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Flooding: Halfway and Sheerness badly hit by heavy rain

11:11, 13 November 2009

updated: 11:11, 13 November 2009

School children are having to walk through sewerage after a downpour caused parts of the Island to flood.

One of the worst affected areas is Belmont Road in Halfway, where at least a foot of water has made the end of the road, where it joins Lynsted Road, virtually unpassable.

Further up the road, a drain bubbling over with water has leaked sewerage out and dirty toilet paper has been left strewn across the street.

Halfway Road, near the junction with Power Station Road has also flooded and there are deep puddles in St Helen’s Road, Sheerness.

One resident, who has lived in Belmont Road for 40 years, said it happens every time it rains hard but has got steadily worse over the years.

Doreen Smith, 74, added: “The sewerage comes up when there’s a really heavy downpour.

“A few years back there were children swimming in it.

“It’s got worse, I always go round the other way.”

Another family who live in the road said they have been complaining about it because lots of the children from Halfway school use the road as a cut through and have to walk through the sewerage.

Chris James, 28, lives in Belmont Road with his wife Claire and two children Harrison, six, and Imogen, one.

He said: “Every time it rains hard the drain out the front actually bubbles up with water and sewerage comes out – the smell is vile.

“It’s beyond a joke – we have got two little ones and when you get out of the car you have to walk through it.”

Michael Brown, who lives at the bottom of the road near the deep area of flooding, said at its worst the water reaches to the second step up to his house.

He said: “It’s about time they did something about it.”

In Halfway Road, the road has flooded on both sides at the junction with Power Station Road, and also near to Stonnes Family Centre.

Amanda Williams has lived in Halfway Road right at the junction with her partner Richard Smith since 2000.

She said the flooding has been happening since then and this year it has been so bad her down-stairs toilet has been gurgling.

Miss Williams, 37, said: “It’s terrible – it’s just so dangerous.

“You have to go on the other side of the road it’s so bad.

“I know the island is bad because it’s marshland but this is beyond a joke.”

Mandy Beeton with the flooded sewerage drain outside her home in Minster
Mandy Beeton with the flooded sewerage drain outside her home in Minster

Flooding is also a regular occurrence for Mandy Beeton, who lives in Oak Lane, Minster.

Mrs Beeton lives in a bungalow with her husband Wayne and two children James, 10, and Mason, five.

Whenever there is a heavy downpour, sewerage comes up through the toilet and floods the house.

Mrs Beeton spent Friday morning shovelling out other people’s excrement to stop it flooding her home.

The final straw for Mrs Beeton came when Mason came down with diarrhoea, caused by the bacteria in the sewerage.

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