HIGHWAYS teams responded to more than 500 calls last week as severe wet and windy weather battered Somerset.

More than 100mm of rain fell across Somerset between Saturday and Monday night – that’s more than the monthly average of 90mm for November in just 48 hours.

The county council received around 420 calls about flooding on the highway with the remainder to report road traffic accidents, fallen trees, debris on the highway or road damage.

Many roads across the county were affected and the public were kept informed with regular updates via @TravelSomerset on Twitter and on a dedicated bad weather page at www.travelsomerset.co.uk

In total ten out-of-hours highways teams were in action during Monday night, working through until 4am. There were so many incidents that at one point it was feared the team would run out of signs, although it did not quite come to that.

Cllr David Fothergill, Somerset County Council’s Cabinet member for Highways, said: “The emergency work carried out by our highways teams often goes unnoticed – and for good reason, as usually they are out in horrendous conditions when most of us are safely at home.

“This was an extreme storm and caused extreme disruption but it could have been much worse without the efforts of these staff.”