An emergency reservoir to increase protection to homes vulnerable to flooding is now as big as three Olympic swimming pools.
Croydon Council has finished the £250,000 expansion of the Purley Oaks depot reservoir, meaning it can hold 8,250 cubic metres of floodwater.Last winter, hundreds of households in Purley and Kenley were flooded after the Caterham Bourne overflowed.
At the time, the council installed emergency measures to limit the flooding impact, including preventing the Kenley waterworks, which serves 46,000 local properties, from shutting down.
The Kenley project will add more drains, clear ditches in residential areas and designing a permanent flood storage area off Godstone Road.
The backup A235 floodwater storage area will be installed between the town centre and Purley Cross, with the exact location and size to be decided in the coming weeks.
Councillor Kathy Bee, Croydon Council's cabinet member for transport and the environment, said: "The council has been working for many months on improving the borough's flood protection in case there is a repeat of last winter's record rainfall.
"We're not only ready to respond to immediate flooding, but we're also investing thousands of pounds in long-term measures that will help our residents and businesses in future."
For more information, visit the council website's flooding pages at http://www.croydon.gov.uk/environment/flood-water/
