A SCHOOL field and a church car park are to be flooded to protect homes in Kenley and Purley from rising water levels.
Croydon Council decided on Saturday to take the unusual step of asking firefighters to pump 600,000 litres of water into Purley Cross underpass.
This evening (Tuesday) it released a statement to say the major incident command team, including police and the fire brigade, had taken the "difficult but necessary" decision to utilise two more areas to hold floor water temporarily.
Extra defences will now be created by flooding the car park at St John the Baptist Catholic Church, in Dale Road, and the school field alongside Harris Primary Academy Kenley, which is currently closed as a result of the weather.
Parishioners would still be able to use the church.
The council said the creation of two more "balancing ponds" would help to manage rising water levels and ease pressure on the water system.
Work will now take place through the night to install flood barriers in preparation to divert thousands of litres of water away from around 400 homes and businesses.
Councillor Mike Fisher, leader of the council, said: "We are in a critical situation and this means having to make extremely difficult but necessary decisions.
"If we don't act now hundreds of homes in the area could be flooded and we are trying to stop that from happening.
"The sites will help us to manage rising water levels, and we have the full support of those concerned to undertake this work.
"We hope too that residents will understand this short-term inconvenience is about protecting a lot of people, their homes and their livelihoods.
"Many teams from across the council, emergency services and local water companies continue to work around the clock to help Croydon stay on top of things, and I'd like to thank them all for the tremendous collective response to hold the waters at bay, protect property and keep people safe from harm."
The major incident 'gold command' team includes representative from Croydon Council, The Environment Agency, emergency services, Transport for London and the water companies.
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