Gloucestershire urged to avoid floodwater and not to be complacent over more flooding

photo courtesy reuters

Motorists are once again being urged to avoid traveling through floodwater after a Gloucestershire driver collided with a submerged sign, damaging her car’s fuel tank and causing petrol to leak out. Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue crews were called to the incident in London Road to clean up more than 50 litres of spilt petrol.

The incident comes as people are being warned to avoid flooded roads, with some of the county’s main routes along the path of the river under water and more rain expected.

A number of emergency road closures are in place due to the volume of surface water on the roads.

Gloucestershire Highways is signposting closures on main commuter routes and diversions are in place.

Meanwhile, drivers are being warned to avoid known flooded routes, to allow extra time for their journeys and to avoid traveling at peak periods if possible.

Environment chiefs are warning Gloucestershire residents not to be complacent about the risk of further flooding.

An Environment Agency spokesman said that,

“All the watercourses react in different ways – the River Severn is really high now and will remain high for the next five or six days.

“What’s tending to happen now is when we get the heavy bursts of rain it is all the smaller tributaries that are shooting back up again.”

He added: “We’re just encouraging people to stay safe and keep aware – it looks like it is going to be wet for the next few days so don’t put the sandbags away yet.”