Business as usual in Bewdley as residents and owners not fazed by rising River Severn

A flood warning has been issued for Bewdley as well as Stourport as Storm Gerrit continues to batter parts of the UK.

Heavy rainfall has seen the River Severn rise and many roads have already been closed in Bewdley in anticipation of more today, with a peak expected in Bewdley of 4m to 4.3m on Saturday.

Chris Bainger from the Environment Agency said teams were putting in extra slats which act as protection against rising river levels in the coming days on Severn Side North and South.

But business owners said they had 'no plans' to change their opening hours during the busy festive period between Christmas and New Year's Day, despite the road closures and bleak forecast.

Hossey Saghri from the Mug House Inn and Restaurant said it was "business as usual", despite having previously cancelled bookings during Storm Babet in October.

He said: "We have the temporary barriers ready to put in place but it has been a good Christmas and we intend to get as many people in as we can, whether that is in the rooms or for meals and a drink.

"People in Bewdley are getting used to it now and finding ways to deal with it with the help of the Government – at some point you just have to say enough is enough and carry on."

Vanessa Dickin from the Cock and Magpie on Severn Side North said during Storm Babet the barriers were slightly late being put up so they had suffered some flooding, but that they were ready this time.

She said: "We have no plans to close or change our opening hours, we will let the defences do their job and hopefully that will be okay."

Grace Williams from the Riverside Cafe said they had been very busy on Thursday as they had generally over the holiday period and they had no plans to shift or reduce their hours.

She said: "We have the metal barriers ready to put up and hopefully they will prove effective, but we can't afford to shut every time flooding is expected.

Bewdley has suffered significant flooding in recent years with many homes and businesses affected in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

It has prompted the Environment Agency to look at ways of protecting residents' homes and businesses, with a property level protection solution (PLP) favoured.

The PLP sees individual properties at risk receive defences specific to them in order to protect the property in the event of a flood.

Temporary flood barriers are in place in many parts of Bewdley but not at the notorious Beales Corner flooding spot, where construction is under way on permanent flood defences.

The Government's flood alert service website has issued a flooding warning for Friday and Saturday.

It said: "River levels are rising at the Bewdley river gauge as a result of heavy rainfall.

"Consequently, flooding of property, roads and farmland is expected today.

"We expect flooding to affect low-lying land and roads adjacent the river from Highley to Tewkesbury.

"Locations affected are Stourport, Holt Fleet, Worcester, Kempsey, Severn Stoke and Upton upon Severn, B4195 Stourport Road at Rickets Place, Dog Lane Bewdley, Riverside Path Stourport and the B4194 at Ribbesford.

"Further rainfall is expected in the next 48 hours.We are closely monitoring the situation. Our incident response staff are checking defences.

"Please avoid using low-lying footpaths near local watercourses."