There has been a more relaxed feel. The emergency services are no longer on high alert. The River Thames is still just as high, but it seems predictable now – not the great unknown.

The path to the weir has been washed away and cordoned off since yesterday. Here, perhaps, is a use for those left over sandbags.

The flood has NOT helped Abingdon Town Football Club’s pitch or floodlight controls, but it has made it a better place to take pictures.

Abingdon Vale cricket club were having a good season until this happened. Still, I’m sure they’ll bounce back.

But will everybody who has been flooded bounce back so easily? One lady had only just moved back to her former town Abingdon, after loosing her husband. As she sat, as an evacuee, in the Guildhall – she said ‘ I may have made a big mistake.’

St Helens Church looks safe at 7 AM this morning, looking down towards the slipway.

The water level has gone up, perhaps 10 or 12 inches since yesterday morning.

Looking back to St Helens Wharf, from Margaret Brown Garden, water laps over the wall at this point. But it looks like Abingdon has escaped the worst case scenario (40 roads flooded). Visible in this picture, the Old Anchor Inn (flooded on Sunday by the River Ock) has escaped a second flooding – just.

So what next? The River Thames is likely to stay at or near this high level for the next day or so. Flood defences are remaining in place as a precaution because the Environment Agency say there remains the possibility of another ‘surge.’

“Here we are reporting in Abingdon…”

The flood plain stretches behind the ITV reporter.

The crowds, on the bridge, watch some rescue boats helping a boat in difficulty. Most of the boats however are secured with the help of poles installed by a local scaffolding firm. (Dunkirk spirit)

There is no large flood in town yet. The large flood plain on the other side of the River Thames does help. For every inch the water rises on the town side it has to spread half a mile on the other.

Famous buildings have escaped so far. The museum basement got flooded during the deluge on Friday – but that is not very visible from outside.

But some of the, soon to be built, buildings were not quite so lucky. This is the new development next to the River Ock on the Drayton Road.

For more information on flooding , see

Oxfordshire County Council
Vale District Council
Environment Agency
Abingdon Herald

This is the weir at Abingdon. The Lock Gates are shown here fully raised at 6:30 PM. Today so far:

11:37 (Radio Oxford) – The Iffley Lock keeper reports a 2 inch rise in 30 minutes at Iffley Lock (2 locks up from Abingdon). All the weirs are open but that is not working. It is still on the way up.

11:54 (Radio Oxford)- Abingdon Road in Oxford is starting to flood and will be closed in the next hour. Botley Road is closed. City Centre restriction lifted to allow traffic through.

12:15 – From Vale site – Severe Flood Warnings remain in place for the rivers Ock and Thames in the Vale area, and the latest prediction from the Environment Agency is that flooding will start in the town at around 7pm.

Five teams from the Council are currently delivering 500 sandbags to roads in Abingdon which are most likely to flood and which are not yet protected.

14:15 BBC Reports it will peak at about 2:45 AM tomorrow

18:15 Speak to Abingdon Lock Keeper. He says the river is still rising. He says the whiz kids at the Environment Agency say it will peak at about 11:45 PM now. But he says that the river will have to find its own level. He is doing all he can to help that happen.

This lad is finding his own level by bike at the Abbey Meadow. He got much further than his mates, but didn’t get much further.

This is one of the closest houses to the Thames. The river is rising but at 19:45 it has risen an inch or two in the last hour. It is the highest I’ve seen it but it is not flooding yet – at least not on this side. We haven’t yet seen what has been described as the surge.