I have put up a couple of posts on other threads, but as it is a developing situation, I thought I would start a separate thread.
When we moved here 20 years ago the village had no reputation for flooding. There had been floods in 1895 and 1947, but these had seen exceptional floods countrywide. Then in 2007 Wales, Gloucestershire and the northern Home counties found themselves caught in, what we were later told was, the 1,000 rain event, nothing to do with global warming. The village was flooded, including about 40 houses. It recovered and we all considered it was a one off and we would need to wait another 50 years for the next flood.
Its 2014. There has over the last two or three months been excessive rain. When I woke this morning (I am an early riser) I opened the curtains and my eye was caught by the street lights which seemed to be glimmering and reflecting off the road surface. I looked again and realised it was water. I nipped out to the front gate in my dressing gown and the water stretched as far up the road as I could see.
Once I was dressed and it was light I went out with my camera. There are four streets in the village running laterally for up to a mile from the main road. They are all flooded, from a few inches to well over a foot. Thankfully most of the roads lie below the level of the houses but 5 houses already have water coming in. Others are managing to hold it off with sandbags at garden gates. Although it has not rained since 6.00am the water has not gone down and with more rain forecast for the weekend we expect it to rise further. We are meant to be above any flood level. It would have to rise nearly 2 foot to reach us, but one of our neighbours who was flooded in 2007 in a different house has moved all papers and books off the bottom shelf of her bookcases.
The one thing the water has done is activate a real camaraderie between people in the village. The school is shut and parents and children and the rest of the village are all out and about chatting to each other.
