Brake Visits Flood Victims

9.36.36am BST (GMT +0100) Sat 21st Jul 2007

As the waters subsided following Friday's flash floods, Carshalton and Wallington MP Tom Brake visited flood victims in Durand Close, Buckhurst Avenue and Nightingale Close in Carshalton.

Tom Brake said, "Many people have lost just about everything in this disaster; carpets and furniture have been ruined by the worst flooding anyone can remember. But residents demonstrated real community spirit. Everyone chipped in to help vulnerable neighbours."

After last week's downpour, Tom Brake had already undertaken to find out what checks Thames Water and Sutton Council have carried out on drains and other water and sewage infrastructure to assess their capacity to deal with new monsoon-style rains.

He said, "It is clear that a fundamental re-think into how storm waters and sewage are dealt is needed. This type of weather is likely to become the norm and the pipe network is going to have to be beefed up to deal with it."

For information about emergency numbers etc. residents should access Sutton Council's website www.sutton.gov.uk and the Environment Agency's site www.environment-agency.gov.uk.