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I must admit I had a bit of a chuckle looking at the first photo, which clearly shows that classic British stoicism in the face of impending disaster: the lady in the kitchen of the left-hand house calmly making a pot of tea! Priceless.
+1
Lovely read, thanks OP for posting.
I'd love a downshift job with the EA...
Good read, thanks. I imagine the EA is pretty stretched at the moment... We seem to be missing fair old chunks of river banks, canal banks and the odd bridge here in the Calder Valley. And that's without looking across into the Lakes, Scotland or the North East.
Really interesting post, thanks!
I feel a lesser man after reading that.
River Severn is the fastest, 5 points.
What is my role? - good question, we have a permanent standby of staff 24/7 who keep tabs on river levels and weather. This incident triggered the on duty staff member to escalate the situation. By the time I got to work the incident room was opened and a rota of people being populated to fulfil the myriad of work this generates. Outside of this rigid structure (that was also dealing with pollution incidents and further flooding) we operate a logistics and engineering cell. I managed this side of things in this incident, it's an as and when scenario, I'm not on a roster and I have to drop the day job or weekend if I happen to get collared.
Who pays and how much did it cost. - The Environment Agency (through taxation) will probably pay for these works. We won't pay to fix the private defence wall as it is if there is a solution with a better benefit/cost ratio, if that happens to be the cheapest way of protecting the town then so be it. The strategy for the area recommends a £20m sheet pile solution in 2050, it may be this is brought forward, if so, contributions from various beneficiaries will be sought.
Cost? Less than a 911, more than a Boxster.
Will we have to remove the bags? - I will not lift this material that has been in a watercourse over property. I suspect removal will involve a very big knife and the rock will be allowed to wash away. This is a long way in the future.
Did the locals make us cups of tea? - generally yes, some people were very frightened and we and our partners hopefully managed to reassure them as best as possible. We had the normal range of reactions. Some were abusive because the road was closed, some were angry they had to move their cars a few refused. A minority were seeking compensation for the noise disturbing them. However, like all of these stories, I think the people who didn't voice an opinion were probably grateful we have a civilised system of taxation that means should this happen, there is a mechanism in place to minimise the potential harm. A local pub made us free tea all day and I was gifted a slice of home made fruit cake.
One chap 'accidentally' moved the road closure sign to drive to his spot outside the pub, I think the sight of the artic backing toward him made him need the pint more than he thought!
And I should add, none of this is possible without contractors prepared to commit to long term Government contracts and be part of the wide ranging partnership that makes up the UK infrastructure. Not *all government contracts are Daily Mail style bad news.
Nicely put.
That was easy, wait till you have been Jabberd 😆
Good job in publicizing what we do, I hope that makes the weekly buzz.
Impressive. Not the securing of the river and the prevent of collapse of properties, but this bit:
I wrote it one handed feeding ravioli to a 1yr old
IME that takes placement skills far in excess of dumping a bag of gravel near a wall. I bet you got it all round their mouth didn't you 😉
Some were abusive because the road was closed, some were angry they had to move their cars a few refused. A minority were seeking compensation for the noise disturbing them.
EA issue bombers? Do you have access to shoes?
Some utter fools in this world.....
Top Job!!
It's amazing what you can do when folk just work together to do the right thing (and how much effort it takes to have the contract structures and relationships in place to allow that to occur!)
was it just me or did anyone else have the Thunderbirds theme tune going through their head when looking at the pictures 🙂
Waterloo
Trafalger
Dunkirk
And now, Arundel
Great post, very informative and sheds a light into a world I know nothing about.
Really interesting stuff this.
Pictonroad - do I understand it correctly that you have a different day job, but are effectively on call for the EA a bit like military reserves?
My village in East Sussex has flood defences, that in times of flood risk get manned and monitored 24/7. By its nature this work is antisocial hours in poor weather/working conditions.
Chapeau to you all.
Day job is a Project Executive in the capital schemes department. Got a promotion just before Christmas from Project Manager, been here 10 yrs.
For a major incident like this I have to drop the day job. Although on Monday morning after 3hrs sleep I had to shower, iron a shirt and drive to Tonbridge to chair a meeting for rather large* agency led project on the River Medway. I was thoroughly knackered.
It's always sobering to come home feeling heroic and be told the Mrs has been managing two vomiting children on her own for 3 days. It's not often considered how ongoing incidents affect people's families.
This was a short intense project, back to the day job today. For ongoing ground water events it can reduce people to their base instincts. I've seen a meek engineer smash a phone to its constituent parts after one too many stupid questions.
Hat's off to all evolved, enjoyed reading that so thanks for sharing
Excellent work OP.
Just wondering, if a similar job was done as planned maintenance, how long would it take to organise & get done?