Dive team inspects Bungay Staithe bridge

On Thursday, November 9 engineers from the Red 7 Dive team performed a three-hour operation to check for possible damage beneath Bungay Sluice.

The main concern was the state of the wooden footbridge which allows hundreds of dog-walkers and other pedestrians to cross the River Waveney each day.

The bridge at the Bungay Sluice connects the Staithe with Falcon Meadow.

The dive team check for underwater damage at Bungay Sluice where unprecedented volumes of water gushed through in recent days (Image: Submitted)

The sluice is Bungay's principal flood defence mechanism and has recently been opened to its full capacity for over a month to allow millions of gallons of otherwise damaging flood water to pour through it.

It is thought that the level of emergency drainage is unprecedented following Storm Babet and more recently Storm Ciarán.

READ MORE: Aerial images show flood water encircling Bungay after storms

During the three-hour operation, the sluice was raised briefly to reduce water flow and allow Red 7 to deploy a diver with an underwater camera and lights.

With the diver connected by an umbilical tube to a bank-side control unit, the engineer was able to record and analyse results.The river swells at the Bungay Staithe where unprecedented volumes of water have flown through the Sluice (Image: Bruno Brown)

The footbridge was closed briefly by the Environment Agency two weeks ago when flood water heights were at their highest following Storm Babet.

The Environment Agency was asked for a comment about the survey.

The Bungay Sluice (Image: Bruno Brown)

The footbridge at the Staithe in Bungay (Image: Bruno Brown)