It was hard to miss the images a few weeks ago (9 April), of the chaos caused by Storm Pierrick, as areas of the south coast flooded. Hit particularly hard was Gosport – Marine Industry News‘ home town.

Strong winds coincided with an exceptionally high tide as water streamed into Gosport and other areas. Affected businesses included porperties belonging to both Premier and MDL Marinas.

Southampton Water’s water height was 2.96 MAOD, which equates to a 1 in 55 year event or approximately a 2 per cent chance in any given year. Environment Agency data reveals that the tide reached 2.96m above sea level in Woolston at 11.45pm – beating the previous highest level of 2.88m.

Severe flooding was experienced at Hamble Point, Sparkes, Shamrock Quay, Saxon Wharf, Cowes, Beaulieu River and many coastal roads were left impassable in Hampshire and on the Isle of Wight.

Premier Marinas says its marina teams are always ready to act when situations like this arise. On this occasion the high tide combined with low pressure and strong onshore winds caused some flooding at its Swanwick, Gosport and Trafalgar Wharf sites. Given the exceptional tide, some flood prevention measures were breached, however the impact of this to the company and its site partners has been limited, a statement says.

“Forewarned by the Environment Agency’s flood alerts, our marina teams stepped into action with well-rehearsed plans ahead of the unusually high tide by deploying local defence measures and informing all our site stakeholders. I’m pleased to report that our operations resumed as normal the next day,” says operations director, Nicola Walsh.

“Hamble point was the worst affected for us,” says Tim Mayer, MDL‘s sales and marketing director. “For safety reasons, and on the advice of SSEN (Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks), power was shut off at Hamble Point Marina due to the three sub-stations that also power the submersible pumps being partially below water level. The submersible pumps across the site were operating until the power was isolated.

“Strong winds coinciding with an exceptional spring tide brought with it a higher-than-expected volume of water which caused flooding across the lower part of the marina.

“The publicly available warnings did not predict the level of flood, in fact it likened it to 14 February 2014, when only a small number of properties were flooded. Advised areas of flood were The Quay and Rope Walk (Hamble) and Shore Road (Warsash). Boatyards and Marinas at Bursledon and Swanwick were also expected to experience flood impacts.

flood water under boats in landside display area at Hamble Point Marina

“As you would expect the marina and central MDL team were working with tenants across the estate within minutes of the incident to mitigate damage and within 24 hours had managed to rehouse some of those affected Hamble Point tenants.

“Thankfully power was restored to the Ketch Rigger, Saltmakers House, Chandlery Building, marina facilities and pontoons within hours. Within 12 hours the team had arranged an extra number of submersible pumps whilst at the same time a specialist tanker company was contacted that could collect / dispose of the water off site. 87 tankers were utilised in total to remove all the standing water and disposed of it safely to help tenant businesses mitigate any losses and prevent contaminated water from entering the river.

“Our marina team has worked around the clock to restore the site to full operation. The marina team have been on site during this period liaising with tenants and SSEN directly as part of the clean-up operation, and to ensure they access the relevant or possible support available.

Hamble Point Marina road flooded with water pushing up against buildings

“We are pleased to report that we have now managed to get all tenant businesses back online. We have had contractors working to clear any rubbish or waste left by the flood and road sweepers to clear the roads and hard standing areas. Surveyors have been arranged so we can instruct contractors to carry out any remedial works necessary.

“Once the site is fully back in operation there will be an in-depth analysis and survey carried out to review the event and understand if any extra protection can be implemented. We are thankful for all the support our customers have given our team during this period and like you are looking forward to better weeks ahead.”

Images and footage of Gosport courtesy of Gosport Drones, via FaceBook. Images and footage of Hamble Point Marina courtesy of Daily Echo.

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