Anger as Crowhurst Road floods - again

Last year East Sussex County Council installed new drains on Crowhurst Road, following a number of complaints about flooding.

But recent heavy rainfall once again left the stretch of road by Lower Wilting Farm underwater for several days.

One motorist believes the Link Road work is to blame.

He said: “The Link Road contractors have cut down all the trees along the Crowhurst Road which means water now runs off the banks laden with mud and runs down to block their new drains.

“The road has been completely flooded for over two weeks up to a foot or more deep. I have reported the flooding three times to the ESCC but with no action.

“As the flooded section of the road is on a blind bend and is very narrow it’s just a question of time before there’s a proper accident.”

He also criticised a road sweeper patrolling the stretch for failing to keep the mud off the road, saying: “He actually drives through the flood created by the mud he is meant to remove. If he stopped in the flood and lowered his nozzle he could remove all the flood water and clean the drains.”

Andy White, who lives in Hastings but regularly travels into Crowhurst, said: “They were supposed to be rectifying these issues.

“This will cause damage to someone’s car as you cannot see what is under the water.

“The council needs to sort this asap.”

Roger Williams, ESCC head of highways, said: “We have recently seen the highest levels of rainfall in the area for 20 years and ground conditions are very saturated, meaning there’s nowhere for the water to go, therefore it’s inevitable that we will see localised flooding.

“We did install new drains at this location last year which had solved the problem, but we will review the situation again once water levels subside.

“There is a long-standing issue with flooding at this location and we don’t believe there is any connection between this latest episode of flooding and the Link Road construction.”