THE River Wey came perilously close to bursting its banks this week after heavy rain prompted fields and roads to flood across the Farnham area.

A flood alert was issued by the Environment Agency for the Upper River Wey shortly before 6pm on Saturday, with the public urged to ‘be prepared’.

This warning remained in place until 9.30am on Tuesday and followed an earlier flood alert in place between 8pm on Wednesday, December 30, and 12pm on New Year’s Eve.

However, while the water meadows in Farnham and Tilford flooded over the weekend and some local roads were affected, river levels receded just in time to avert any flooding of homes.

The Mill at Elstead, which was the victim of severe flooding as recently as Christmas 2013, closed its doors on Monday as the river levels continued to rise.

But the pub reopened a day later after a visit from Environmental Health who assessed and later drained the area. They believed that the flooding was worsened due to the floodgates not being operational in Godalming.

Supervisor Janine Griggs said: “We closed on Monday for safety, the whole of the car park was flooded.

“When I arrived the car park was just a puddle but within half an hour it was completely flooded.

“It has improved since we got the new floodgate and enforcement embankments – we also have new precautions and we are guarding the fire exits and entrances with metal floodgates instead of the useless sandbanks we used to use.

“If it happened over the Christmas period we would have lost a lot of money.”

Waverley Borough Council’s new extended Riverside 2 car park in Farnham, built earlier this year as part of the new Brightwell Tennis Club facilities, was also a victim of flooding (pictured) - despite the then-portfolio holder for the scheme, Adam Taylor-Smith, promising a new ‘drainage regime’ would avert the risk of flooding on the site after the removal of trees and scrubland from the river bank.

Anyone concerned about the threat of future flooding can register for Floodline alerts online at fwd.environment-agency.gov.uk.