Closure of pumping station blamed for flooding in Boston
Video report by Emma Wilkinson
Residents of properties left flooded after heavy rain say problems could have been averted if a nearby pumping station had not been shut down.
About 40 homes in Boston, Lincolnshire, were inundated with water following bad weather on Monday and Tuesday as a major incident was declared.
Householders say there was little warning before the South Forty Foot Drain, also known as the Black Sluice Navigation - the main drainage channel in the area - overflowed.
It came seven years after the Black Sluice Pumping Station was decommissioned.
Ian Pickering, who lives in the village of Wyberton, said that decision had left the area vulnerable.
Mr Pickering, who described himself as "gutted and frozen", said: "They can empty that river in minutes with those pumps. I've witnessed it - they used to turn the pumps on, and the river will go down to about 12 foot of water in the middle if they were working."
Fellow resident Kelly Sauny, who has 10 dogs, said she only knew she was facing flooding when "the fire brigade were hammering on my door".
"I came downstairs and the dogs were up to their shoulders in water," she said.
"I've got a son who's got quite bad asthma so we can't be here, we've got no heating, we've got nothing. So I'm having to try and find kennels, but that's expensive.
"None of us down the street have processed it."
Cllr Paula Ashleigh-Morris, of Boston Borough Council, called for the pumping station to be reopened. She said: "We felt that could have helped during Storm Henk [in January 2024] but it could certainly, it would seem, have helped now and that's the prevalent view of every resident we've spoken to."
Fellow councillor Tom Ashton added there were "many questions" about the pumping station being decommissioned.
In a social media post he said: "I will be expecting answers from the Environment Agency as to what has gone wrong, and how they plan to keep local residents safe in the future."
The Environment Agency said there had been "record river levels" in the South Forty Foot Drain after the snow and heavy rain.
A spokesperson said the decision to close the pumping station had been made jointly by several organisations including the Black Sluice Internal Drainage Board, Lincolnshire County Council, Boston Borough Council and the NFU.
They added: "This decision was based on a four-year modelling study, which showed that whilst the pumping station makes a small difference to flood risk, this reduction in risk could not outweigh the cost of refurbishing and running the asset for the future.
"In addition, current use of the navigation lock has been proven to discharge the same amount of water, if not more, from the South Forty Foot catchment than the pumping station can."
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