THE Environment Agency's latest update about the Salisbury River Park project confirmed the flooding at the weekend which affected numerous residential properties would still have flooded even if the project had not been started.
Approximately, eight properties were impacted by flooding internally in Ashley Road and Middleton Road and the Environment Agency (EA) has confirmed that once flood defences are completed, it will reduce the risk of flooding.
The agency said: "When it is complete it will reduce the risk much further for the properties that have flooded. These properties would have flooded if the scheme had not been started.
"The scheme did also successfully reduce the flood risk downstream from the Summerlock Stream, and there would have been several more properties flooded along Middleton Road and York Road especially if it wasn’t for the scheme.
"The scheme also prevented flooding in the Maltings/Fisherton Street areas. We are working alongside Wiltshire Council, Salisbury City Council and the Scheme constructors, Kier, to support residents in recovering from flooding and to help evacuate the last of the water from the area."
A spokesperson for the EA added: "The overall completion for work in Fisherton Recreation Ground is May or June but this includes all the landscape work. We are aiming to have the flood embankments built by March or April.
Read more: 'No one has said sorry' Resident speaks out after Ashley Road flooding
"We are still evaluating how extreme the flows were, but our provisional estimate suggests that if we had not started this project there would have been flooding to other properties within Salisbury."
According to the information sent out, 60 per cent of the rainfall usually received in the whole of January occurred in just the first four days.
It was also the wettest December since 2013.
River levels have been dropping since the peak floods on Saturday January 6 and the forecast is generally dry.
Read more: Ford Road shut due to flooding
As groundwater levels are high and catchments remain saturated, the EA have confirmed it will be monitoring the situation carefully and 'incident response staff' will continue to monitor the forecast and river levels.
The EA is currently working alongside Wiltshire Council, Salisbury City Council and the Scheme constructors Kier offering support for the residents who experienced the flooding to help evacuate the last of the water from the area.
The agency has stated it will work alongside partners and communities to understand why the flooding occurred.
For concerns about flood risk, email the environment agency.
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