A27 flooding at Tangmere

Update 11.30am Friday 8 March

Our teams will be carrying out further cleaning work of the A27 which means we may have to put in place a temporary road closure today. 

If this is necessary ,the closure will be of the eastbound carriageway between the Boxgrove Roundabout to the Portfield Roundabout. We intend to reopen the road before the rush hour period and we’re sorry for the disruption and inconvenience this continues to cause.

We are still working around-the-clock to resolve wider issues in the Tangmere area that have caused manholes to spill and sewer levels to rise.

Our investigations and work will take time and due to the heavy rainfall that is forecast over the weekend there could be further road closures – we will monitor this situation closely and provide updates if this is the case.

Update 6.40pm Thursday 7 March

This section of the A27 now reopen.

We will be carrying out a further clean-up of the affected area tonight and tomorrow and potentially into the weekend following discussions with National Highways, West Sussex County Council and the Environment Agency.

We're sorry for the impact this has caused since Wednesday evening, we will be monitoring this issue closely and we will continue to work in the area, and provide updates should there be any further impact. 

Update 4.30pm Thursday 7 March

We’re continuing to work closely with National Highways, the Environment Agency and West Sussex County Council to investigate the cause and to ensure the road and the footbridge can open as quickly and safely as possible.

Currently our work on this has helped to clear local sewers and flow levels in the manholes nearby are starting to drop.  However any decision to re-open the road is with National Highways to decide – we expect this decision to be taken today.

We understand the impact this is having in the local area and continue to work with local customers and provide support where necessary. 

Update 1pm Thursday 7 March 

Following wastewater flooding of the A27 at Tangmere on the morning of Thursday 7 March, we’re working closely National Highways, the Environment Agency and West Sussex County Council to investigate the cause and to ensure the road and the footbridge can open as quickly and safely as possible.

We understand the impact this is having in the local area which is why it’s important there’s a multi-agency response to this. We are also working with local customers and providing support where necessary.

National Highways and West Sussex County Council have cleansed their respective drainage systems so we are investigating whether the issue is caused by a blockage in our wastewater network. Our teams are working as quickly as possible, in a safe and controlled manner, jetting sewers and using tankers to relieve pressure on the network.

We don’t believe there has been an impact to the environment, but as a precaution, we continue to take environmental impact assessments in the local area by taking water quality samples and visually surveying the area.

We will provide further updates about this incident and we urge drivers to plan journeys carefully.