Flooded Lincolnshire town Wainfleet faces more rain this week

The Lincolnshire town which saw almost 600 houses evacuated over the weekend after floods faces more rain this week, meaning residents face a longer wait to return.

Emergency services ordered people in Wainfleet to leave their homes on Saturday as water levels rose. The River Steeping had broken its banks on Wednesday after two months worth of rain fell across two days and a state of emergency was declared on Thursday.

RAF Chinook helicopters were called in to aid efforts to stem the breach, dropping 270 tonnes of sand and ballast.

City of Lincoln Council then warned on Saturday that the “repairs at River Steeping have deteriorated" and the RAF returned to drop a further 76 tonnes.

High volume water pumps were drafted in by the Environment Agency on Sunday to begin pumping out flood waters.

Sheena Engineer, a flood duty manager at the Environment Agency, said on Sunday: “Our staff are working 24/7 alongside the emergency services to protect people and property after [the] river embankment breached at Wainfleet.

“In an effort to reduce flood waters, our field teams will be operating two high-capacity ultra-high volume pumps. The county has seen nearly two and half times the amount of rain which normally falls in a month, although the weather situation is improved today and tomorrow.”

Anglian Water Services requested that Wainfleet residents avoid using washing machines, toilets and showers while the pumps were operational.

There were fears that people may not be able to return to their homes to assess damage until Friday this week.

Chief Inspector Phil Vickers from Lincolnshire Police told the BBC: “Until we’re satisfied that there isn’t a risk to life, that there isn’t a further risk to property, our advice will remain to stay out of that area.”

The Met Office warned on Monday that there is the potential for heavy showers to return to Lincolnshire on Tuesday continuing into Wednesday, putting further pressure on Wainfleet.

“We are keeping an eye on it as there could be some issues with surface water and flooding,” meteorologist Dean Hall said.

The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for much of the South East, East Anglia and parts of the Midlands, running from 6pm on Tuesday until 9pm on Wednesday.