The response from Dorset County Council (DCC) Highways Department regarding the flood water under the railway bridge on the A37 is as follows:
Apart from during the power outage yesterday afternoon, all three pumps at Stratton Bridge were working as they should. They were checked again today and again all were working fine. DCC Highways were warned of the problem yesterday and deployed a team as soon as they could. They were pretty busy yesterday afternoon as about 2 inches of rain fell in two hours.
Nonetheless, DCC Highways are not sure why there is still water across the road and they need to investigate further. This will take place on Monday if the water has not gone down. Traffic lights will be deployed over the weekend which will be removed if the water recedes. Although the electricity supply only went off for a short period on a couple of occasions, it would seem that the flows were strong enough during that period, without a pump, to cause the high level of flooding.
However, this does not answer why the back-up pump, installed several months ago to kick in if there was a power outage, appears not to have done so when the power went off this time.
The Chairman of the Parish Council has asked that the installation of the back-up pump be investigated as it seems it has not prevented the flooding as it was supposed to and that we were informed that it would