route – emergency road closure gates at Burrowbridge and East Lyng are closed today, (Saturday 6 January).

Following an extremely wet start to the year and heavy rain on Thursday (4 January), Currymoor, one of the largest flood storage reservoirs on the Somerset Levels and Moors became full. When this happens, excess water will be conveyed down a spillway into Northmoor and Saltmoor. This creates a flood risk to the A361 and flooding occurred late on Friday night.

A flood warning remains in place for East Lyng to Burrowbridge.

Councillor Richard Wilkins, Somerset Council’s Lead Member for Transport and Digital said:

Following 2014, emergency road closure gates were installed at eight locations, including between Burrowbridge and East Lyng on the A361, to prevent vehicles getting stuck in flood waters.

Out teams will continue to monitor the situation and when it is safe to do so the road will be reopened. Please use an alternative route in the meantime.

It’s vital that road users respect the gates and do not tamper with them. Just 30cm can float a car. Over the last few days our teams and the emergency services have seen a number of abandoned vehicles in flood water. Drivers open themselves up to the risk of being swept away and having to be rescued or getting stranded after their car engine takes in water and stops.

Somerset Council’s Highways Team will continue to monitor the situation over the coming days.

You can check if emergency road closure gates are open or closed at Emergency road closure gates (somerset.gov.uk). Please note this page may not be updated out of hours. You get travel updates from @TravelSomerset on X and Facebook.

Check your flood risk at Flood alerts and warnings – GOV.UK (check-for-flooding.service.gov.uk).