Update from Calderdale Council and partners:
Latest update from the Environment Agency
The Met Office has forecast 20-30mm of rain over Saturday and Sunday, moving from the South. This will be well dispersed rather than localised, so no problems are expected.
The long range forecast for Sunday into Monday is predicting heavy rain on the Pennines which may trigger flood alerts across Calderdale. We are monitoring this closely and will have more detailed forecasts on Sunday morning.
Community and business support
We are continuing to operate four community hubs over the weekend in:
Sowerby Bridge Leisure Centre, Sowerby Bridge
Best Practice Training (formerly Calder Valley Club), Mytholmroyd
Hebden Bridge Town Hall
Todmorden Town Hall
We are looking at future plans for these hubs, and how best to support them going forward.
Lots of donations have been made, with lots of food and clothing collected. An audit is underway to see what supplies the hubs have currently and what is required. At that point we will be asking people to contact the hubs before dropping off donations. We’re currently looking in to storage issues, and we’re exploring other options for storing all the donations. Staff are also looking at distributing the surplus supplies at a regional level.
Details of counselling support for affected residents is being sent to hubs leads, and additional support is being provided through the Clinical Commissioning Group from Tuesday 5 January.
The Contact Centre will remain open for calls relating to flooding between 9am and 5pm on Saturday and Sunday on 01422 288001. Our out of hours phone line will be available for emergencies outside these times on 01422 288000.
We are updating our FAQs regularly as the situation develops and these are a good source of information for residents and businesses. You can find the latest version here. http://www.calderdale.gov.uk/v2/emergencies#general-disruptions
Clean up and recovery
Staff and partners are continuing to monitor the impact of the landslide at Scout Road. There is still a risk of further deterioration at this site, and some residents have been returning to their homes despite this risk. Letters are being distributed warning residents of the dangers and Police are helping with the delivery of these letters to reinforce the message.
Scout Road Academy will be closed for the week from Monday 4 January.
Sandbags are continuing to be distributed around affected areas. We have over 300 Jumbo Bags (1 tonne), with a delivery of nearly 1000 more of Monday and Tuesday. We also have 2000 small sandbags.
The Communications team is sending out messages via social, broadcast and print media to discourage people from travelling to Elland from Brighouse via Elland bridge via Park Road. To reduce congestion people are being advised to travel via Ainley Top or Rastrick. People are also being asked to plan their route in advance as we expect roads to be busy after the festive period finishes and to allow extra time for their journey.
A temporary footbridge has been delivered to the site, and the canal and rivers trust is overseeing installation. It’s hoped the bridge will be in position by Sunday. Bridges continue to be inspected across Calderdale, with a daily monitoring of Brighouse bridge.
FAQs are being prepared giving regular updates on affected structures in the borough.
There are currently no working ATM cash machines in Hebden Bridge. We are looking at temporary mobile resources for the town.
Staff have arranged for portaloos to be delivered to Mytholmroyd, and are looking into the positioning of these.
The amount of waste being left out for collections has been gradually reducing. However, staff will still be out collecting items for half a day on Sunday before normal collection services resume on Monday.
Media update
The One Show have contacted one of our volunteers in Hebden Bridge and will be filming in the town tomorrow. They are speaking to volunteers and a representative from the Council. They’re also attending and filming at a service at St James’ Church in the town at 11am, which anyone is welcome to attend.
Calderdale Flood Relief | News |