Somerset Council’s highways crews worked throughout the weekend and today (Monday 25 November) after dozens of roads were flooded and over 200 trees were downed.
Teams from the Council’s contractor Kier dealt with 644 reports of incidents on the roads across Somerset during and after Storm Bert.
This came on the back of a week featuring 4 separate weather warnings for ice, snow, rain and wind.
Throughout today (Monday), crews were busy removing more than 200 trees which had been blown across roads, including the B3227 in Norton Fitzwarren and the A30 Hendford Hill in Yeovil.
Flooding hit the A37 near Ilchester which remains closed (pictured below), the A36 in Beckington was blocked by fallen power cables – it is now clear, and roads across the Levels were also under water, while the A3088 Cartgate Link Road near Yeovil was closed until 4pm on Monday for a specialist clear-up following a diesel spill when a tanker overturned.
By Monday evening around 300 incidents had been dealt with and crews were continuing to work to clear roads of trees and flood water.
The following roads remain closed at the time of publication:
- A37 Ilchester Road between Ilchester and Yeovil
- Cutts Road (East Lyng to Athelney, Langport Road, Muchelney and New Road (West Lyng to North Curry) on the Levels
- Lipe Lane, Ruishton
- Limington Road, Ilchester
Councillor Richard Wilkins, Somerset Council’s Lead Member for Transport and Waste, said:
This has been a challenging few days for our teams on the ground with hundreds of incidents to deal with – they’ve been out around the clock throughout the weekend and today and we’re incredibly grateful for their efforts.
There are a number of road closures remaining in place and there may well be smaller roads across the county which are flooded or which are blocked by fallen trees. Please don’t attempt to navigate flooded roads. If it’s safe to do so and you’re able to, please report any issues you come across and our teams will deal with them as quickly as possible.
We’re aware the impact on Yeovil in particular has been significant today with both the A3088 and A37 affected, we are grateful to the local community and road users across Somerset for their patience and support.
Kier General Manager Allan Rigby said:
Our teams have been working really hard during the second named storm of the season alongside Somerset Council colleagues.
Whilst it has been challenging our teams have pulled out all the stops, working through the night, to ensure that the network continues to run.
If you spot a problem on the road you can report it quickly and easily via the Council’s Report a problem on the road page.
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