Teams work through the night to clear Shropshire roads

Press release - 23 July 2007

Thirty teams from Shropshire County Council and JDM Accord, the council’s contractors, have been working throughout the weekend to clear and reopen roads following Friday’s heavy rainfall.

Thirty-four major roads and dozens of other minor roads were closed over the weekend due to heavy flooding across the county.

Teams worked tirelessly to put up more than 200 road closure and flood warning signs and issue over 2000 sand bags to local residents and businesses.

Staff have now begun the massive clean up operation using road sweepers and jetting units to clear water, mud and other debris from the roads, gullies and drains.

Chris Edwards, Shropshire County Council’s head of network management, said: “The divisional teams have been working non stop to keep the county moving during the worst weather we have ever seen. The response, in co-ordination with the police and fire service, has been outstanding.

“Given the unprecedented rainfall and flooding over such a wide area, Shropshire County Council and JDM Accord staff provided excellent support to the emergency services in dealing with this incident.”

Clean up operations will continue throughout the week.

Ends

For further information, call Chris Edwards, Head of Network Management on (01743) 253178.
For media contact, call Laura Owen, Communications Officer, Economy & Environment on (01743) 253318.