West Midlands braces as flooding enters third day

Flooding misery in the West Midlands has entered its third day, with one high street under water as a new wave of flood warnings are issued for the region.

There were fresh storms on Thursday evening, just hours after it was confirmed that 55 properties had flooded in Birmingham, with other problems from Wednesday onwards including evacuations of pubs, a closed theme park, and a business that “lost everything”.

In the latest incident, in Wolverhampton, flooding linked to a burst main saw Church Street, Bilston, submerged.

Meanwhile, the Environment Agency (EA) has issued two flood warnings – covering parts of Staffordshire and Warwickshire – and many more alerts.

Police in Bilston cordoned off Church Street as workers from Severn Trent Water attended.

It was not immediately clear whether recent heavy rain had contributed to the issue there.

A Severn Trent spokesperson said it was “really hard to say what caused” the burst.

The priority, they added, was to get “the pipes fixed and the area back to normal as quickly and safely as possible” – but there was no “time frame” for when that could be.

The company is working to isolate the issue and divert water to allow people living in flats above the scene to get in and out of their homes.

Although some traders at one end of the street have since been able to open their premises, businesses in the worst affected part have had to remain closed.

Dev Chand, who runs a catering trailer selling curries, said he was losing trade.

“I came to work this morning and the police have said there’s no access… so looks like I’m heading back home,” he said. “I didn’t come in yesterday because of the weather, and obviously I’ve got a lot of [food] waste.”