Parts of A29 closed in Bognor Regis as flooding continues after days of heavy rain

The flooding, which has been a recurring issue in the area for several weeks, was caused by persistently heavy rain over the last few days. The county council spokesperson added that Highways Teams must be satisfied that the road can cope with any adverse weather forecasts before the road can be opened.

“The highway drainage in this area has been thoroughly inspected this year and is working as it should be: unfortunately, the rain water cannot drain into the already-saturated surrounding land, which in turn is trying to drain into the nearby Aldingbourne Rife tributaries, which are over their capacity. This is why flooding occurs after periods of persistent, heavy rain,” they said.

“We ask people to please always adhere to road closure signs: they are in place for everyone’s safety. Ignoring the signs puts people at risk and traffic moving through flood water creates ‘waves’, putting properties at risk.

“We hope to fully reopen (currently a single lane closure) the A29 next to Tesco and the electricity sub-station in the near future: we are continuing to liaise with SSE to ensure it has everything in place to protect the sub-station if there is further flooding.

“Updates on our roads will be issued via our WSHighways X (formerly Twitter) account and posted on our Severe Weather website page.”

The news comes shortly after the Environmental Agency deployed contingency pumps to Felpham Seafront to build resilience in case existing pumps fail.