Tewkesbury Flood
by Rob Mason ~ October 15th, 2007 Filed under: Random.
Blog Action Day is just that - an opportunity for bloggers from across the globe to share a common goal and promote awareness of environmental issues.
My particular post is around the specific impacts of the recent flooding I witnessed here in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire. Here’s a map if you don’t know where it is.
So what happened?
If you’ve been living in a cave recently, then you’re probably not aware of the recent severe flooding we in Tewkesbury and surrounding areas experienced. In case you do live under a rock, here’s some visual clues for you:
- Trains and roads were stuffed.
- Heroes came forth and the goodness of people shone through.
- Water in the taps was and undrinkable.
- People’s homes were destroyed.
- People lost their lives.
If that isn’t enough of a list to make you start thinking about climate change and the impact it has on our world, then I don’t know what is. The key point in the list is: People lost their lives. Ordinary members of the community were doing something to help out the community and Mother Nature took her toll.
How or why did this happen?
The key to Tewkesbury’s problem, massive amounts of unexpected water aside, is the near constant building on floodplains. It transpires that the local authority appeared to ignore maps outlining areas likely to flood created by the Environment Agency. So, the net effect of granting permission to build on what is now Wheatpieces Estate (aka Walton Cardiff and also the name of the local pub) resulted in the water going where it shouldn’t have, namely Newtown, and then into the town itself. Many of these areas, Newtown in particular according to a recent article in the Tewkesbury Admag, weren’t meant to flood in a thousand years.
Conclusion
So clear evidence that man’s influence on the environment (physical and climatic) leads to disastrous consequences. This is why I am supporting Blog Action Day.
June 22nd, 2008 at 3:47 pm
what was the official date of the tewkesbury flood in 2007
June 23rd, 2008 at 7:35 pm
It was July 2007, kinda from the 20th onwards.
October 19th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
what were the main causes of the flood?
October 21st, 2008 at 9:02 am
As I said above the main causes were:
1) Lots of water - sounds obvious I know, but we saw much more rainfall than was expected
2) Location - Tewkesbury is at the confluence of two big rivers, so all that coming down had to go somewhere
3) Ditches and culverts - what I didn’t mention above, but have later discovered, is that many of the ditches and culverts that should have taken the water away were not cleared out by the local council. Basically they had been left to fill up with much over the months and possibly years, meaning they couldn’t cope with the amount of water
All in all it was lots of different things that sadly came together at the wrong time.
November 11th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
who got rid of my comments i think the flood was terrible but it happened to me aswell so im allowed to say LOL like i own the place
November 11th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
The key thing is that I own the place and if I feel that people’s comments are inappropriate I’m within my rights to remove them.
In this case I didn’t think writing “Laugh Out Loud” on a post detailing the massive damage and loss of life we suffered was appropriate. I’m all for free speech, but further comments like this and abuse directed at me will get you banned.
December 14th, 2008 at 6:11 pm
Thanks alot this really help with my geografy homework, but how did they manage this, what did they do to to empty the flood?
December 15th, 2008 at 11:30 am
All they could do was wait for the rainwater to drain away naturally via the rivers.