Homes in a Norfolk village are to be protected from flooding through a £700,000 scheme to build new flood storage basins.
Work has started to build the huge basins - one of which is the equivalent of nine Olympic-sized swimming pools - upstream of the village of Saham Toney, near Watton.
The village is among the areas of Norfolk most badly affected by flooding in recent years.
The idea of the new basins - among the largest flood alleviation schemes carried out by Norfolk County Council - is that they collect and store water, before slowly releasing it, preventing floods in people's homes.
Saham Toney was particularly hard hit during the Christmas 2020 flood event, with 28 reports of flooding during heavy rainfall.
The basins are part of a wider scheme, funded by Norfolk County Council (£45,000), Anglian Water (£100,000) and government (£540,000), being built by the Norfolk Rivers Internal Drainage Board.
One of the new storage basins is being built on land belonging to Panworth Hall Estate in Ashill and will have a capacity of 21,000 to 22,000m3, with the other on parish council land.
Edward Connolly, Conservative county councillor for Yare and All Saints, which includes Saham Toney, said: "The people of Saham Toney have experienced persistent flooding for decades, and I know how devastating the impact is, so I warmly welcome this investment and the additional protection it brings to the village.
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The area was identified by the Norfolk Strategic Flood Alliance (NSFA) in 2021 as a priority site for measures to stop flooding.
Henry Cator, chairman of the NSFA said; “This scheme is a great example of collaboration between NSFA partners, local landowners and the parish council. Their invaluable local knowledge helped shape this scheme.
"We are seeing more and more extremes, with two droughts and two flood periods in the last five years in the region, this scheme highlights why improved water storage facilities are so important."
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The project also includes rainwater harvesting and sustainable drainage systems to help reduce the amount of rainwater running off housing estates into nearby ditches.
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