Consider others in flood water

There is a lot of advice on driving through flood water, the best we can give you is not too and find another route!

Always check before proceeding and never enter fast flowing water.

Please consider pedestrians on the road side - creating a large wave to soak someone might look funny but it's an offence.

If driving past property slow down, a large wave can make the difference of flood water entering someone house or not.

After the rain......

After that deluge of rain, the team deployed on patrol to check the local hotspots.











King George's Car Park , luckily those cars were just in the dry.











The flood system checked for the environment agency - protecting the town thankfully.











Washpond lane - living up to its name.











Top of wash pond lane.











Ulwell Road , where the road was awash and in danger of flooding a resident.









Team deployed to slow traffic and stop waves entering the little cottage.



We would like to remind drivers to avoid flood water.
Only proceed if its safe to do so , slow down when approaching flooded roads but keep revs up. Aways check the depth, never proceed if the depth is more than the bottom of you tyres.



It is also an offence to purposely speed up to soak the poor residents who were clearing the drains. Two vehicles were seen to do this on the main road and put other road users at risk.

Careful on the Roads

Please take care on the roads flooding on the Swanage to Studland road at the moment. This is currently outside the station.

Flood Alert

The following flood alert has been issued by the Environment Agency for East Coast of Dorset.



Flooding is possible for Castletown, Weymouth, Preston Beach, Swanage Bay, Studland Bay, Sandbanks, Poole Harbour, Bournemouth Beach, Hengistbury Head and Christchurch Harbour.



The Flood Alert is in Force for the morning tide on Wednesday 30th December.



High tide for Swanage on the 30th December 2015 is 10.15 am (2.10 meters)



Expect strong winds, Force 8 Southerly and big waves along the exposed Dorset Coast.  Spray is likely on Coastal roads.





Be aware and careful along beaches, promenades, coastal paths and roads.

Flood Alert Issued

A Flood Alert has been issued by the Environment Agency for East Coast of Dorset.

Flooding is possible for Castletown, Weymouth, Preston Beach, Swanage Bay, Studland Bay, Sandbanks, Poole Harbour, Bournemouth Beach, Hengistbury Head and Christchurch Harbour Thursday morning.

Low lying coastal land and roads will be affected first.

Be prepared.



This Flood Alert effects the whole of the East Coast of Dorset particularly at Weymouth and Swanage and will remain in force for two hours following the time of high tide.

The time and date of the forecast high water for which this Flood Alert is in force is : 07:30 am on 29/10/2015.

The forecast wind direction is South South Westerly

The forecast wind strength is Force 7




Stay tuned to radio weather, news and travel bulletins on Heart Solent, BBC Radio Solent, Wave 105, Wessex FM and The Bay.

- Be prepared to protect yourself and your property.

- Keep your colleagues informed about the situation.

- Be careful along beaches, promenades, coastal footpaths and roads.

- Avoid walking, cycling or driving through flood water.

- Farmers should consider moving livestock and equipment away from areas likely to flood.

- Keep an eye on local water levels and weather conditions. Visit the Environment Agency website www.gov.uk/environment-agency for river level and flooding information.

- Call Floodline on 0345 988 1188 using quickdial 04532 for up-to-date flooding information.

Flood Alert Issued

A flood alert has been issued for the Purbeck rivers and streams. Due to recent rainfall the current river level has risen to 1.095.

Further rainfall overnight of up to 8mm may cause levels to rise further

For further updates call Floodline on 0345 988 1188 (Envirnoment Agency)

Flood Warning

This Flood Alert affects the whole of the East Coast of Dorset particularly at Weymouth, Preston Beach and Swanage and will remain in force for two hours following the times and dates of high tide.

The time and date of the forecast high waters for which this Flood Alert is in force are : 19:00 pm on 06/11/2014 and 08:00 am on 07/11/2014. The forecast wind direction are South and West. The forecast wind strengths are Force 7.




High tide at Swanage Tonight

Water Rescue Training

Colleagues in Hampshire have joined police, fire and RNLI teams in a massive flood rescue exercise designed to get all parties working better together in a real emergency. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11793416. Of course, as reported in our earlier post, colleagues in Cornwall were doing it for real this week.

We were doing some water rescue training of our own tonight although not on such a grand scale. More about this and maybe some pictures too tomorrow...

Coastguards are busy in Cornwall this morning.

Trapped drivers rescued as floods hit Cornwall



A spokesman from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said coastguard teams were working with emergency services to evacuate flooded buildings across coastal communities, with the incident elevated to "gold command".

Flood Patrol

As Ian said, we deployed a patrol Monday evening to monitor the risk of flooding in the local area. Given the snow and rain over the last few weeks the ground is saturated so the prolonged and heavy rain experienced ran straight into the streams.

The river at Avenue Garage was particularly high - about 2 inches from overtopping the bridge. This river runs through the pitch and putt course and then drains through underground tunnels to flow out at the ‘Banjo Jetty’ at the bottom of Victoria Avenue. The problem last night was a combination of the huge volume of water flowing in the river and the high spring tide due at 9:00 which caused the water in the tunnel to back up!

Apologies for the photo but it was tipping it down.

If the bridge overtopped then there would have been flooding.

Environment Agency Flood Map for Swanage can be found here (Click):-

We then moved onto Corfe Castle via the back roads, to meet up with the police who had shut the road by the railway viaduct. Apparently a load of their cones and signs had ‘gone for a swim’ and are probably now bobbing around Brownsea Island. Again the bridges here were close to capacity; the river was running at about 2-3 cubic metres a second which is a lot of water! Here’s Austen doing some inspecting – being VERY careful not to fall in!

Then back to Swanage Police Station for a cuppa - thanks Penguin or is it Puffin?