Storm Babet

It seems amazing that anyone would choose to stay, anyone would choose to leave a neighbour in a bungalow during a flood event, and now ‘waiting to be rescued’….?

Happens every time. I live near Whaley Bridge (Derbyshire / Peak District) where the dam that sits above the town was in serious danger of bursting during a heavy storm (August 2019). I don't think many people actually realised how serious it was - later incident reports put it at 50:50 chance of a major breach in the dam and the town literally being washed away.

At yet there were people staying, even as the police drove through town on loudspeakers. People demanding to be let back in a day later because they wanted to water the houseplants or pick up the post - OK a couple were actually quite important like genuine medical supplies or a pet left behind in the urgency of the evacuation but many were just total crap.

Same at all the road closures - the main bridge in New Mills (the next town downstream) was closed to traffic because if the dam burst that bridge was next in the line of the deluge coming downstream, and again there were people demanding to be allowed to drive over it, the sun was out, it's not raining anymore, what's the problem... And then there were people trying to drive up the (completely totally closed) road on the neighbouring hill to watch the Chinook helicopter shuttling hundreds of tons of aggregate down to the dam to shore it up. They had to bring in full on concrete road closure barriers and wire mesh fencing to stop people trying to access it. Unbelievable.

News from the time:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-49189955

Well, Northumberland didn’t miss it.

We are booked in at The Sill/Twice Brewed tomorrow night, travelling up from Derby. I'm not convinced it's a good idea.

Yeah could be a rough journey. 

I should now say, I work for the Environment Agency but have only been here a few months, I've heard plenty of accounts from other events where the general public just don't listen or want to do what someone is telling them, we have staff on the ground assaulted, etc.  People think: we've had floods before it's not reached me before, we get warnings a lot and it's those houses down the valley that flood, it won't be as bad as predicted, or i've heard there are gangs waiting to come and steal everything i own, or just I don't want to leave my home. Similarly people think they'll be ok to drive through floodwater or across a ford, they have no concept that they could be swept away. None of the agencies can force someone to evacuate. Brechin residents have been offered a safe centre, they were in this instance asked to take sleeping bags if they could. It costs a fortune and is a hugely stressful job to set up evacuation centres and the authorities here should be immensely proud of how they have managed this event.

The folk on the news who are waiting to be rescued in brechin now we're convinced they would be ok as they were in a first floor flat.

At some point you don't have electric and your sewage backs up Nd you need help.

Does any one know how often these houses would flood prior to the defences being built in 2016.

It costs a fortune and is a hugely stressful job to set up evacuation centres and the authorities here should be immensely proud of how they have managed this event.

Indeed - as ever the emergency services, council workers, government agencies, volunteers and more have done and continue to do a good job.

Scenes to show how much water we are talking about:

https://twitter.com/farsondigital/status/1715236271704900040?t=jt5GllcR4wFDeJ9oCRwj7A&s=19

Scenes to show how much water we are talking about:

😳😳😳

I wasn't impressed by Natural Resources Wales decision to jetwash all the nice spagnum moss off our town flood wall. Their reasoning: the roots (moss doesn't have roots) would break up the bricks (like 50cm cube blocks of stone).

Too much emphasis on trying to dominate nature rather than working with it, IMO.

I know I'm probably premature, and I also recognise that the Angus rain event is unprecedented.
However, the grouse moors and open deer 'forests', the farmland without large hedges and trees, rivers contained in embankments, the huge publicly owned parks and school grounds which are green grass deserts, the endless verges which are flat and mown - all these things are upstream of the houses on the edge of rivers, squeezed into spaces that would be floodplains...
I could go on, but the combination of climate change and how we manage huge areas of land really has combined in the last few years...

You need the floodplains, wetlands, forests, bogs etc to interrupt heavy rain before it accumulates. Slow down that surface runoff by holding it back/absorbing in a way that releases it gradually is the key.

I reckon it could be mainly done on the tributaries, far upstream of urban areas.

Yes, @jeffl I think the dam slowed the water down from Chezvegas but when it’s full it’s of no use whatsoever, as it was going dark the water was lapping over the top. I bet your wife was a muddy mess after going across the field - that farmer never reinstates the path properly. I do hope the dam has been constructed well, the sluice gate/barrage had to be replaced at great cost as it was back to front or upside down or something according to a contractor!

That's the wind just returned with vengeance up here and the lights are flickering.

Hope you have a good charge!

All the best to everyone in the middle of this shitfest.

The overuse of the word unprecedented is annoying. Nowadays it generally means I've lived here 6 years and have never been sober enough to notice shit going on around me

The storm is really bad in certain areas due to the antecedent conditions. It's no doubt terrible at a local level for those affected

If this was in the SE it would be much more of a priority to prevent it being as bad next time.

Scenes to show how much water we are talking about:

This is just terrifying

My heart goes out to all the homeowners and businesses affected, but the footbridge in the park shows that flooding off the river isn’t a new problem.

No, it isn't a new problem and the river does occasionally breach. However there are flood defences in place now. The annual event of the town centre flooding is down to the drainage (usually).

There was a pump in place yesterday as Tim said, pumping the drains into the river. Matlock town centre was completely clear, when normally in yesterday's conditions it would have been under a foot of water.

The river burst up at Darley Bridge though I believe

Glad to know the flood defences have held.

Got a couple more tough days as the waters work their way downstream

Got a couple more tough days as the waters work their way downstream

There were warnings around the Sheffield and Chesterfield areas that this would be the case. Not seen much news from over that way yet. Here on the other side of the Pennines it's been eerily still overnight, I'll head out in a bit for a look at the river levels.

Anyone in Newark? Our village was hit bad, one house flooded because others were pumping water onto the street.

Remember a few years ago now when most of Newark surrounding area was under water and the rain this time has been worse.

On mum's street a sewerage has flooded the street and has a fire engine there to help.

Never mind your houses, I got stuck in London last night. No trains north. Just joined a human tide to get a standing room only Edinburgh train. No idea how I'll get to Leeds, let alone home.

Still, could have been waiting for a border to open I guess and at least shortage of water isn't an issue.

No idea how I’ll get to Leeds, let alone home.

@johnx2 - services are running from Manchester Victoria to Leeds. The Piccadilly end of things still seems problematic although services are apparently back to normal* through the Hope Valley (Manchester - Sheffield) now.

*Normal being 1 train per hour each way at weekends...

Ta. I do have a plan, to double back from York. I don't want to get stuck in Doncaster. Ever really...

A group I'm in on Facebook are going to hope for a ride this weekend!
Some people are nuts, some routes are bad enough after just a bit of rain.

A group I’m in on Facebook are going to hope for a ride this weekend!

Yes, there's folk on the Peak District MTB page asking if they can get to Hope/Edale, would it be OK to ride Cut Gate...? 😳

Morons.

As far as i can see, the only "threat to life" flood warnings in England are in Derby city centre. Lots of folks on FB saying the new flood defences have failed, but AIUI they've protected most of the city centre which they were intended to do.

The car museum place at Ambergate just avoided being flooded, and have posted to say the water levels are dropping.

Ilkeston train station is underwater, a colleague has suggested I canoe to the office on Monday

@morecashthandash it’s settled right down here now, facebook groups reporting no real issues on the roads, safe journey. 

"As far as i can see, the only “threat to life” flood warnings in England are in Derby city centre."

(Quote button has gone)

Just seen a vid on FB from apparently just now - Chatsworth road in Chesterfield, still like a torrential river

As far as i can see, the only “threat to life” flood warnings in England are in Derby city centre. 

North East Scotland is the only area I see with any warnings. 

Darwin award nomination?
They film from downwind at one point...
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-67180162

it’s settled right down here now, facebook groups reporting no real issues on the roads, safe journey.

Thanks for that, looks like the roads here are clear enough to get through so should be ok, and possibly clear skies for star gazing at Twice Brewed tonight, and the big book shop at Alnwick tomorrow!

MCA aerial footage of Angus
https://m.facebook.com/story.php/?id=100064678208383&story_fbid=718047027027898

At Matt.
Some folk just seem to know better than everyone else,I mean,what could possibly go wrong 🙄

Thanks for that, looks like the roads here are clear enough to get through so should be ok, and possibly clear skies for star gazing at Twice Brewed tonight, and the big book shop at Alnwick tomorrow!<br /><br />

Enjoy!

It’s a must for anyone with an interest in books. There’s also a small one in the centre that gets some little gems in Lexicon Books, happens to be right next to bar too. 

Ilkeston train station is underwater, a colleague has suggested I canoe to the office on Monday

I'm supposed to be travelling from Sheffield to Nottingham next Wednesday on the train - that's Chesterfield and Ilkeston. Hmm...

Anyway, river levels here (River Goyt, NW Derbyshire) are dramatically lower than yesterday. Still high but nowhere near what they were. Dry and overcast at the moment, very little wind.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-6718016 2">Trails 'coming alive ' courtesy of the storm. The question of what the hell the guy filming was doing out in a forest in a storm I can't answer!

Great training video from that clown.

Don't go into the woods in a storm.

Took a run round the local woods (larch plantation) here in Inverness yesterday morning, it wasn't windy but it had been a bit breezy over night. Plenty of branches on the deck that had they come down on anyone they would have done a bit of damage.

Similar Darwin theme..

https://www.tiktok.com/@charliefarlie88/video/7292106701396806945

^^^Having made it home, I am now heading for the coast, for surf tomorrow. Looks like you can get barrelled without leaving the carpark. Or indeed the car.

Those coast videos.

Every.

****ing.

Time.

Darwin award indeed. Same for that fud in the forest.

Did they cancel the wave classic this year on account of the weather ?

bigdean - no street flooding in Newark...yet.
Trent is very high near the Castle; Farndon marine is inaccessible.
I would expect the towns/villages with a flooding history to be badly affected.
From the bypass you can see extensive field flooding but that's nothing new.
Driving down the old A46 - the fosseway - from Farndon towards Syerston there's a stretch of the Trent which, in normal weather conditions, is at least half a mile from the road but today it's about 20 yards away.
Even if there is no further rain - unlikely, I know - there is still a lot of water to flow through from upstream.

matt_outandabout
Full Member

Darwin award nomination?
They film from downwind at one point…

Saw that on reddit the other night, it was about 90% people going "that's so cool, where is it, I want to see that" and 10% going "yeah if you want to die". I

Rain has stopped, wind has gone, and lovely sunset up here in Angus 😁

Set to be a nice sunny day tomorrow, so I'll hopefully get out for a spin and see how things are on my favourite roads.

frankconway- cheers for that.
.

Rain has stopped, wind has gone, and lovely sunset up here in Angus

Same here - other side of the Pennines from the worst of it in Derby/Chesterfield and this afternoon was lovely, roads (mostly) dried out.

I drove up from Southampton to Tyne mouth last night. It wasn’t a bad journey really. Dry until Watford gap then

wet through the midlands and round Sheffield etc then dried up north of there. Was windy after Leeds but not anything to really worry about.

I have been super busy last few days and hadn’t seen the news/ weather reports.

Saw the tynemouth pier lighthouse had blown off this morning.

Nice here today. Up to rothbury, well a few miles north of rothbury tomorrow. Bought my wellies with me!

Like Longdog, I think we will emerge from water watching here on the farm to head out for a wee road trundle tomorrow, have a look at some of the flooding all around and the raging rivers. The floodwater we can see on the western half of Strathmore is pretty impressive and the trees have suddenly lost most of their leaves. 

Roads dried quickly as we headed north from Derbyshire this afternoon, fantastic clear night for star gazing at Twice Brewed, just beautiful

We went to the Falls of Briar today in Perthshire.

They were really rather low.

Lots of debris from the wind - but clearly not a lot of rain there.

Odd.

That's what keeps susprising me about this one, it was so localised.

Longdog, you can see my house in that video! Local businesses in the old mill down my way are gone. The water even tore the road up and moved a full 40 foot container about a 100 metres. That was after just one days rain, yet the water receded even though it rained pretty much all day yesterday.

For half-term, we have booked a cottage in the centre of Castleton (Hope Valley) from tomorrow until Friday.

I've had a bit of a search and can't find any worrying news about flood problems in the local area, but was just wondering if anyone can help with some more local knowledge?

We'll be coming up the A1 and normally cut across on the A616, but that goes through Chesterfield which I think suffered some flooding, so I'm not sure whether to plan a different route?

. @stumpy01 - I'm in a cafe in Hope at the moment, riding back through Castleton later so I'll update once I'm home. There were road closures along the main route through the valley on Friday but all seems OK now and it's a lovely day.

@crazy-legs

That would be great! Cheers! Have a good ride!

. @stumpy01 - sorry, I should probably have added that I wouldn't be back until now!

The main road (A6187) from Winnats Pass through Castleton, Hope, Bamford, Hathersage is all open, no issues at all.
The A6013 (from Bamford north up to the A57/Snake Pass junction) is passable but has some BIG puddles sort of 1/2 - 2/3rds the way across the road.

The tiny little back lanes on the north and south of the main road (so Aston/Thornhill to the north and Pindale to the south) are a mess, there's still sheets of water coming off the hills and flowing down those lanes with the usual gravel/branches etc. Fine on a gravel bike or MTB, not somewhere I'd want to be riding a nice road bike!

It's worth a trip up to Ladybower Res, the drainage 'plugholes' are spectacular.

No idea about Chesterfield / Derby way I'm afraid but Google Maps seems fairly up to date with road closures.

Edit: the Hope Valley railway line is running a normal service, Sheffield - Manchester.

@crazy-legs

Amazing! Thanks.
I'm staying in Castleton with the family all week. Sadly the bike will be staying at home, but we're going to get out and have a good explore.

Been in York over the weekend, no sign of anything until today, the Ouze has burst it's banks but was only covering the roadway alongside (running towards Rountree Park from Nunnery Walk).

Got home and one of the bins was couped over, if that's all we got then we did okay.

The Trent, north of Newark, is quite a sight with so much land under water - worse than I've seen in my 30 years in the area.
The gypsy/traveller site at Tolney Lane is cut off and a post to the online version of the local paper commented that...the crime rate will show an immediate reduction.
Made me smile.

@stumpy01 Chesterfield is completely navigable, apart from a handful of side roads. You'll be fine getting to Castleton. There was a video online and the stream through Castleton was running very high, but I think the bulk of the village avoided severe flooding.

Cheers @jeffl!

Flying from Glasgow to Heathrow yesterday… I’ve never seen the country so wet.

I’ve never seen the country so wet.

That’s because people think it’s acceptable to fly from Glasgow to London

The sooner such flights are banned the better

Oof, shots fired.

Out on the roads yesterday around the Goyt Valley etc, so much run off from the surrounding hills, and so much of it in places I've never seen before. Lots of gravel and soil has been left on the roads, was a bit spicy on two wheels at times.

The sooner such flights are banned the better

well, in most countries that's going to be HSR (see France's recent laws to ban flights where HSR is lees than 2 hours between destinations) Given that Sunak just not only canned HS2, but salted the ground to make it impossible to resurrect, I guess more people should invest in sandbags.

But also, that we've had a decade of wetter weather doesn't, by itself, prove climate change. Just saying.

But also, that we’ve had a decade of wetter weather doesn’t, by itself, prove climate change. Just saying.

Ignoring all the other related weather events doesn't, by itself, disprove climate change. Just saying.

Walking through our woods yesterday and the trees look like they've been through the shredder, while still standing. Ive never seen so much green leaf debris on the ground.

In other news there was also a parakeet. Bit far north being as we're in north County Durham.

n other news there was also a parakeet. Bit far north being as we’re in north County Durham.

That is a southern bird - there is a wild flock in Glasgow.

That is a southern bird – there is a wild flock in Glasgow.

I did not know that. Still, probably a much warmer climate than 1000' up overlooking the empty nothingness that is the north pennines.

The sooner such flights are banned the better

The one London Edinburgh train I was lucky enough to get on on Sat was standing room only. I know folks who were trying to get to Sheffield on Friday by train only making it back yesterday. Surprised this wasn't more in the news, though perhaps "UK trains are shite" may not be a hold the front page story. I'd have considered a flight to Leeds, tbh.

The sooner such flights are banned the better

Considering your posting history suggests you have oil burning central heating, drive an ICE and burn an open fire at Xmas just for decorative reasons, I’d recommend looking a bit closer to home….

In other news there was also a parakeet. Bit far north being as we’re in north County Durham.

They've been in the country since the were accidently released in London some time the 70's and have been moving steadily northwards ever since. I guess one of the upsides is the increase in the falcons that used to prey on house sparrows and experienced a decline, are now repopulating lost areas using the parakeets as a food source.

The other upside is they look awesome. Who doesn't like seeing a Parrot in a tree on a grey day? As long as they don't start taking over I'm all for more parrots. They should accidentally release some big Macaws I say. #moparrotsplz

As long as they don’t start taking over

hmmm, sadly although they're not aggressive to other birds, size of flocks, noise they make can drive out smaller species. BUT like grey squirrels, it's not the parakeets fault, they're just being parakeets, it's humans (isn't it always) who're to blame.

Considering your posting history suggests you have oil burning central heating, drive an ICE and burn an open fire at Xmas just for decorative reasons, I’d recommend looking a bit closer to home….

Yeah you're right we shouldn't be looking to make these sorts of large substantive changes until everybody is living a perfect net zero existence.

Fnnar
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No, storm Boaby to go with hurricane bawbag.

That’s because people think it’s acceptable to fly from Glasgow to London

Bindun, tl:dr - trains are absolutely shite and useless if you want to travel anywhere other than to/from major cities before 1700.

I think dantsw is a pilot so, if that's correct, it's pointless having a pop at him.
All he's doing is helping to service the demand; he hasn't created the demand nor can he or any other pilot influence or control it.

I don’t really care what his job is tbh, what I find ridiculous is the insinuation that it’s only worth state or similar level action to mitigate the effects of climate change (in any sphere, not just transport) once we’re all living whiter than white lives.