I'd planned to go to an Antique Fair just for a look around on Sunday but when I looked out of the window at 8am and the water was running down the hill completely across the road I changed my mind. It had obviously been raining all night and sure to be flooded again here and in many places on the back roads between me and Woodbridge.
And sure enough when it stopped raining and I wandered down the road to look it was like this. AGAIN! Cars were going through very slowly and this is the shallowest part, it gets deeper further along where the water is running down off the main road as well as out of the river.
There was an hour or so dry and then at 2pm it started raining again. This is getting silly!
Hope I can get over to the coast to visit YD and EGD later in the week as it's half-term here so a chance to see them but it's a cross country journey and many spots that often flood.
Later in the day Son rang up to say they had gone out, through a deep unexpected flood that they couldn't see as they turned off the main road onto a small side road and their car had promptly stopped and will possibly be written off! Oh my goodness. And thank goodness for BiL and his 4WD truck who rescued them after a frantic phone call from son to his uncle when the RAC said they don't rescue people from floods!
There were several photos on the local facebook group pages of many villages and roads that were flooded in the area. Some are spots that have always flooded (often called Wash Lane!) but many are places that flood where new houses have been built making lots of extra run-off. Years ago all farmers would have had their men clearing the ditches each autumn, now most farmers don't have farm workers.
Oh my gosh! Wise move to stay put. I hope it stops raining soon. That is one positive thing about social media: hazard and emergency warnings get shared around in very short order. I hope your son's car is fixable.
ReplyDeleteHe is still waiting to find out about their car. Most of the flooding has receded again - but more rain forecast
DeleteWhat a horrible thing to happen. At least they are all right, even if the car isn't. What have we done to our planet? The warnings started forty years ago and we did not listen.
ReplyDeleteActually, the worst flooding that I have seen in 60+ years was in the late 1960s, when it took my brother nearly 10 hours to go just 15 miles having to make detour after detour to avoid flooded roads and washed away bridges. And a spell in the early 1970s when we lost track of how many days it seemed to have been raining. I think that sometimes we forget just how variable the English weather can be
DeleteI'm just hoping for a long hot summer!
DeleteLike 1976? I'd just moved onto a new house that year, and was desperately trying to make a garden out of rock hard clay and builders rubble! There was another in I think 2002 or 2003 - we were having an extension built and were keeping finger crossed that the fine spell would last until the work was completed, and it did.
DeleteI'm inclined to agree about weather patterns being variable. I'll call myself a bit of a global-warming sceptic. In the past we just had "very wet weather", "possible snow", "a long settled spell of warm weather" - now we have panic button warnings set out to scare. We've had a wet winter here in Wales, but then we often get the weather from the west, and yes, it'll be wet! We're used to it. Field run-off was a problem when we lived at Ynyswen as the lane up the hill above us was rock-cut and in torrential rain, the lane would turn into a river.
ReplyDeleteSorry you weren't able to get out to the Antiques Fair but you did the right thing by the sound of it. Sorry your son's car is probably written off. You never know how deep the water is until too late.
They had already avoided two floods and then ran straight into another.
DeleteIt has started flooding outside my home (just outside Woodbridge) since they built two new houses opposite me. Is that just a coincidence I wonder?
ReplyDeleteOn the new big estates they put in water catchment ponds but when it's just a couple of houses the run off just adds to the problem
DeleteSo sorry about your son's experience. It's pretty bad in places around here too.
ReplyDeleteMore rain forecast again -seems it's been raining all winter
DeleteWe are getting lots of cycle lanes where no cyclists are ever seen. The newest one is about 100 yards, complete with a three foot zebra crossing and lots of signs. It has not been used. A waste of money.
ReplyDeleteWe had dozens of road humps installed in recent years, another huge waste of money, and agony for people with back pain. The local minibus company had to stop as passengers were bounced off their seats.
And the road surfaces and pot holes get worse every year because there is no money, and very little common sense.
The road mending team sat in their lorries all day in the rain watching a pot hole which has taken half of the road surface away on a dangerous bend. It is still there.
Another pot hole has its own set of traffic lights.
The superficial repairs don’t last.
It is not just the new housing on unsuitable land, but all of the front gardens turned into concrete car parks and the rain water flowing off them and running down the street, flooding houses which have never been flooded before.
We have pot holes everywhere and the rain makes them worse.
DeleteGosh, now that is a lot of water and very sensible of you not to risk going out in it. Your poor son, I had no idea that the RAC and no doubt the AA too, didn't rescue people's car from floods!
ReplyDeleteThere is yet another new housing estate being built near to us in a field just off the main A6, we both commented as soon as the advertising boards went up that the field it is being built on has been flooded every year for the last five or six years and we wouldn't dream of buying a house there. Yesterday we drove past it and the building site was under at least a foot of water ... it doesn't inspire confidence in the yet to be built houses does it!
They are still waiting to hear what the insurance assessor says about the car. I bet they won't have photos of the flooding on the house sales leaflets!
DeleteEven with all our hills in West Wales we still have some areas affected, either by tidal rivers which, combined with heavy rainfall, can cause flooding, or by idiot planners allowing building on flood plains. It has rained heavily here for months, and our garden is sodden, even though we are on a hill and drainage is normally good. It's going to be a rush to catch up when (if?) it ever does ease off.
ReplyDeleteMy garden is so wet, I'm only walking on the grass to fetch the birdfeeders!
DeleteHow miserable to be isolated by floods yet again. No doubt in the summer we will be bemoaning the lack of rain.
ReplyDeleteI think people will moan if there is a hosepipe ban!
DeleteA bit of a shock all round, thank goodness for your BiL. The early harvest around here allowed the farmers to clear all the ditches in good time for the autumn rains, just as well because this is a watery area and the pub is often in danger of flooding...as you can imagine, that gets lots of volunteers out to man the pumps and do the bailing!
ReplyDeleteVery frightening for the two grandchildren who thought they were going to be in the car all night!. Most of the flooding has gone again but yet more rain forecast
DeleteLand husbandry like cleaning drains and ditches and not building on flood plains would prevent a lot of flooding.
ReplyDeleteThere is so much run off from fields too .
DeleteSorry to hear about your sons car , that's not great to hear that the RAC don't help out flood stranded motorists.
ReplyDeleteI hope it clears down your way soon, a real pain for you.
Alison in Wales x
I couldn't understand the RAC either - maybe they didn't want to help as it was a Sunday and too wet!
DeleteDon't chance it, Sue! My minivan was written off years ago when I drove through a puddle that I didn't know was too deep. It stopped in the middle and the water was coming over my feet when a man and his son came to push me out. The van was declared totaled. It was so scary for me that I never drive in puddles at all now! Stay safe!
ReplyDeleteThe flood in your photo looks like a lake! That has to be deep water especially in the middle. How scary to be in the car surrounded by water and the engine stops. Plus, no help from officials is outrageous. Thank goodness for your BIL and his ability to rescue your son and his family.
ReplyDeleteFlooded roadways are not something to drive through without a care. You made a good choice staying home.
ReplyDeleteLots of rain here too but nothing like that! Hope your son gets his car sorted and thank goodness for his uncle. Catriona
ReplyDeleteWe have several new housing estates being built near here. They are on plinths to protect them from water. I am wondering what will happen next time we get a lot of rain.
ReplyDeleteOh, no - I hope things sort out OK.
ReplyDeleteAnd it is raining again this morning (Wednesday). xx
Definitely an oh UGGER moment..., if we do get a cold snap just think how the ground could freeze solid in it's sodden state.
ReplyDelete