Christmas flooding

Rain held off overnight, drains still flowing freely, neighbour's house no worsly flooded.

I hope it's eased for everyone else too.
 
ZoneV said:
Rain held off overnight, drains still flowing freely, neighbour's house no worsly flooded.

I hope it's eased for everyone else too.
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Let's hope it stays that way for you (y)

I feel ashamed that my only problem has been trying to stay upright in the mud when walking the dogs, seems a stupid thing compared to what is happening up there :(
 
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKRCHfJXsis


This is one of the major routes into leeds, just down the road from me, not my vid, I'm not stupid enough to go out in it :)

Fortunately we're quite high up so not affected by the flooding, I feel sorry for those that are.
 
jakeblu said:
This is one of the major routes into leeds, just down the road from me, not my vid, I'm not stupid enough to go out in it :)
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Its crazy! You just don'y imaging places like Leeds and Manchester flooding :(
Hope your stay safe Steve :thumbs:
 
beyond the blue said:
A mains gas pipeline that runs accross the river Irwell in my town exploded this afternoon after being damaged by high water. Could smell gas over most of the town. Just how it can burst into flames without ignition beats me.
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I imagine the grinding of metal on metal created a spark or if there were gas pipes there may also have been electric. Wouldn't take much.
 
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beyond the blue said:
A mains gas pipeline that runs accross the river Irwell in my town exploded this afternoon after being damaged by high water. Could smell gas over most of the town. Just how it can burst into flames without ignition beats me.
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Fracturing metal can easily produce a spark. That is all it takes. Maybe also electric cables on the bridge that ruptured and arced.
 
arclight said:
Fracturing metal can easily produce a spark. That is all it takes. Maybe also electric cables on the bridge that ruptured and arced.
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I'd say that may have been the cause. I think that bridge was carrying gas and electricity mains to the neighbouring estate.

Our street was flooded for a while yesterday morning, but it had subsided by last night. A couple of homes further down had some water come in, but everyone else was spared, thankfully.
One young girl had her brand new Fiat 500 flooded. Only a few hours before, we were walking home past it and my daughter was telling me how she really wanted one.

Just up the road in Radcliffe has been the worst hit locally I believe (It's where the gas explosion was).
The houses on the far side of the bridge (The near side is an Asda), were left without power.
What with the River Irwell snaking through Radcliffe it's caused some pretty serious damage. Not as bad as Cumbria I suppose, but it's actually a lot worse than I thought it was.
 
Blue skies here this morning :cool:

With not going out at all yesterday, we didn't know about neighbours a few hundred yds away which is prone to flooding (much lower down than us) JUST about averting flooding to their homes.
Local farmers, builders merchants, local councillors, even the local Indian takeaway owners, were all out & working together. A great community effort! (y)

Someone filmed part of the effort, after the worst was over though & didn't show just how bad it was, especially just how deep the water was (waist level) on the local pitches & how much was running over the road towards the houses @ a lower level.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiOu8t1c3Gw
 
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Arranged builder to look at next door's leaking extension tomorrow.

Called Welsh Water who were very quick in sending a couple of engineers around. They agreed the run-off from the woods was the problem and shared my opinion of the "once a century storm" excuse used by a local councilor.

Called the councillor and in response to her "freak weather, what can you do?" comment, I told her this is the second time this has happened in 1 month and I could very easily arrange for many tonnes of water to be delivered directly outside the council offices to see how they like it. It might take their minds off their fat pensions and early finishes for a few minutes. She's "going to look into the problem". With hindsight, perhaps I was a bit harsh on her.

On a more positive note, we've had no rain since last night. (y)
 
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ZoneV said:
With hindsight, perhaps I was a bit harsh on her.
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Sometimes these public servants need a kick up the arse to serve the public, I may not have been that polite had it been me TBH.

ZoneV said:
On a more positive note, we've had no rain since last night. (y)
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Long may it last :thumbs:
 
Cobra said:
Sometimes these public servants need a kick up the arse to serve the public, I may not have been that polite had it been me TBH.
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I am sure it will not take long before some of them are trotting out the usual banal placitude "Lessons will be learned".
 
There was an interesting thing I read that dredging has been all but stopped due to EU regulations requiring rivers to be left undisturbed. Some think this causes more flooding as then rivers burst their banks more easily as they fill up with gravel, sand and other crap. If it has been the case that since 2000 rivers aren't being dredged and all these bad floods have all been worse since then it seems a probable cause to me. One that can be tackled easily. Just dredge the rivers! If you get the same amount of rain and places don't flood then you have rather easily fixed it...if it is the cause then the EU can pay for all the repairs and refund our money that they've wasted on this nonsense.
 
Yesterday I posted a picture of the drain in my back yard filling up due to being overwhelmed by the amount of water. Here it is today, this time with the new pump in situ. The hose runs right around the house to the path at the front, where it runs down onto a road. Quite a different sight to yesterday!

waterpump.jpg
 
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srichards said:
There was an interesting thing I read that dredging has been all but stopped due to EU regulations requiring rivers to be left undisturbed.
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I'd not seen that, but it doesn't surprise me in the slightest :rolleyes:

srichards said:
If it has been the case that since 2000 rivers aren't being dredged and all these bad floods have all been worse since then it seems a probable cause to me.
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Its a shame that the "powers that be" can't think logically Eh?
 
srichards said:
There was an interesting thing I read that dredging has been all but stopped due to EU regulations requiring rivers to be left undisturbed. Some think this causes more flooding as then rivers burst their banks more easily as they fill up with gravel, sand and other crap. If it has been the case that since 2000 rivers aren't being dredged and all these bad floods have all been worse since then it seems a probable cause to me. One that can be tackled easily. Just dredge the rivers! If you get the same amount of rain and places don't flood then you have rather easily fixed it...if it is the cause then the EU can pay for all the repairs and refund our money that they've wasted on this nonsense.
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I don't know all the facts this popped up on another forum and sounds sensible..

"blame the farmers who are stopping the EA planting more trees in upland areas and creating flooding areas to slow down and contain water before it hits towns.

Dredging is a reactive measure, unfortunately the proactive measures are being stopped by hill farmers and others stopping rewilding in watershed areas.

And all flood defences do is move the problem down river (See Somerset levels as a good example of what upstream flood defences can do). Many of today's problems can also be attributed to river straightening, meaning water gets downstream even faster after a rain. Well that was a clever idea...

Much of the work being done today is to slow rain water down (reforesting upland areas, creating natural flooding pools, recreating meanders in rivers, allowing old overbank areas to flood again), all of which are designed to slow the flow of water after a major rain and reducing peak flow in the rivers. Spread the flow over a longer period (like it naturally would be) and rivers are less likely to overflow their banks, dredging is less needed (both because there is more capacity and because the sediment is deposited upstream in overbank areas) and man made flood defences are needed only in a few specific spots. Many flood defences on the other hand are designed to get the water downstream and away from the defended area as quickly as possible."
 
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OldCarlos said:
Blue skies here this morning :cool:

With not going out at all yesterday, we didn't know about neighbours a few hundred yds away which is prone to flooding (much lower down than us) JUST about averting flooding to their homes.
Local farmers, builders merchants, local councillors, even the local Indian takeaway owners, were all out & working together. A great community effort! (y)

Someone filmed part of the effort, after the worst was over though & didn't show just how bad it was, especially just how deep the water was (waist level) on the local pitches & how much was running over the road towards the houses @ a lower level.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiOu8t1c3Gw
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Fantastic effort there by the community. For me, this kind of thing is what sums up the real British spirit.

It's a good job nobody was filming me yesterday - when working outside on my own, jumping from one disaster to the next, the air was extremely blue :oops: :$ (especially when I slipped on wet slate slabs and launched into the can-can followed by an awkward hurdle-splits in about 6" of water. My knee is shafted today). :D
 
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The M62 near Rochdale was shut for a couple of days over Christmas as a 20ft sink hole appeared and dropped the tarmac - it's now been re-opened after they've stabilised it...
 
Thought we were going to get a bit of flooding, got a bit of rain today then it turned out nice. Sorry for all the others who got flooded :(
 
Well, my street in York has been on TV all day and people being evacuated by boat. I can't even get anywhere near my house as the whole area has been cordoned off. It's a good job I was away last night as everyone's cars are underwater. I have no idea what I'm going to.
 
Blank_Canvas said:
Well, my street in York has been on TV all day and people being evacuated by boat. I can't even get anywhere near my house as the whole area has been cordoned off. It's a good job I was away last night as everyone's cars are underwater. I have no idea what I'm going to.
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Can't even imagine how that would feel, all that mess and upheaval. Sorry to hear all the trouble you are having :(
 
Blank_Canvas said:
Well, my street in York has been on TV all day and people being evacuated by boat. I can't even get anywhere near my house as the whole area has been cordoned off. It's a good job I was away last night as everyone's cars are underwater. I have no idea what I'm going to.
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Sorry to hear that. If I were you I'd call 101 and find out what plans are in place in your area. I hope your house isn't too badly affected, good luck.
 
neil_g said:
I don't know all the facts this popped up on another forum and sounds sensible..

"blame the farmers who are stopping the EA planting more trees in upland areas and creating flooding areas to slow down and contain water before it hits towns.

Dredging is a reactive measure, unfortunately the proactive measures are being stopped by hill farmers and others stopping rewilding in watershed areas.

And all flood defences do is move the problem down river (See Somerset levels as a good example of what upstream flood defences can do). Many of today's problems can also be attributed to river straightening, meaning water gets downstream even faster after a rain. Well that was a clever idea...

Much of the work being done today is to slow rain water down (reforesting upland areas, creating natural flooding pools, recreating meanders in rivers, allowing old overbank areas to flood again), all of which are designed to slow the flow of water after a major rain and reducing peak flow in the rivers. Spread the flow over a longer period (like it naturally would be) and rivers are less likely to overflow their banks, dredging is less needed (both because there is more capacity and because the sediment is deposited upstream in overbank areas) and man made flood defences are needed only in a few specific spots. Many flood defences on the other hand are designed to get the water downstream and away from the defended area as quickly as possible."
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This^

And building housing and industry on flood plains.

The water will fall to earth, simply dredging rivers does virtually nothing compared to the huge amount of water the natural habitat will cope with before it gets to rivers. But it's not a 'simple fix' so most people won't 'get it'.
 
This tells you all you need to know about flooding:
https://BANNED/sharpsharp/status/681188724907053057
 
Pulled this image off Twitter just now, from @huddersfield4u

swanhuddersfield.jpg
 
Just saw York on the news.

Terrible.

One thing is guaranteed though, they won't take it lying down. With the combined efforts of the emergency services, the Yorkshire folk and 500 soldiers, many from regiments local to the area, the water will be gone as soon as is humanly possible.
 
neil_g said:
That as the population has grown so has the amount of buildings in towns and cities?

Or are you hinting toward the issue of building on flood plains?
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Both, really. Back then, they just didn't build on those parts. Seems obvious really, but with £££££ for riverside property at stake it just gets agreed and signed off by planning.

Kinda ironic that the same people in the council signing this stuff off are the ones making petty party political points as their residents and buildings are in immediate danger. :banghead:
 
At the risk of sounding like a Daily Mail article (not meaning to) there's enormous growth in terms of people coming into the country from the rest of the EU legally, and outside illegally. Some of these people were living 5 or 6 to a room in recent times, but as they get on their feet, earn money, they're getting their own places. Eventually, something has to give. Building more is fair enough, and a good plan, but needs the infrastructure as well.

I'm not against population growth, but it needs to be organic and spread, not within specific areas or groups.
 
(ignoring the immigration bit as that'll take the thread off course)

not really what i was talking about, more that there is very little affordable housing being built in suitable areas with good transport links.

seems that housing in suitable areas that do not flood get such huge opposition from NIMBYs or people protesting about building on green areas (while I agree that our countryside needs protecting, some compromise needs to be met) that this naturally leads to buildings being put in areas that end up flooding occasionally.
 
Unfortunately, it's not only houses built on flood plains that are being affected by this. My house is over 150 years old and built on a fairly steep hill and even though the water doesn't stand here, during the recent heavy rain there has been too much water rushing into the garden for the drains to handle which meant it would have quickly risen above the doorsteps and into the houses if it wasn't for over 12 hours of solid graft (and it very, very nearly did even then).
 
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ZoneV said:
(especially when I slipped on wet slate slabs and launched into the can-can followed by an awkward hurdle-splits in about 6" of water.
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I'm really sorry to hear that ( no one took the images :D )
I hope its starting to settle down now :thumbs:


Blank_Canvas said:
Well, my street in York has been on TV all day and people being evacuated by boat. I can't even get anywhere near my house as the whole area has been cordoned off. It's a good job I was away last night as everyone's cars are underwater. I have no idea what I'm going to.
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Oh b****r :(
 
ZoneV said:
Arranged builder to look at next door's leaking extension tomorrow.
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Builder has been next door for a look. He agreed the best approach is to try the quicker fix which can be completed before the next storm has been forecast to arrive. He's starting work on it ASAP tomorrow and I've offered my labour for free to help get it done quicker.

Unfortunately, if the quick fix doesn't work, and water is getting in under his back yard and not just the bottom of his extension wall, that's a big job. The old chap said that if that's the case then "knock the bloody thing down and I'll move". :(

I hope this works. It has to.
 
ZoneV said:
Builder has been next door for a look. He agreed the best approach is to try the quicker fix which can be completed before the next storm has been forecast to arrive. He's starting work on it ASAP tomorrow and I've offered my labour for free to help get it done quicker.

Unfortunately, if the quick fix doesn't work, and water is getting in under his back yard and not just the bottom of his extension wall, that's a big job. The old chap said that if that's the case then "knock the bloody thing down and I'll move". :(

I hope this works. It has to.
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Oh God bless him, I hope to God it does work, it's not nice for anyone but even more so for the elderly!

Hats of to you for time and help, you've gone above and beyond for him and that really is lovely!
 
Cg_Girl said:
Oh God bless him, I hope to God it does work, it's not nice for anyone but even more so for the elderly!

Hats of to you for time and help, you've gone above and beyond for him and that really is lovely!
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I've known him and his wife for years so it's very personal to me. I will be bitterly disappointed if we can't sort this out. :(

Edit: thanks for the kind words but I'm only doing my duty as a friend and neighbour.
 
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