County Council leader praises Derbyshire resilience during Storm Babet

County Council leader Barry Lewis has today praised Derbyshire residents for their resilience and community-spirit during Storm Babet.

Communities found themselves under water after unprecedented rain caused rivers, streams and canals to burst their banks across the county.

Many homes and businesses have been affected by the deluge which saw Derbyshire placed under an amber weather warning for rain from Friday 20 October to 6am this morning.

While the clean-up has begun in some communities, river levels in the south of the county have yet to peak and people are being urged to take action to protect themselves and their property.

Councillor Lewis said: “I know this is a very difficult time for residents and businesses who have been affected by flooding and my heart goes out to them.

“I’d also like to extend my thanks to our communities who are all pulling together to help each other during and in the aftermath of the flooding. I’d like to personally thank everyone who has been involved.

“There are still plenty of road closures in place, including on many key routes through Derbyshire, and I’d urge people not to travel unless absolutely necessary.

“Where flooding has subsided we’ve got teams out across the county working hard to try to clear roads of debris.

“However a lot of roads have been affected and this is taking some time so I’d ask people to bear with us and please heed closed signs until we’ve had time to make sure roads are safe to travel on.

“I’d also like to thank our own staff and those from our neighbouring authorities, emergency services and volunteers for helping to deal with these very difficult conditions.

“In recent times Derbyshire has faced many, many challenges in relation to the weather and I am always humbled by the resilience of our residents who have a real capacity to bounce back from adversity.”

Known road closures are reported on the One Network website - and advice from all partners involved is:

Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service has also issued the following safety advice:

Residents are urged to report life threatening events to the Police by calling 999.  Any issues on the roads, such as trees down or flooding can be reported at www.derbyshire.gov.uk/reportit

Residents are also being urged to look out for vulnerable neighbours, especially if they have care services who may not be able to reach them.

Advice is available online for anyone whose home has been affected by flooding on the following websites: