Flooded A421 dual carriageway in Bedfordshire could be closed for weeks

A main road that was flooded after days of heavy rain could remain closed for weeks.

The A421, one of Bedfordshire's busiest roads, is still underwater - making it a no go for commuters for a second consecutive Monday morning.

The dual carriageway is part of a key route from Cambridge through Milton Keynes to Oxford.

However, National Highways is unsure when it will reopen, after Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire experienced their wettest Septembers on record.

Working around the clock, National Highways has pumped away around 10 million litres of water, but they estimate another 50 million litres are left on the road - that's roughly 20 Olympic-sized swimming pools of water.

Martin Fellows, East regional director at National Highways, said: “We are doing everything we can to try and clear what is a real problem in this location but we’re going to have to ask for people’s patience for some time longer, because it’s likely to take even longer to get this cleared.

“There is likely to be damage to the road surface. There is a bridge - the structure needs to be assessed and make sure that is safe. And that process is going to take quite some time," he added.

Homeowners across the region were also left devastated.

About 650 properties were flooded in Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire and the home counties, according to the Environment Agency, which estimated about 8,200 properties had been protected.

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