Heavy
Rain Brings Flooding to Oxfordshire but Radley escapes
the Worst
[posted
29/07/2007, updated 16/08/2007]
Apres
le deluge.
Rainbow
seen from St James Road in Radley after the downpour
on 20th July.
Exceptionally
heavy rain falling over much of Southern England and
the West Midlands on Friday 20th July caused serious
widespread flooding during the past week. Despite
the Thames flooding parts of Oxford, Radley and Abingdon
downstream escaped the worst effects.
On
Friday 20th July, over 100mm (4 inches) of rain fell
over much of Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Hampshire, Worcestershire,
Gloucestershire and parts of neighbouring counties
causing widespread flash flooding and travel disruption.
Many villages and homes, even if not directly affected,
were cut off from their surroundings. Many people
found they were unable to return home from work that
evening.
By
the following day, most of the water seemed to have
disappeared. Sunshine and a drying breeze soon brought
things back to a semblance of normal for many people.
However 100mm of rain falling over an area of over
10,000 square kilometers is an incredible amount of
water and equates to 1 billion (1,000,000,000) cubic
metres or 1 Teralitre (1 Tl = 1,000,000,000,000 litres)
of water. It all had to have gone somewhere. It had!
(The
total catchment area of the River Thames is 12,936
square kilometers (see www.the-
river - thames .co.uk) a good
proportion of which is in the affected area.)
By
Saturday evening, the minor tributaries of the Thames
were in full spate resembling major rivers in their
own right and many towns and villages across Oxfordshire
suffered severe flooding as a result. In the Cotswolds,
the Windrush overflowed its banks and flooded parts
of Witney and low-lying areas to the south, around
Standlake and Stanton Harcourt. Several villages had
to be evacuated. Further south, the Vale villages
of Charney Basset, Lyford, Garford and West Hanney,
in particular, experienced flooding from the River
Ock and its tributaries.
In
Abingdon, the Ock burst its banks flooding many properties
in its vicinity and turning Ock Street into a lake.
[pictures] Areas
of South Abingdon were particularly badly affected,
including Caldecott Road and adjacent areas.
It
is hardly surprising that, under the pressure of all
this water, the Thames was soon filled to bursting
point and quickly reclaimed its flood plain. In Oxford,
extensive flooding occurred where it had occurred
in 2003, causing property damage in Osney, Botley
Road and Abingdon Road.
Downstream
in Abingdon river levels continued to rise... and,
under the spotlight of the world's media, eventually
stabilised sometime on Tuesday evening without causing
any flooding of property although the meadows, car
parks and sports fields were all flooded. [pictures]
