February 27, 2024 4.09 pm

Why Horncastle’s £8.1m flood defences failed — and wouldn’t have prevented flooding anyway

Storm Babet classed as an “extreme storm” that would have inevitably overwhelmed the £8.1 million flood defences

By Local Democracy Reporter

The Environment Agency said a two-and-half-hour delay in closing a sluice gate in Horncastle was not the cause of the flooding that occurred after Storm Babet in October 2023.

Findings suggest that even if the sluice gate had been closed on time, the peak of the river would have been delayed by only an hour, indicating that the defences might not have held back the floodwaters regardless, which impacted 197 properties in Horncastle and a further 31 homes in Kirkby-on-Bain.


Read the full story on MyLocal, the new home of The Lincolnite.