Hosepipe ban stays in Surrey despite torrential rain and flooding

ROADS flooded and rivers burst their banks as torrential rain battered East Surrey this week – but the hosepipe ban remains in place.

As the River Mole overflowed, closing Flanchford Road in Leigh, floods sprang up around northern Horley.

But despite 200 per cent of June's expected rainfall having fallen already, water supplies remain depleted, according to Sutton and East Surrey Water.

At the Gatwick Cambridge Hotel, flooding problems were compounded by a suspected burst water main beneath the car park. It surrounded the hotel with a mixture of rain and sewer water on Monday.

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Kemal Nisangah, owner of the Horley hotel in Bonehurst Road, said: "It is disgusting, people are going outside and they'll get their feet wet. It is unacceptable.

"Water is still pumping out – what am I supposed to do? If this was my home I could shut the door and go out but this is a business. It is ridiculous."

Mr Nisangah and his staff set up pumps to clear the car park of water as guests were forced to don wellies to get to their cars. Thames Water, who are responsible for the main, were unable to comment before the Mirror went to press.

Across Bonehurst Road at Days Hotel, guests were forced to wade out to their cars as staff attempted to pump rain water out of the car park.

Jean Jordan was staying at the hotel. She said: "It is a bit of a shock-horror. But I am near the front of the car park so I'm in prime position for a getaway."

Horley Row was also rendered impassable through flooding on Monday and Flanchford Road in Leigh was closed on Tuesday after the River Mole burst its banks.

But Sutton and East Surrey Water say little of the rainfall is making its way into the ground and the aquifers remain at record low levels, though they are hopeful of seeing some improvement soon.

Stuart Hyslop, spokesman for Sutton from East Surrey Water, said the underground water supply has not increased.

"What we’re hoping is the rainfall will cause the ground to become saturated, but at this point it doesn’t look like that’s happening," he said.

"We’ve had about 200 per cent of the average rainfall for June already this month – it’s a huge amount, but we checked the main reference bore hole yesterday morning and it was showing no sign of any recharge.

"We’ll keep monitoring it, but at the moment it’s 30 feet lower than it should be at this time of year."

He added: "This is an unusual circumstance. We had two extremely dry years.

"If we had this sort of rain in winter it would be fantastic.

"The ground is obviously quite dry still lower down and it has to be saturated before the water can go down.

"In some parts of the country this is happening. The nature of the soil is if it is porous the water will get into it much faster but that is not the case in a large part of our area."