As the floods return to Welney, parish councillor Ken Goodger questions what happened to the warning signs and the barriers for the A1101

What's a little water anyway? Not everyone obeys the signs at Welney even when they don't flash and even when barriers are not erected in time. Picture; DMJ Imagery Ltd (Image: Archant)

Parish councillor Ken Goodger says warning signs failed to light up and barriers were not erected on the A1101 as Welney Wash road flooded again at the weekend.

He says he spent part of Sunday chasing highways engineers to get them to close the road officially.

"I have seen that the signs are not flashing and no barriers erected at the bridges, and witnessing several vehicles arriving at the Welney bridge this morning," wrote Cllr Goodger, the parish council floods liaison officer, on the Welney village Facebook page.

"I am dismayed that Norfolk highways have not erected the barriers or activated the depth signs; there is over 18cm of water crossing the road this morning and that means in the deeper parts there could be up to 30cm and the water is rising fast."

Cllr Goodger said he managed to obtain the emergency contact number for highways from Norfolk constabulary.

"I have told the highways duty officer of the serious issue of not having any advance notices for motorists especially with tomorrow morning's commuter rush," he said.

"I informed him of the urgent need to get the signs up ASAP. He is going to make some calls to get things moving and I have asked to be advised of the actions being taken."

Cllr Goodger added: "Please be aware there can be up to 30cm of water on Welney Wash road at the moment and it is rising."

He said the signs were reported three times on Sunday and he has emailed a complaint to the county council and his MP Liz Truss.

Later he reported that he had managed to get hold of the company that operates the flashing signs "and they will investigate why they are not on.

"The signs should have come on automatically so they assume a fault with the sensor or phone signalling.

"They can investigate by computer but may have to visit the sensor. I have asked for out of hours contact numbers for the future."

One villager reported they went for a walk on Sunday and saw a lorry that had managed to get through but the driver reported there were no closed signs on the Littleport side. The driver told them of a car abandoned in the middle of the flooded road.

Another said they drove through in a 4x4 but saw two other drivers stuck and on their phones.

"I feel sorry for anyone stuck, with the barriers open and hope they can claim compensation from the council," said another villager.

One other wrote that "if you are not local you would have no idea just how deep it could be and also yesterday was fast flowing .

"There's going to be lots of annoyed people tomorrow that get as far as the barriers to find them shut ... hope the signs get sorted soon."