The Gray Monk

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January 22, 2008

High tide again

The tides are rising again around us in Tewkesbury, but, despite all the media panic this is our normal winter flooding. Nothing special, nothing like as high as it got in July and unlikely to get anywhere near that level. Yes, we are taking precautions, and yes, we are watching the rising water, but it is very different to what happened in July. Then the waters rose in the space of a few hours across the back of the town, filling the flood plains and covering the Vineyards park behind the Abbey - and that was the run off from the Cotswolds through the two small streams that bracket the town, the Swilgate and the Carrant Brook.

That initial flood from our two streams in July could not dissipate because the Avon came down in flood after the cloud burst dumped out over Warwickshire - and that was followed three days later by the Severn joining the party. That is what gave us the spectacular water levels.

This flooding is the normal run-off coming down the Severn from the Welsh Hills and North Wales. Yes, it is high and it is, obviously affected by the fact that the ground is still saturated from the July inundations. But for most of us it is no more than the inconvenience of having to take a longer than normal route when we want to walk to town. Mind you, I suppose I could get my high waders out and take the short route through Gander Lane, unlike the situation in July there is no more than four feet there now. In July it was more like eight feet. Such is the difference in the levels and the events.

For most of us its "business as usual" unlike the East Coast which does have a problem.

Posted by The Gray Monk at January 22, 2008 08:08 AM

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Comments

Posted by: Ian Walthew at January 22, 2008 09:15 AM