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.
At 9pm Monday evening the Thames was still maybe 12 inches below the June 2007 highest levels – it needs to reach the centre of the letter O in the word BRISTOL on the downstream side of the Iron bridge.
I’ll be checking it again in the morning
The Margaret Brown Gardens have also been sealed off tonight with barriers
water leVel raised a few centimeter over night. at 6am Tuesday morning it is above the lower end of the blue flood defend gate at st helens wharf
Latest Information:
The river and flooding forecast is: The River Thames is very high and continues to rise slowly in the Abingdon area. The river will continue to rise over the next few days. Property flooding can be expected for those properties close to the river. The weather prospects are: Showers are expected throughout today, some isolated and heavy in places. A drier day is expected on Wednesday with some scattered showers.
06:55 on 27 Nov 2012
According to BBC News the Thames is also a “slow responding river” which means that the ground water will still cause the river to rise for a few days after the main rainfall has passed.
Thankfully the rain is supposed to be past us by this afternoon so hopefully the river level will start to drop from Thursday/Friday.
Water level was just lapping at the bottom of the letter O
at 11am this morning. Water is now coming up from the
road drains at the junction of Preston Rd and Wilsham Rd
and starting to flood the road.
At least the rain stopped just in time for the troops Homecoming Parade
3pm and the Thames is still rising.
Just hitting the 2007 peak level
Be aware of the flooded road at junction or Preston and Wilsham
This is a useful link to the water height of the Ock.
http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homeandleisure/floods/riverlevels/136495.aspx?stationId=7081
Here is the river level at Abingdon Lock
http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homeandleisure/floods/riverlevels/136497.aspx?stationId=7073
Upstream monitoring stations appear to indicate that
the rise is leveling off, though that may take another 6 hours or so to show up at Abingdon
Thank you User-Less for that (and BykerRode for your updates.) I didn’t realise that was on the EA website. There is a marker stick on the Ock by Meadowside and you can see from there the water level has dropped today. Here’s hoping everything keeps moving in the right direction and very best of luck to all. Mass fingers crossed for everyone.
seems the situation is reversed from last time- ock falling but thames rising.
fingers crossed that the thames doesn’t rise at it’s current rate for the next few days – we’ve got the rain out of the way, now it’s just a waiting game
I think the removal of the pinch point by St Helen’s Mill has helped. In 2007 the water level was significantly higher behind it but today the water has been flowing smoothly.
The Ock appears to have been fairly level this afternoon after overnight and this morning.
Not looking good – The Anchor was closed tonight
Water now lapping over the footpath on the Wharf
Deep water at junction of Preston and Wilsham
– car drivers racing through it !
Water along both sides of the road in Townsend.
Lets hope the river is peaking otherwise it would be
a good idea to sandbag the grass bank along Wilsham road.
Ock has apparently fallen 5cm in the last 6 hours
If we have normal Winter rain this season we could be in trouble as the ground is already saturated. it’s being so cheerful as keeps me going..!