Croydon cleans up after Katie

Council staff and contractors worked hard to clear damage this week as Easter Sunday into Monday saw Storm Katie batter large parts of England with heavy and torrential rain across the region.

Strong to gale force winds with gusts of over 70 mph led to disruption in the borough with a number of calls received regarding structural damage to buildings and many trees being blown over on our streets and in parks and open spaces.

The council’s forestry team alongside contractors City Suburban had been monitoring forecasts and so were on standby. They therefore mobilised very quickly once the storm arrived to minimise disruption to the borough.

Since the early hours of Monday morning the council has responded to nearly 100 fallen trees. These have been a combination of highway trees, trees in parks, and privately owned trees falling onto the highway.

The teams prioritised their work based on which incidents posed the greatest risk to the public. In the first instance they cleared obstructed roads and footpaths and they then moved on to tackling the remaining trees that had fallen in other public open spaces.

“Even a few days after the storm we were still receiving a number of calls regarding damage caused by the wind and rain and our teams continued to work tirelessly to address all of these incidents. Situations like this are a testament to our staff and contractors, showing how they always go the extra mile when duty calls.”

Councillor Kathy Bee, cabinet member for transport and environment

2016-03-31T10:32:10+01:00 March 31st, 2016|Recent news|