East Sussex Highways answered 218 storm callouts in a weekend, 89 of them in eight hours on Saturday. How to report a fallen tree or flooding near Crowborough.

Highways crews in East Sussex were called to 218 incidents over the weekend as Storm Austen and Storm Boelo hit the county one after the other, bringing down trees and flooding roads.

At the height of the response eight emergency crews were out at once, East Sussex County Council said. Most of the calls came on Saturday, when East Sussex Highways dealt with 89 in eight hours.

To put that in context, the council’s own figure for a normal weekend is about eight emergency callouts.

Where it was worst

The council named Hastings, Eastbourne and Bexhill as the worst-hit areas. It has not published a breakdown by district, so it has not said how many of the 218 calls came from Wealden or from roads around Crowborough, Uckfield and Heathfield.

The county council is the highway authority for all of East Sussex, so the same crews cover Crowborough’s roads as well as the coast.

What the council said

Cllr Peter Griffiths, East Sussex County Council’s lead member for transport and environment, thanked the crews.

“Keeping roads safe and passable in such challenging conditions is no mean feat and I am extremely grateful to our colleagues at East Sussex Highways for their efforts,” he said.

“On an average weekend, crews would probably deal with around eight emergency callouts which shows what a significant challenge they faced and what a great job they did.”

A tree with dense green and yellowing foliage lying across a road, leaves and broken twigs scattered over the tarmac and a cable on the ground
The fallen tree in full, its crown lying across the road surface. Photo: supplied by East Sussex County Council

How to report a fallen tree or flooding

If you come across a problem on a road around Crowborough, such as a tree or branches down, flooding or debris, the council asks you to report it to East Sussex Highways:

For closures and works on local roads this week, see our Crowborough roadworks and travel page.

Source: East Sussex County Council newsroom, 26 October 2026.