The centre of Hastings town was submerged under flood water on Monday, January 16 following several days of heavy rain. Priory Meadow shopping centre was closed along with most of the shops in the vicinity. To make matters worse, it is difficult for many of these shops to obtain insurance because of past flooding. One of the cafés was giving away all its bread as it would not be able to open again for over a week. Shop owners were devastated because they have had so much to put up with over the last few years and it is hard to watch your livelihood just being washed away.
Before dawn the fire brigade began the arduous task of pumping the water from up to seven metres underground beneath the shops, out from the centre of town, and were still in action at 9pm. Thousands of litres of water a minute was being syphoned through hoses and pumped out into the sea. Even an eel was spotted swimming through the flood waters in the centre of town.
Rainfall levels this year are exceptionally high for January and we are not even at the middle of the month yet. Hastings has recorded 119.2 mm so far this month. For the whole of January last year the total was 62mm which is much more the norm.
Roads like the A21 were affected with many cars left stranded as they tried to pass through the flood waters. Some parents were reporting that the school run had taken them hours and many people missed meetings as they could not get from A to B.
Alexandra Park was impassable in places and dog walkers had to find an alternative route.
Image Credits: Jeff Pitcher , Marie Richardson , Tracey Coulman-Hole .
Why do so many people take landscape pictures in portrait mode?
A good question and one that will add to solving the problem of flooding.
Thanks for this – I hadn’t appreciated the seriousness.
Goodness! How awful for all the inhabitants, both business and residential. It must be a nightmare for those in business, probably still trying to recover from losses during lockdowns.