Photo gallery: St Albans residents capture chaos of recent flooding
Heavy rain caused havoc across the district on Friday as roads flooded and a number of businesses, including Fleetville Vintage Emporium, fell victim to the downpour.
The Hatfield Road shop suffered damage to antique furniture, magazines and clothes as a result of the floodwater which rose to two inches.
Manager George Constantinou said the water poured in through the front door and was “relentless”. He went on: “Every time cars drove by the water didn’t have anywhere to go, it was just flooding in.
“We called in as many people as we could and it took us two whole days to clear the water. If it had happened through the night when the shop was closed it would have been totally disastrous.”
The store is currently in the process of finding out how much the damage is going to cost them, but their trade was obviously seriously affected too, with customers turning up unable to take a look around.
George added: “We shut for the whole of Saturday, which is hardly the best day to close.”
Residents in the district also suffered from the storm, including Rita Kozma of Sherwood Avenue who banded together with her neighbours to beat the rising water.
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Rita said: “This is not the first time we have all had to experience getting out shovels, brooms, wellie boots and wet weather gear.
“We have now called ourselves the ‘Sherwood Shovellers’ – residents surrounding the “dip” in Sherwood Avenue always pull together.”
Eaton Road residents have also reported stopping cars driving through floodwater, in an effort to stop the waves caused by cars breaching some houses nearby where the road joins Salisbury Avenue.
Nuffield Health St Albans was also forced to evacuate customers when rainwater rushed in from the roof.
Herts county council has again been criticised by locals for failing to maintain roads and unblock drains, with several business premises also experiencing flooding.
George Constantinou believes that the drain maintenance in the district did not help the flooding nor does London Colney resident Richard Housden.
He said: “As an OAP who has just come out of hospital following heart surgery I am not in a fit state of health to be fixing the council’s failed and un-maintained drains.
“I am a retired highways manager with many years experience in maintenance but it seems the council are not willing to ask those directly involved in the flooding and who witness where the water flows from for any help or guidance.”
A spokesperson for Herts county council said the frequency with which they cleaned individual gullies was based on observed silt levels, information from customers and inspectors’ reports.
She added that residents should report flooding issues on the online fault reporting system: www.hertsdirect.org/highwayfaults
