BUSINESSES were impacted after sewage spilled out onto the street in Newquay town centre on two occasions.

A blockage combined with heavy rainfall "overwhelmed" the sewer in Cliff Road on Saturday at 6.30pm and on Sunday at 11.30am. The water company had the blockage and the area cleared by 9pm on Sunday.

Resident Lewis Lowe said: “I could see sewage flowing down the street from two different drains. It impacted lots of businesses along that stretch.”

South West Water (SWW) believes the blockages could have been caused by fats, oils and greases as well as sewer misuse by local local businesses disposing of blue roll and sanitary items. Further investigations will be carried out “to get to the bottom” of why the incident happened to make sure the flooding does not occur again.

South West Water plans to visit local businesses and begin a ”structured educational programme” to help reduce sewer misuse if it is concluded they are to blame.

A spokesperson for SWW said: “We were alerted through our sewer level monitoring system that there was an issue at Cliff Road.

“Our ops responded and requested assistance from our tanker contractor, Clearflow, to clear the blockage and cleanse the sewer.

“We are awaiting a root cause analysis to be completed after all the feedback and data is collected, however we believe the blockages to be caused by fats, oils and greases (FOG), and sewer misuse through blue roll and sanitary items.

“If this proves to be the case, we will engage with our partners at ECAS, who will visit local businesses and begin a structured educational programme to help reduce sewer misuse.

“We have used ECAS in numerous situations and have been delighted with the results, I would anticipate the same here.”