Clear-up continues in aftermath of Storm Ciara’s 149 West Sussex emergency call-outs

Nearly 150 emergencies were tackled by highways teams in the 24 hours following Storm Ciara’s arrival in West Sussex.
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Trees were blown down and roads flooded, with a southbound section of the A24 closed overnight on Sunday and into Monday, plus five other road closures.

A West Sussex Highways spokesman said: “Given the weather warnings, extra teams had been put on standby over the weekend – all part of the council’s #WinterReady preparations.

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“From Sunday morning to Monday, crews from our contractor, Balfour Beatty Living Places attended 149 emergencies, clearing and reopening roads as soon as it was safe to do so.

A tree in West Burton was one of many felled by Storm Ciara SUS-201102-161305001A tree in West Burton was one of many felled by Storm Ciara SUS-201102-161305001
A tree in West Burton was one of many felled by Storm Ciara SUS-201102-161305001

“To put these numbers into context, there were only 230 emergencies across the whole of February 2019.

“We would like to thank BBLP’s crews and also the public for their patience while the clear-up continues.”

By 2pm on Monday, several roads had been reopened but six remained shut. They included part of the A24 at Southwater, Worthing Road, Horsham; Broadford Bridge Road, West Chiltington; Rock Road, Storrington; Gay Street Lane; and Langton Lane, Hurstpierpoint.

There were around a dozen other locations where footpaths were closed or ‘give and take’ set-ups deployed to keep traffic moving.