Possible early warning system for Kempsey flood victims

People who were flooded when a new Environment Agency pump failed in the floods were told today they may get a new early warning system.

The pumps work but shut down by mistake beacuse of a faulty sensor at the height of the floods.

The ford at the Hatfield Brook in Kempsey near Worcester is still high.

The brook floods often, so the Envrionment Agency fitted a pump to pump the water out when it peaks.

That was last July, in November it failed, a faulty sensor telling the pumps to shut down.

Fifteen homes were flooded according to the Environment agency which replacing the computers and sensors in the pump.

Today they were in Kempsey telling locals what they will be doing to ensure they are not flooded again.

Over Christmas Mr Perry says the Environment Agency has been operating the pumps manually by starting and staopping them from the station and they are going to continue doing that until they have rebuolt the computer, replaced the sensors and recommissioned and retested the site to be sure that it works automatically in future.

He added that the Enviornment Agency is looking to put a plan in place a warning system to enable the community to take action and also for the Agency to know when to attend the site and put ,emasure sin place to ensure the pumps continue working

The owner of one of the homes flooded in Kempsey that was left devastated says she is confident the Environment Agency will prevent it from happening again.