Storm Babet causes widespread damage to National Trust landscapes in Shropshire

Storm Babet has left a trail of destruction with flooding at the Deer Park at Attingham Park and damage to Carding Mill Valley in South Shropshire.

The persistent rain that fell on Thursday and Friday and continued into the weekend, caused water levels to rise across much of the country impacting both locations.

The full extent of the damage is still being assessed, but the costs of repairs, could amount to tens of thousands of pounds.

The Deer Park at Attingham Park has been closed since Saturday, due to floodwater blocking access to the bridges leading to it. Local rainfall meant the River Tern, which runs alongside the Deer Park, burst its banks, resulting in a huge swathe of water resembling a large ‘lake’ flowing through the parkland.

This was then heavily impacted upon by the rainfall in Wales surging down the River Severn, which has its confluence with the Tern on the estate, so a second huge ‘lake’ is spilling out across the meadows on the wider estate.

The National Trust continues to work on a major project with Shropshire Council and the Environment Agency on how the Attingham Estate can respond further to climate change through even more retention of floodwaters. Attingham already holds a huge amount of water across the river catchments, helping to slow the flow and reduce flood risk further along the watercourse.

At Carding Mill Valley and the Long Mynd, the volume of water was such, that it has eroded away some of banks of the Ashbrooke river – more commonly referred to as a stream – that flows through the valley.

The damage to the riverbank is being monitored as some cracks have appeared. The flooding has also resulted in the transportation of lots of rocks from higher up the valley, which have been carried downstream.

General Manager Mark Agnew said: “We need to wait for the river levels to recede and then to see what repairs we need to do to the causeway, bridges, fences and paths both into the Deer Park and then in the meadows alongside the Severn.”

Harry Bowell, Head of Land and Nature said: “We know that one of the consequences of climate change will be the frequency of more extreme weather events, and we experienced the direct impact of the prolonged levels of rainfall and high winds on our places last week.

“We recognise we need to adapt our places to cope with the likelihood of these extreme weather events – and we are already doing that through establishing trees and woodlands, restoring peatlands to hold more water in our landscapes, particularly upland areas – and through our work to re-connect rivers with their floodplains to create new areas of wetland to again help hold the water back in times of heavy and persistent rainfall.

“It is now more important than ever that we play our part to adapt to our changing weather patterns as well as implementing more measures to tackle climate change. But we also need more urgent and wide-ranging investment and action to address these issues by governments and leaders across the country.”

Andy Jasper, Director of Gardens and Parklands at the National Trust, said: "Our garden teams are doing an amazing job, working hard to repair and reinstate damaged areas and we are so grateful for their efforts in such difficult conditions. Some visitors may not be able to visit parts of their favourite gardens or parkland while we do this work and we thank them for their patience, too.

"These extreme weather events are likely to become more frequent as a sign of the rapidly changing climate. With more than 220 gardens and parklands across the National Trust, we are doing everything we can to make these historic gardens as future-proof as possible. This includes thinking longer term for extremes of heat, choosing more drought tolerant plants, creating path surfaces that are more resilient and caring for our lawns and soil so they are less prone to waterlogging. These are just some of the many steps we are taking which will help our gardens thrive into the future. All of this underlines just how important people’s support to our charity is – the costs of adapting the places we look after to extreme weather events are only going to increase."

The clear-up operation is likely to take several weeks and could be hampered by further rain which is forecast for later this week.

The Trust is advising visitors to sites in the Midlands and north of England to check property websites before setting out as some areas may be closed for repairs.

Donations to help towards the clear up work and ongoing conservation work to protect National Trust places from the impacts of climate change can be made via the National Trust website nationaltrust.org.uk/donate