Flooding of the railway on the Somerset Levels

[brushman47544]

Dredging has a role as part of a systemic approach to managing drainage on the Levels and I hope the Environment Agency will learn from these floods and improve the whole system. But I do think a review of the Planning rules is needed at the same time. I find it incredible that planning consent can be given by Councils for housing development (however drainage friendly it may be) on flood plains when the Environment Agency has recommended the application is refused.

[TheQ]

I think that at 100 Million , there will be meetings , discussions planning equiries,  and it will get slowly dropped. all you'll get is some dredging.

The Q

[Rods_of_Revolution]

The issue comes from urbanisation. What naturally happens is that water lands on the ground and is soaked up, traveling through soil and permeable rock below to collect underground, forming the water table. Rivers, lakes etc simplistically speaking are where the water table level is, though most of the water table is just saturated earth below ground, where the ground level goes below the water table you get a river or a lake. When water falls on fields etc it is absorbed by the ground, the soil and permeable rock retards the progress of the water on its way to the water table.

 

In urban areas there is concrete, asphalt, roofs of buildings etc. When water hits these surfaces it is not absorbed like it is by fields, instead it is channeled into the drains and receives a fast track down, ultimately, to the rivers.

 

The issue is when urbanization occurs, no thought is given to where all the water goes beyond the immediate area. Rivers should be widened, deepened and straightened to cope with the increased flow due to urbanization. Canals and ditches should be designed and built to control the flow of water from urban areas and either fast track it to the sea, or control the feed rate into the main rivers.

 

Will any of this happen? Probably not, because it costs too much money. You'd be talking about building many canals, drains, ditches and reservoirs, raising the level of key access roads and building additional flood defenses, all of which is expensive and time consuming. For an issue that effects 5000 or so homes in Somerset, it's unlikely that expense can be justified. Of the 1 million or so people in Somerset, about 25,000 people experienced flooding, that equates to 2.5% of the population of that one county.

 

Considering that the NHS effects over 90% of the whole country, yet is having its budget cut, what chance do 2.5% of the population in just one county have of getting a budget increase of any amount?

 

The solution is probably to allow the flooding to keep happening, the cost of flooding can be absorbed by the local and national economy year on year. People and businesses will gradually leave the areas prone to flooding which will in time reduce the economic impact of the flooding. New build homes in the area could perhaps be built on stilts, it may sound comical but it's a very good solution if councils insist on allowing flood plain construction.

 

That's my take anyway!

 

Cheers,

 

Jack

 

 

[Ron Ron Ron]

Yesterday...

 

http://www.networkrail.co.uk/assets/0/72/4294967297/2147483713/30064774313/7c842b62-ae34-476c-9d21-e766962a176b.jpg

 

http://www.networkrail.co.uk/assets/0/72/4294967297/2147483713/30064774313/4acdb380-6d2a-4ced-84ca-a24a638d266b.jpg

 

http://www.networkrail.co.uk/assets/0/72/4294967297/2147483713/30064774313/b71ca7c1-0ad9-4b6f-bcef-ac66d6b12cb2.jpg

 

 

 

 

.

[The Stationmaster]

The 'problem' with the Somerset Levels is that they are an area of managed drainage which has been created by centuries of creating and improving artificial methods of water flow control etc.  If you cease to maintain that system then the area will suffer flooding in times of heavy, let alone severe, rainfall.  Similarly the longer you leave the system un, or under, maintained the more it will cost to put it right and the odds are that the effect of flooding will worsen year-on-year, all other things being equal.

 

What has happened there is that the drainage system has not been maintained and as a result major transport links (let alone houses built where they shouldn't have been built) have suffered dislocation and total closure.  I'm sorry but I don't care how much it costs - if you are going to have a managed drainage system it needs to be maintained and cutting a few top posts and salaries at the Environment Agency would help to start to pay for it.

 

The Thames Valley is a totally different scenario because here, notwithstanding the effect of the Maidenhead Relief Channel (the Jubilee Channel) basically all that has flooded is flood plain - in other words land flooded where nature intended it to flood and anyone who lived on it or built on it should be as aware of that as the Edwardians were when they built large riverside houses on top of brick arches or the Elizabethans - Victorians were when they built cottages with stone flag or tiled floor and hooks in ceiling beams - to between them allow easy clean up and heavy items to be hoisted clear of the rising water.  I'm sorry but if people are daft enough to live there - alongside old flood marks from 1947 or 1894 - and ignore nature that is their lookout (and a very big part of the reason I didn't buy a house on Thames floodplain back in 1978 in a spot which had been dry for a good 15 years but which has flooded 3 times since the late 1990s).

[Platform 1]

Flooding around the Athelney route has been commonplace for years

 

Like this oddly familiar scene from 1929.

[Dagworth]

Re-opening Monday it would seem.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-26504066

 

 

Andi

[Captain Kernow]

Yes, Andi, this is correct. I've only just been able to log back on, after our router here at Kernow Towers failed on Friday afternoon!

 

The railway will reopen at 0600 hrs tomorrow morning, with restricted signalling over two signal sections in the Up direction and one signal maintained at danger in the down (but otherwise the signalling in the down direction is working normally - the badly flooded location cabinets were connected with the Up line, rather than the down). An emergency speed restriction will apply over the area of line affected by flooding pending further inspections etc.

[APOLLO]

Ever been to Thailand ?

 

All traditional (old) houses are built on stilts, for both flooding and hot weather under floor ventilation.

 

 

Of course, like the UK, too many recently built Thai properties (both housing & commercial) are built on a concrete raft at ground level, and flood, as we saw 3 years ago. The whole of Bangkok is a flood plain, but they just keep building, building & building, sealing up the surface, old wetlands etc and make the problem worse. Just like here in the UK.

 

In both the UK & Thailand it seems usually the newer properties that flood. Old churches etc were usually built on hills, especially in Somerset.

 

Agree with above, cost for flood defences is too much for small communities. Money better spent rebuilding higher / re housing people worst affected.

 

Flooding doesn't affect Thai railways much !!!

 

 

Brit15

[Dunsignalling]

 

 

 New build homes in the area could perhaps be built on stilts, it may sound comical but it's a very good solution if councils insist on allowing flood plain construction.

 

 

Jack

Good Idea, but the stilts should be a condition of getting planning permission in such areas.

 

The problem is that, to many local authorities, the really important equation is: more houses=more council tax-payers.

 

If people aren't put off buying by stilts, it would at least indicate that they were going into the situation with their eyes open.

 

My guess is that developers wouldn't be willing to absorb the cost of adding a feature to their houses that might adversely affect the selling prices. Thus, the problem of flood plain development might be solved more easily than we could possibly have imagined.

 

John

[ZiderHead]

Like this oddly familiar scene from 1929.

 

That must be photoshopped because like the local MP said back in January …

 

This never flooded to this level ever in living memory, and we've got people who have been here for a long time. If you look back into the mists of time you don't have this.

 

[raymw]

The 1929 photo, doesn't seem to have covered the tracks, plus I guess there were not so many houses on the flood plain back then. Wrt stilts, Sam Notaro, who hurriedly built the banks round his house to stop his house being inundated, afaik originally wanted to build the house on a higher platform, but Sedgemoor planning (an oxymoron) refused permission. Of course, he has the same family name as the builders who have built a lot of houses around here, on flood plains, etc, on normal foundations, so maybe a sort of rough justice.

 

They've been carting away the sandbags from around the villages in the last few days, they'll only have to bring them back in a few month's time, I expect. Before then the most that will have happened, is that a few miles of river will have been dredged, maybe a bit of thought but little action into maintaining a few pumps, but it isn't going to do anything much to reduce flooding. The inactivity in maintaining the rivers and drains, etc. is all part of the scheme to reduce the viability of farming in this country.

 

Best wishes,

 

Ray

[Gwiwer]

One major blockage all but cleared then.  Good news.  And with Dawlish due back on line (pun intended) in around three weeks we are getting back towards a semblance of normality.

[lmsforever]

In Abingdon just behind the river frontage upstream of the bridge several houses are built on stilts but no others in the area,never seen the water up as far as these houses but have seen the road into the town flooded here.Noted in the report by the government that they are to establish river boards again ,why were they done away with in the first place?

[Captain Kernow]

The railway is now reopened as of 0500 hrs this morning...

[Gwiwer]

The railway is now reopened as of 0500 hrs this morning...

That gets a Craftsmanship because there simply isn't anything better to award which is appropriate in the circumstances.  Some of the delay has simply been waiting for Nature to take her course.  For the remaining work we are very grateful to the army of those who work night and day to repair damage and to  ensure things are safe and satisfactory on our railways.

 

Not sure what I'm going to award when Dawlish reopens - perhaps an icon with a crossed track spanner and pasty?

[82C]

The railway is now reopened as of 0500 hrs this morning...

I was doing pretty well out of RDW from the closure, oh well had to open some time I suppose.

 

82C

[10800]

They've been carting away the sandbags from around the villages in the last few days, they'll only have to bring them back in a few month's time, I expect. Before then the most that will have happened, is that a few miles of river will have been dredged, maybe a bit of thought but little action into maintaining a few pumps, but it isn't going to do anything much to reduce flooding. The inactivity in maintaining the rivers and drains, etc. is all part of the scheme to reduce the viability of farming in this country.

 

 

Unless you know a way to reduce rainfall there will always be flooding risk whatever 'action' is taken.  As for the last sentence, cockup is always a better bet than conspiracy.

[Fat Controller]

In Abingdon just behind the river frontage upstream of the bridge several houses are built on stilts but no others in the area,never seen the water up as far as these houses but have seen the road into the town flooded here.Noted in the report by the government that they are to establish river boards again ,why were they done away with in the first place?

Without getting too political, the River Boards were an easy target for governments who wanted to be seen to be 'cutting red tape' and 'reducing the number of civil servants'; similar policies were probably responsible for the BSE and Foot and Mouth epidemics.

[D1059]

The 'problem' with the Somerset Levels is that they are an area of managed drainage which has been created by centuries of creating and improving artificial methods of water flow control etc.  If you cease to maintain that system then the area will suffer flooding in times of heavy, let alone severe, rainfall.  Similarly the longer you leave the system un, or under, maintained the more it will cost to put it right and the odds are that the effect of flooding will worsen year-on-year, all other things being equal.

 

What has happened there is that the drainage system has not been maintained and as a result major transport links (let alone houses built where they shouldn't have been built) have suffered dislocation and total closure.  I'm sorry but I don't care how much it costs - if you are going to have a managed drainage system it needs to be maintained and cutting a few top posts and salaries at the Environment Agency would help to start to pay for it.

 

The Thames Valley is a totally different scenario because here, notwithstanding the effect of the Maidenhead Relief Channel (the Jubilee Channel) basically all that has flooded is flood plain - in other words land flooded where nature intended it to flood and anyone who lived on it or built on it should be as aware of that as the Edwardians were when they built large riverside houses on top of brick arches or the Elizabethans - Victorians were when they built cottages with stone flag or tiled floor and hooks in ceiling beams - to between them allow easy clean up and heavy items to be hoisted clear of the rising water.  I'm sorry but if people are daft enough to live there - alongside old flood marks from 1947 or 1894 - and ignore nature that is their lookout (and a very big part of the reason I didn't buy a house on Thames floodplain back in 1978 in a spot which had been dry for a good 15 years but which has flooded 3 times since the late 1990s).

 

Quite - and now there is increased demand for the Oxford relief channel to be built - great news for Oxford if it becomes reality, I suspect less welcomed downstream in places like Abingdon, Wallingford, Pangbourne, and Purley

 

Abingdon was allegedly sacrificed in the summer 2007 floods, when all the sluices in Oxford were opened to reduce flooding there - the result, the worst floods in Abingdon in living memory when the already swollen River Ock had nowhere to dump its water into. A relief channel will have the same, permanent, effect

[Banger Blue]

Quite - and now there is increased demand for the Oxford relief channel to be built - great news for Oxford if it becomes reality, I suspect less welcomed downstream in places like Abingdon, Wallingford, Pangbourne, and Purley

 

Abingdon was allegedly sacrificed in the summer 2007 floods, when all the sluices in Oxford were opened to reduce flooding there - the result, the worst floods in Abingdon in living memory when the already swollen River Ock had nowhere to dump its water into. A relief channel will have the same, permanent, effect

 

Indeed it is, they've been airing their views to the Oxford Mail:

 

http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/11026690.___Don_t_put_other_places_at_risk_just_to_protect_Oxford_from_flooding___/

[TheSignalEngineer]

Quite - and now there is increased demand for the Oxford relief channel to be built - great news for Oxford if it becomes reality, I suspect less welcomed downstream in places like Abingdon, Wallingford, Pangbourne, and Purley

 

Abingdon was allegedly sacrificed in the summer 2007 floods, when all the sluices in Oxford were opened to reduce flooding there - the result, the worst floods in Abingdon in living memory when the already swollen River Ock had nowhere to dump its water into. A relief channel will have the same, permanent, effect

What's really needed is a few more bends in the river to slow it down and increase capacity. The severity of flooding in the Deep South of the USA a few years ago was put down at least in part to 'improvements' to the Mississippi which had shortened it by about 100 miles. You can get a lot of water in that length of river. 

[Oldddudders]

Don't rivers enjoy straightening themselves? Isn't that why last century's meanders become this century's oxbow lake?

[locoholic]

Don't rivers enjoy straightening themselves? Isn't that why last century's meanders become this century's oxbow lake?

 

No - definitely not! If you see a straight channel it's almost 100% certain to be man-made. Even water flowing down a window pane doesn't go in a straight line. It's a long time since I did hydrology in my MSc, but I remember that flow in channels is very complex and hard to model, and any irregularities get amplified, giving you a nice bendy river, especially where the gradient is shallow and the river is looking to dump sediment.

[The Stationmaster]

What's really needed is a few more bends in the river to slow it down and increase capacity. The severity of flooding in the Deep South of the USA a few years ago was put down at least in part to 'improvements' to the Mississippi which had shortened it by about 100 miles. You can get a lot of water in that length of river. 

The Thames is already a series of big bends - which curve round its various flood plains - and when it rises sufficiently the flood plains take the excess water.  If they're not there to do that it simply means that more water heads downstream to find the next bit of floodplain.  At present there are considerable areas around Oxford which flood and absorb and slow down the flood water but it still builds up downstream.  If those areas don't flood the water has t go somewhere else and it will find the easiest route.

 

What has happened near here is that water from the flooding has remained, thus far, in various old ditches and channels which 'cut the corner' in various places and which will grow if they get some help when the real seasonal floods arrive (although I doubt there will be much of that this spring) as the river is now dropping fast.