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Lancing and Sompting Floods

Sunday night, 5 November saw a return of the storms which brought flooding a devastation to many parts of the country. Lancing and Sompting had so far been relatively fortunate, but the Monday morning saw many people delayed on their journeys to work with the eastbound carriageway of the A27 being partially flooded.

Seen below are motorists struggling through the flood, and the queues which compounded the delays caused by the contraflow on the Sompting bypass for the carriageway repairs.

Click on the thumbnails below for larger pictures.

Queueing by Lancing Manor roundabout. Click for larger picture

Lancing Manor queue

The first bit of flooding. Click for larger picture

The first flood

The next bit of flooding. Click for larger picture

The main flood

"Water springs eternal!"

St Pauls Avenue

The following day (Tuesday 7) saw even further chaos, when the A27 was completely closed eastbound for a while, and then re-opened only for HGV and 4-wheel drive vehicles. The westbound carriageway was also reduced to single file at the same point. The police had a difficult job maintaining some form of decorum at the Lancing Manor roundabout, and trying to keep some sort of traffic flow. It was apparently taking 2-3hrs to travel the short distance from Worthing to Brighton, due to the volume of traffic being shoehorned onto the coast road.

West Street in Sompting suffered gridlock in the morning rush-hour, as drivers desparate to try anything to get to their destinations tried any available route. In this case, they would have done better staying put on the A27.

Click on the thumbnails below for larger pictures.

The Manor roundabout. Click for larger picture

At the roundabout

Making a splash

Making a bigger splash

"Water springs eternal!"

West Street

Not strictly Lancing or Sompting - The neighbouring Shoreham Airport also showed the scars of a little too much rain, with the southern entrance under the railway bridge impassable.

Click on the thumbnails below for larger pictures.

The view across the airport. Click for larger picture

Soggy runways

Water under the bridge. Click for larger picture

No way in

The A27 was cleared once a pump was bought in to the rescue. The problem was that the water was coming from springs, and the level was over a metre higher than the road itself. However, as soon as more rain was forecast the pump was removed, and the road flooded again. Other areas also suffered further flooding.

Click on the thumbnails below for larger pictures.

The pump arrives	Fixing the Pipe	Lakeby, not Layby!	Flooded garden	South Street

Building the crossover	Finishing the crossover	Contraflow	Crossing over	St Pauls - again

		The Broadway

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