Wainfleet is a small town a bit less than 15 miles south of Alford and about 5 miles from Skegness, the home of our mother club. After recent heavy rain it became the focus of media coverage as the River Steeping breached a section of it’s bank flooding the local countryside and threatening Wainfleet itself.
Tonight we discussed the current situation, how our members have been able to help and what help we may be able to provide in the coming weeks and months.
From our clubs point of view the immediate response came from Rotarian Gareth Rowlands who is also a keen 4×4 enthusiast and member of Lincolnshire 4×4 Response, a group of well trained and organised volunteers with vehicles adapted to provide assistance in adverse conditions.
Gareth reported he was first called out on Thursday evening to drive a carer through flooded roads so she could reach her patients. By Friday morning the situation had got worse with flood water rising and power cuts due to a flooded sub station. Gareth helped evacuate families to alternative accommodation and also became the ‘meals on wheels’ service for the various emergency service personal who were unable to leave their posts to fetch food or refreshments.
By Saturday many more households needed to be advised to evacuate as a weakness had been identified in the river bank that had the potential to cause a much larger and more significant breach. Gareth assisted a police officer by driving him to properties that would have been inaccessible by the patrol car. By this time the public was donating food (for humans and pets!) bedding and other essentials which Gareth collected and delivered to the designated rest centres.
Meanwhile another member of our club, Rotarian Chris Lilley was helping at the rest centre as an Emergency Chaplin and reported very generous donations of food.
With the breach blocked and the weather improving we now look forwards to the clean-up effort. We heard that a $15,000 (US) Rotary District Grant has been applied for and that our Skegness Club is monitoring the situation closely to identify where help will be needed.
In most cases it would have been inappropriate to photo the events but, in rare quiet moments, Gareth was able to capture a few images which we share with his permission. More of Gareth’s photo’s can be seen on the Wainfleet Floods page of the Wainfleet website.
