RESIDENTS and businesses in the Abingdon Road area are coping with rising flood water again, for the second time in five weeks.

Businesses and residents said the situation so far was not as bad as last month’s flooding, when those living around Abingdon Road, Weirs Lane, Chatham Road, Fox Crescent, Peel Place and Canning Crescent were advised to leave their properties.

But they are worried about the rain forecast for this week.

Kerry Winfield, of Fox Crescent, said she had been gathering residents since last month and hopes to organise a meeting with the Environment Agency and councils to discuss the problem.

She said: “The area has just been left, that is how everyone feels around here.

“Saying that, I cannot fault the council because workers were here sorting out what we needed, they were here before things got bad.”

Of Abingdon Road, she added: “It is a major route and it has just not had enough attention.

“There is not enough done for this area.”

Grandfather-of-nine Reg Madden, 55, of Weirs Lane, said: “It is worrying.

“It definitely is getting more frequent.”

He said that dredging the rivers and clearing the drains would help and added: “A lack of maintenance has to have something to do with it.”

Grandmother-of-six Angie Edmondson, who lives in Northampton Road off Abingdon Road, said: “I am totally isolated. I cannot get out.

“Why in the world would they let Abingdon Road flood?

“Why can’t they put a barrier in?”

Oxford Mail:

  • Angie Edmondson

Businesses in Abingdon Road were again facing losing thousands of pounds in lost sales and passing trade.

Philip Cross, owner of Fat Phil’s Angling Centre, said he was considering leaving the area because of the continued flooding.

He said: “I have been here 19 years and I don’t know how many times we have been flooded now. It is just the lack of trade and passers by – that is really killing us.

“The shop itself has never flooded.”

Mr Cross said he lost thousands of pounds in trade last month and added: “For a little business like myself it is a very trying time, to the point of going bankrupt.”

Philip Clare, manager of Jewsons Skoda in Abingdon Road, estimated that they would lose £15,000 over the course of a week.

Oxford Mail:

  • Skoda Abingdon Road manager Philip Clare

He said: “It is frustrating especially as it’s happened twice.

“The workshop is not flooded yet, but the forecast for Wednesday is when it may well flood again.”

He added that the garage is moving to a bigger site in Cumnor Hill in the middle of the year, but not because of the flooding. He said: “We need a bigger site, we have outgrown this one.”