HEAVY rain brought widespread flooding to parts of Wellington and surrounding areas over the weekend.

And more rain is predicted during the week with river levels staying high which may cause further flooding.

The usual blackspots locally were affected – West Buckland, Stoford, Nynehead, Bradford on Tone, Oake, and Hemyock where, for the second time in four days, villagers found the main road to Wellington flooded at Millhayes with a great deal of surface water and debris in other parts of the village.

The sudden heavy downpour last Wednesday lunchtime found the parish church at Hemyock having to erect its flood gate to prevent damage.

The WWNs understands that one cottage at Stoford, West Buckland, was seriously affected, but the flooding in the area was not nearly on the scale experienced in some parts of the country and in Scotland, where flooding wreaked havoc – and they face even more bad weather this week.

It was a particularly challenging weekend for drivers who had to negotiate treacherous conditions with some not risking driving to get to work – while others took different routes.

Workers at care and nursing homes were particularly affected.

One woman driver at Nynehead told me: “I’m very scared when driving in these conditions. The first thing I do is try my breaks when I drive through any floodwater. I worry too when driving through surface water. You never know how deep it is. You can easily be caught out.”

It was not just rivers causing flooding but rain pouring off fields making driving hazardous for motorists.