Last night I heard a lot of rain on our velux window. During the day the level of the River Ock and the River Thames in Abingdon have risen again.

Alongside St Helen’s Wharf a blue door has been in position since Saturday but has only really been needed today where the water has crept up another 3 or 4 inches.

The Ock Valley walk has been closed.

Water from the River Ock is lapping against St Helens Mill, which should be well protected given all the work done below and above ground to waterproof it since the last floods.

People are worried though, and on the Ladygrove Estate and Meadowside Estate some residents go out with torches before bedtime to check water levels. There is an anxiety after the 2007 floods that it might happen again.

The River Ock is flowing higher than I have seen it for a couple of years after the recent rain.

 It has covered some of the field backing onto the Ladygrove Estate in South Abingdon,

The hump bridge over the River Ock at the bottom of Mill Lane is repaired and reopened but the water is too deep to walk that way to Tesco.  The environment agency said earlier at 5 am this morning “The River Ock remains high in the Stanford in the Vale and Charney Bassett areas, although water levels are currently stablising or falling in most locations along the river. No property flooding is currently expected. The weather prospects are: There is further heavy rain forecast for Saturday afternoon and Sunday will start dry with showers developing in the afternoon.”

Water usually stablilses and falls a little later in Abingdon than Charney Bassett.

(Update Sunday morning. After more rain the River Ock has risen at the lower end at the junction of the River Thames. St Helen’s Mill shown in this picture was tanked (waterproofed) after previous floods. If the River Ock rises any further this will be the first real test of the tanking.)

Back in 2002 a group called SAFAG (South Abingdon Floodplain Action Group) put together a detailed plan for developing the meadows along the River Ock near Tesco into a nature reserve. They had just campaigned to stop a hotel and some industrial units being built on the flood plain near Tesco. A nature reserve would stop further building on the flood plain.

For anybody interested, you can still read about that the Ock Meadows Nature Reserve project on the Safag web site.

A bad flood did hit Abingdon in July 2007. This view is from the Drayton Road bridge looking south with the Hartwells garage on the right. There is now a new group, the Ock Valley Flood Group, who are actively taking meaures to alleviate flooding. They have a forum at Preston Rd Community Centre on the evening of Friday 18th Feb at 7pm.