Storm Babet: Fire and rescue services in Suffolk and Cambridgeshire faced ‘busiest day on record’
Fire services in one of the regions worst hit by Storm Babet had their busiest day in history - as they received 1500 calls within 24 hours.
The record day on 20 October saw 640 incidents reported to Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service’s (CFRS) combined fire control room - which takes 999 calls for both Cambridgeshire and Suffolk.
More calls were made to the county’s emergency services than for the July 2022 heatwave fires - meaning some calls had to be handled by emergency services as far away as West Yorkshire.
Among the calls were requests for help in pumping water from buildings, rescuing people from cars and helping stranded residents from their homes.
Parts of Suffolk saw two months' rainfall in the space of just four days as a result of Storm Babet. Seven people have lost their lives across the UK as Storm Babet has also wreaked havoc across Yorkshire, Lincolnshire as well as parts of Scotland.
A major incident was declared in Suffolk on 20 October due to persistent rain and high winds causing widespread flooding.
ITV News Anglia accompanied residents in Framlingham, where hundreds of properties were affected by the downpours, as they returned to find "chaos" in their homes.
Despite the service being overwhelmed with calls, Cambridgeshire's chief fire officer Chris Strickland praised the hard work of his colleagues.
“Everyone has demonstrated over the last few days their passion for serving the community and giving their best, and supporting each other. We had our officers set up our major incident command room to coordinate our response, and in Suffolk a major incident was declared.
“Despite the extreme workload generated by the storm, the combined fire control provided a great service throughout and clearly showed how cost effective and efficient a joint facility can be."
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