One week after floods devastated an estate in South Abingdon, the path to Tesco remains underwater.

The water is still draining from fields and waterways.

Residents suffered significant damage, throwing out ruined furniture, carpets, and appliances. Recovery will take time. Some had just made the repairs from January’s event and there was more flood water this time. It reached many more homes.

Increased flood risk means the Environment Agency (EA) needs to update flood maps. Additionally, questions remain about why a container meant for flood response equipment was empty. Neither was a temporary flood barrier deployed this time or in January. In January, the EA said it couldn’t be deployed in time, and there was even less time last week.

Another important question to answer is whether the EA will reconsider the flood defence scheme rejected in 2018 due to lack of funding. The EA cited high costs and difficulty securing additional funding from partners for rejecting the flood storage area, the other side of the A34. Partners were local councils and businesses. That scheme was the outcome of a process that began with the 2007 flood and involved the development of various proposed solutions. But since it was rejected there have been no further investigation of long term solutions. Layla Moran, the local MP made a visit to the area, and said ‘It’s time to look again at the case for an Abingdon Flood Defence Scheme.’