A HEREFORDSHIRE salon owner says she has fears for the future of her business and is calling for action to be taken to prevent floodwater seeping into her premises.
Lorraine Davies, who owns Lorraine's in Brookend Street, Ross-on-Wye, faced seven hours of work through the night to clear her salon after the most recent bout of flooding in the town.
Lorraine's has been in Brookend Street for some 40 years. Mrs Davies said:"My business, which is a thriving one and 40 years' hard work, is nothing if I wanted to sell as nobody will buy it because of drain issues."
Mrs Davies is calling for Herefordshire Council to properly clear the drains near her salon to prevent the same thing happening again.
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"We are up and running but I'm not holding my breath for not flooding again," Mrs Davies said.
"My husband has been talking with the council to say there are numerous drains collapsed. We told Ross Town Council in May what the issue was and there are three county council members in that council.
"My husband and stepson have worked relentlessly both in the May flooding and twice in under two weeks to get the drainage sorted, lifting gullies and manholes to let flow of water down, as well as helping me clean up my salon and with the sandbags situation, as the council said they were not responsible."
Lorraine's has not been the only business in Ross-on-Wye to be hit by flooding.
In May, Sari Walker of nearby Little Chic said: "We've got baby clothes and kids toys all over the floor, destroyed. I've got five machines to keep it dry but it is still very squelchy. We don't get insurance for flooding anymore."
People living in the flats and houses around the area have also been affected, with Ann Harridence saying: "The sewage network in place is not capable of dealing with the number of properties built in the areas that feed into the drains at the bottom of Brookend Street."
"The motion calls on them to ensure all drains, gullies and culverts that fall under the council are mapped, undertake an urgent programme of repairing drains, gullies and culverts, develop a full county-wide maintenance schedule that anticipates the likelihood of heavier rainfall in the future, publish the maintenance schedule so that local people can have confidence in the plans and ensure that areas most at risk of flooding are prioritised for maintenance.
"If this motion is passed, we hope it will go some way to alleviating the impact of increased rainfall over the coming years by maximising the capacity of the current system."
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A spokesperson for Herefordshire Council said: "We are currently working to address flooding in various locations across the county, including in Ross-on-Wye.
"We are aware that this is at least the third flooding incident to hit Brookend Street in less than six months, and we are working with Welsh Water to understand the causes and mechanisms of this latest incident. Whilst there will be times when any system is simply unable to cope with extreme volumes of rainfall, we and Welsh Water are committed to finding a solution to reduce the risk of flood events.
"Operatives from our highway teams attended Brookend Street to again cleanse the highway drainage system and Councillor Barry Durkin and Ed Bradford visited to better understand what had occurred and speak with residents. Operatives from Welsh Water were also in attendance."
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