2,000 sandbags now in place at Northampton's Billing Aquadrome as flood clear-up work continues

A clear-up operation to make a Northampton holiday park safe following severe flooding has seen thousands of sandbags deployed to the site.

Billing Aquadrome in Crow Lane was evacuated on Christmas Eve (December 24) after heavy rainfall the day before caused parts of the park to be five foot deep in flood water.

Emergency services were called to rescue around 250 people stuck in their homes and around 1,000 residents had to evacuate the site.

Residents, who were given exemption from Covid restrictions, could stay with family, although around 100 have been homed at a nearby hotel ever since.Pure Leisure announced on Facebook that Cogenhoe Mill Holiday Park reopened at 11am today (December 29) and some parts of the aquadrome will also now reopen today.Severe flood warnings for both parks have now been downgraded and the Environment Agency has made temporary repairs to the river banks and delivered sandbags in a bid to help the park reopen.

An Environment Agency spokesman said: “Environment Agency officers have deployed some 2,000 20-kilo sandbags and made temporary repairs to the embankments at the Billing Aquadrome caravan park in Northampton.

"A further 1,000 sandbags will be delivered on Wednesday.

“This follows significant flooding on December 23 and 24, 2020, which saw some river levels upstream of Northampton reach their highest recorded levels.

“Water levels are receding but our officers remain on site and continue to liaise closely with the park owners and Local Resilience Forum.

"The site owners have been working around the clock to restore electricity supplies so that residents can return.

““The Severe Flood Warning for Billing Aquadrome Caravan Park, meaning danger to life, has now been downgraded to a flood warning."

Pure Leisure - owner of Billing Aquadrome - has been contacted for comment regarding the reopening of the site.

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