West Sussex hit by surge in storm damage callouts

West Sussex experienced a significant increase in emergency callouts following two storms that struck in quick succession between Thursday, 22 October, and Monday, 26 October.

The county council's highways team dealt with 201 incidents during the period, marking a 14 per cent rise above their typical monthly average. This represented the highest number of highway emergencies the council has faced since February 2026.

Nature of the damage

The vast majority of incidents involved fallen trees, which accounted for 195 of the 201 callouts. The remaining six comprised carriageway floods, highway voids and traffic signal faults.

Council response

Erika Woodhurst-Trueman, cabinet member for highways and transport, said the council had attempted to prepare for the adverse weather to keep the road network clear. She added: "We try to prepare for adverse weather as best we can to ensure the road network is kept clear, and our residents can get where they need to be."

The council increased resources ahead of the storms to help protect the road network and minimise disruption. Ms Woodhurst-Trueman noted that "the scale of the response clearly demonstrating the amount of effort that our teams put into both responding to and dealing with clearing up the damage caused".

Winter preparations

The council emphasised the planning that goes into preparing for adverse weather events. Ms Woodhurst-Trueman said: "It also shows how much planning happens behind the scenes to be aware of adverse weather and the effect it could have on the county."

She highlighted that residents valued the council's preparedness and swift action. "We know from listening to our residents, that being prepared and taking action to ensure we can do as much as possible to keep the network operating is important to them and we are working hard to ensure that this winter we will minimise disruption and maintain network resilience."

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