Part of Hartopp Road in Exmouth has been flooded and has closed off since 7pm Wednesday night (August 2) because of damage caused to a water drainage ‘trapdoor’.

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SouthWest Water says they hope to complete the repairs before hightide this evening (Thursday).

The damage was caused to the non-return valve which has failed, allowing salt water from the estuary to enter the sewerage network and flood the Hartopp Road area of Exmouth.

The emergency overflow pipe for the pumping station in Phear Park comes out in Hartopp Road; it lets water out into the estuary but prevents salt water from entering the network. This has failed for reasons which are unclear.

The flooding has caused damage to the road.

A spokesman said: “We would like to reassure our customers that this is salt water from the estuary, not sewage.

“Our engineers are on site and hope to repair the faulty valve as soon as the tide is low enough.

A customer liaison is en route to meet affected customers on site.

“We would like to apologise to affected customers and thank them for their patience while we work to resolve this situation as quickly as possible.

“We hope to fix the problem before high tide tonight and then road repairs can start.”