A STORAGE tank should be installed under a road in Thorpe Bay to avert nightmare flooding during heavy rainfall, a councillor says.

A number of Southend roads, including parts of the A127 and Thorpe Hall Avenue, have been hit by floods during recent downpours and storms.

Now, Southend councillors are due to grill Anglian Water bosses over flooding and what action can be taken during a special place scrutiny committee meeting on Monday.

Ron Woodley, chairman of the committee, has called for a storage tank to be installed in Thorpe Hall Avenue to partially solve the problem.

Anglian Water will give a presentation before being quizzed by councillors, including Colin Campbell, Conservative councillor for Southchurch, who called for the company to attend the meeting.

Mr Campbell said: “Thorpe Hall Avenue keeps flooding. It essentially becomes a water fountain. Over the weekend I’ve had so many people talking to me about houses on Thorpe Hall Avenue getting flooded.

“Houses on Willingale Way for example are having to pay insurance premiums because houses nearby are flooding.

“We’ve had council officers clear all the gutters and we know for a fact it is not the council’s fault. Anglian Water’s excuse is high tide and heavy rainfall, but the UK has always had rainfall and we know Southend is tidal. They need to upgrade their sewage system.”

Mr Woodley added: “Councillors on the committee will ask questions. One is the large amount of flooding along Thorpe Hall Avenue when it rains and what Anglian Water is going to do about it.

“What I will suggest is that we need to have storage tanks along the central reservation of Thorpe Hall Avenue which will be underground so we can cover them up.

“When the tide is in you can’t pump the water out. You cant get rid of it so it backs up and comes through the drains and floods.

“We did this in Southchurch Park a number of years ago and that stopped the flooding around Shaftesbury Avenue, Kensington Road and Victoria Road.”

The company is also set to be quizzed on how the sewage system will cope with an influx of new homes.

Mr Woodley said: “The other thing is with all the house building taking place, are they sure that the sewage works can cope with it and the water run off that will happen.”