Somebody turn the tap off!
Thatcham Floods
It all got a bit damp round here today. One minute I’m thinking it’s raining a bit harder than usual and the next I’m on the phone to the Council screaming for sand bags.
There was of course not a cat in Hell’s chance of getting any as the water further up the road, in both directions, was much deeper and the need therefore was greater. It occurred that the ratio of sand bags to households in the area is obviously not right.
Mind you, it’s not really the Council’s fault. It never floods round here. I’ve been here 14 years and I’ve occasionally seen a small stream running down the road during heavy rain but never anything like this. It was the sheer volume of rainwater that did it… around 7 inches in a few hours according to the gauge in my garden. The drains just couldn’t cope.
Interestingly, I’d never really noticed before how much of a camber there is on our roads to allow the rainwater to run off. The crown of the main road in the shots was fully visible for some considerable time after the buildings opposite me were letting in water. It rather begs the question as to what is more important, keeping the roads dry or flooding houses. Surely it would make more sense to camber the road towards the centre and run the drains along there. The insurance claims for this incident alone have got to exceed the cost of rerouting the pipework along the A4. It’s all due to be resurfaced anyway.
The photo on the left was taken about 10 minutes before I had to abandon the camera and start to look at removing as much as I could from the ground floor of the house. The photo above, same road 10 minutes later as camera and other important stuff arrived on the top floor out of harm’s way. It’s the speed of things that gets you. One minute you’re looking at it thinking, hey, that’s unusual, next minute you’re running for high ground. Luckily for us, although not those across the road, it stopped raining with about half an inch to spare.
It gives new meaning to so many things when you come that close. What items you possess that really matter, what you’re prepared to let go and the advisability of remembering exactly where you put the house insurance certificate.
I’ve also added a new sound to my list of most disconcerting….. that of waves crashing against your front door.
Station Road, Thatcham. This is where the water in the top picture was heading. Taken by Andy Worral
More photos of the village at the height of the problems on BBC Berkshire
Karen responds:
Posted: July 20th, 2007 at 8:46 pm →
I am so glad that the rain stopped when it did. We have had serious flooding here before and I know how frightening that can be. 7 inches is a heck of a lot of rain to get in one time.
Helena S responds:
Posted: July 20th, 2007 at 9:01 pm →
Woah, I can’t imagine how worrying that must be. I’ll count my blessings and never complain again about the rain in Scotland or bemoan living on top of a large hill. Will be thinking of you both and the moggies.
Gui responds:
Posted: July 20th, 2007 at 9:27 pm →
I’m singing in the rain…
Alan responds:
Posted: July 20th, 2007 at 10:08 pm →
Scary Stuff. Hope it all worked out.
Avick
Neweb Ireland
Mike Cherim responds:
Posted: July 21st, 2007 at 6:32 am →
Yucky weather. My condolences. We had flooding in the spring so I know what that’s like.
Wanna hear something funny? I read the title to this post in my RSS feed and what immediately came to my mind was that it was going to be about SPAM
Jaybee responds:
Posted: July 21st, 2007 at 10:36 am →
LOL @Mike. Just shows how we get conditioned to expect certain things.
I have to say we were very lucky. Helena mentioned being on top of a hill. About 5 miles from here there is a village on top of a hill and they are up to their knees in water. It’s not one of the usual river burst type floods, flash floods can get you anywhere.
One guy on the radio last night was trying desperately to get home where his elderly father was wading around their house, up to his armpits, trying to rescue things and get them upstairs. I can only imagine the feeling based on how scared I was watching the water getting closer and closer.
The guy three doors down from me has just installed thousands of pounds worth of solid oak flooring. He decided the best thing to do was seal his front door completely. He figured he was slightly higher than us and would have about an hour before the water reached him, so he got loads of tubes of mastic and squirted it in all the gaps round the door, got some boards, covered those in mastic and screwed them to the back of the door, then put a heater onto it to help it dry fast. Great idea except of course now he can’t get out of the house unless he climbs out of the window. He’s out there now with a utility knife trying to cut away all the mastic.
Nicole responds:
Posted: July 21st, 2007 at 10:53 am →
But if the camber of the road was in the middle, then with any little bit of rain the cars would splash the water up all over the pedestrians and into any open windows in nearby houses!
7 inches in 4 hours! My goodness!
Jaybee responds:
Posted: July 21st, 2007 at 3:43 pm →
@ Nicole. By camber in the middle I mean the road would slope down toward the middle and the drains all run along there, a big V shape if you like. At the moment the middle of the road is higher so all the water runs to the edges and pedestrians are constantly getting soaked by inconsiderate drivers.
It also means that in flood situations The foot paths and houses fill up before the centre of the road which is fine and dandy for cars but not for those wading around in their front room watching the traffic go past outside.
Peter Watts responds:
Posted: July 21st, 2007 at 7:06 pm →
Wow, talk about a close shave, or a close shower. Time to start putting buildings on stilts then.
iQon responds:
Posted: July 21st, 2007 at 10:47 pm →
In a pinch you can make sand bags out of pillow cases and trash bags.
Jaybee responds:
Posted: July 21st, 2007 at 11:52 pm →
@iQon Good point. Pillow cases never occurred to me. I’ve now found a very good source of empty sandbags as we have loads of sand. Army Surplus do them so I’m ordering a load to store in the shed just in case.
I’ve also found a company who fit flood protection to doors. It’s a permanently attached frame and when floods threaten, you slot in UPVC boards which form a watertight seal and you can add as many as you like right up to the top of the door, after which, if it’s that bad you might as well give in.
Only problem is, we live in a Grade 2 listed building which is 500 years old and they don’t like you bolting metal framework onto the walls. Might get away with it at the back but it wasn’t flooding round there.
Jaybee responds:
Posted: July 23rd, 2007 at 12:06 pm →
Seems we’re still on high alert as the water from up country is making its way down the rivers and many are close to bursting. I think, hope, that we’re high enough not to be affected by it but there are so many people who are just getting hit again and again. As soon as the water goes down and they clean up, it comes back again.
ThePickards » Blog Archive » A Reading Roundup responds:
Posted: September 6th, 2007 at 11:53 pm →
[…] getting rather … damp … I felt a little bit embarrassed when she then posted about her flooding experience. Oops. Still, I’ll just pretend I never mentioned anything and she’ll never catch on […]