There were lots of sandbags in the B&Q Car Park and the Cattle Market Car Park earlier today, but the supply got used up and I’m not sure there are any more until Monday. For District Council advice see Severe Weather / Flooding.
The Tesco Car Park got flooded earlier today.
The Tesco Road and Car Park remain under water this evening. The River Ock is higher than it has been any time this winter.
A lot of those sand bags have been used to try and protect the Ladygrove Estate and roads bordering the River Ock including Ock Street.
There was a meeting at the end of Chaunterell Way, with the MP, and Leader of the District Council, and Environment Agency this afternoon. Town Council staff helped build barricades of sandbags.
At about 7:30pm, Councillors Alice and Mike Badcock told me that the water level has gone down a little from the peak of that afternoon. But people will probably have a worrying night.
P.S. Thanks to Rudi for the link on the comment to the measuring station. As can be seen the Ock is now going down but the Thames with its larger catchment is still rising.
always strange how it works – as the thames got really hight a couple of weeks back the ock was falling into the safety zone. hopefully the coming rain wont prevent it continuing the fall of the afternoon.
what is concerning though is that despite the current flooding, the environment agency still has no flood warning at all for the ock in Abingdon – only the ock leading up to.
I live in Meadowside Abingdon & was flooded in 2007. I am also confused that theres no flood warning / Alert for our part of the river & only at tesco part of the river? It was & still is in places level with the path round by our stretch of the ock, i would like to know how they monitor the river levels? Is it a visual inspection every so often or do they have some kind of technical device that triggers an alert?
There is a measuring station
http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homeandleisure/floods/riverlevels/136495.aspx?stationId=7081
I sympathise with those who have been inundated but to say “No warning” is a dislocation from reality. It’s been raining for six+ weeks and the whole Thames valley is covered in online warning flags ! Every house has a scientifically proven forecasting device that even the Romans used (window glass).
The current cause may be something different but with a small tributary like the Ock, it only takes a small restriction to flow (fallen tree branch, shopping trolley etc) and the water level will back up in minutes. The Agencies will be unable to micromanage at that level.
I am in Orpwood Way and also flooded in 2007. The back garden flooded half way up yesterday, but is back to the fence this Sunday morning. I think a flood alert would only be in place if property damage was expected, which was not the case. However the house at the end of Nash Drive looked in danger – I wonder if they had an alert?
Managers at Waitrose must be rubbing their hands with glee, if Tesco is inaccessible!
A high Thames could cause the Ock to back up. And Oxford want to send their Thames flood water down to us!
The EA website still hasn’t been updated since Fri. evening on the Ock at the time of writing, Sun 9 Feb at 1 pm. The EA told me that they would not upgrade the alert to a warning until their system reaches at the certain trigger point which will automatically activate a warning issue. I have asked what that specific point is and was told that it was managed at the higher authority and that they could not tell me. Meanwhile people on Nash Drive spent very stressful time keeping away the water running through their garage and up to the back door. And I feel that we have very little information on the Ock.
Tesco’s now back open again but with limited vehicle and car park access. Only by road alongside petrol station
Waitrose was certainly busier than usual yesterday morning!
“At about 7:30pm, Councillors Alice and Mike Badcock told me that the water level has gone down a little from the peak of that afternoon. But people will probably have a worrying night”
And might well they put in an apperance, it’s their ward and their fault, they’ve been the local councillors for this ward than more years anyone can remember and what have the Badcocks done for us residents? very little, oh, they did forget to ensure we had a draft plan in place, hence the Hallam land project, I only hope all the residents/voters south of the town remember this at next years elections !!
in fairness rain doesn’t vote labour or conservative – or indeed liberal.
Budgens in Peachcroft was packed on Saturday afternoon….
Indeed Rudi, but they determin how it (and our community) are delt with, i.e, dredging, gulley emptying,building on the green belt, etc
a lot more thought has to be given long -term to basin management. Most of the Vale is clay, which is easily compressed by machinery; the hedges have bee taken up so there’s less interception, there’s too little forestry, there’s building and drains, etc..
In the short-run the weather forecast looks dire!!
John E suggested that “A high Thames could cause the Ock to back up. And Oxford want to send their Thames flood water down to us!” This idea that the Thames level would affect the Ock was around in 2007 but cannot be correct. Except for the last 100 yards, the Ock is far higher than the Thames and simple physics tells you that no part of the Ock above this would be affected by the Thames level.
To be fair chaps what can local councillors do? Nigel Farage had it right when he said that we should freeze foreign aid and spend the money on flood defences and UK infrastructure. The Dutch had much worse flood problems than us and they have successfully managed it. We give millions to the E U at the cost of our own country. I cannot see the E U or foreign countries rushing to pledge aid for the people who have lost their homes and businesses due to the floods especially on the Somerset levels. We could not afford to dredge them apparently.
What local councillors can do is make sure that each local council is doing everything it can do to work effectively to deal with flooding when it happens and to reduce the likelihood of further flooding in the long term.
Specifically that means making sure Oxfordshire County Council gets its Flood Risk management Strategy in place asap (a responsibility it was given four years ago) and making sure the Vale gets the new Local Plan in place including continuing the policy of no building on the flood plain and tighter policies for other sites with a serious flood risk.
I’m not quite sure why anyone would particularly link foreign aid, which is a very small budget in national terms, with the need to fund better flooding infrastructure here. As far as the EU is concerned, it does make money available to places affected by serious flooding through the Solidarity Fund. The EU is also a world leader in tackling climate change, one of the root causes of the more volatile weather we’re now experiencing.
Thank goodness for the Tesco Express stores!!
That’s interesting Neil. The Somerset Levels have been flooded for weeks. Has the EU shown any interest in flooding in the UK and made any money available through the Solidarity Fund to the UK to deal with flooding issues? No, I thought not.
One way traffic. We contribute to EU and worldwide problems, anyone helping us out?
The reason why we link foreign aid to our flooding , Neil, is because many of us just cannot see any rational in donating money to others while there is so much misery and suffering at our own door steps. Doesn’t matter where money is coming from nor how small or big the fund is. We need it now for our people.
The foreign aid campaign is quite wrong. If we’re going to argue about Government and other funds: lets look at tax loopholes, banker’s bonuses, and at Trident, which is costing 100 billion,…(etc!). I’m sure the Aid budget is not robbing the poor flooded in England.!