King’s Sedgemoor Drain takes water from the River Cary to join with the River Parrett at Dunball
Eight abandoned vehicles have been pulled out of a flood drainage channel on the Somerset Levels.
Environment Agency officers spotted them in the “murky water” of the King’s Sedgemoor Drain after the water levels were brought down.
The cars were pulled out near Bawdrip at Bradney Lane with a number of “really healthy” eels found inside.
The agency said there had been no significant increase in flood risk due to the vehicles being in the drain.
The water channel is used to help drain the peat moors of King’s Sedgemoor and is intended to bring some relief from flooding in the surrounding area.
The cars were found within about 100 metres of each other, but exactly how they got there is not known.
John Rowlands, from the Environment Agency, said: “Some of them are over 20-years-old, they certainly would not pass a MOT, and they range from a Ford Escort, to a Ford Fiesta and a Vauxhall Cavalier.
“The area around where the cars were located has a car parking area, there is an access track there, so it is easily accessible should somebody want to do something underhand with a vehicle.”
He added that while it was unclear how the cars got into the drain, it was very unlikely they were swept in by recent flood water.
Teams recovering the cars said they had become a “home for wildlife”, with a number of large elver eels living inside. “They literally were crawling out of the cars,” Mr Rowlands said.
“Obviously the eels are going through a bit of a bad time at the moment… so it was really good to see that these were really healthy, large, with teeth, which is indicative of a really good healthy environment within the King’s Sedgemoor Drain.”
Avon and Somerset Police have been called about the discovery of the vehicles.
