Flooding

[Scholar Gypsy]

4 hours ago, Naughty Cal said:

Lower Witham is now semi tidal. 

 

Backs up when the tidal Witham is higher than the non tidal,  then rushes out when the tidal is lower. Not helped by the Boston barrier works in the tidal river currently holding water back.

There was about 3-4' variation on each tide when we were stuck there in June. OK for the boats on the pontoons (though the water point disappeared under water once) but no fun at all for the boats moored nearer to the lock.

[Slim]

Nothing on the scale of whats happening further north but the level just north of Cropredy (South Oxford) rose overnight. In Cropredy marina I awoke at about 4am listing. Went out and eased my lines to the fixed jetty and boat levelled. Guess the port side had been about  5 " down (significant due to exceptional circs). Eased the lines on a couple of neighbouring boats, looked around but no other boats seemed in distress. Dozed in a chair for rest of night . About 7 am someone, don't know who yet, came by checking moorings. He told me he'd been out since 4 am checking/easing lines. Whoever he is, Cropredy moorers owe him their thanks.

In the meanwhile it seems all boaþs in the marina are safe. 

At 7am the water about an inch below the jetty woodwork.

 

Frank

[Boater Sam]

2 hours ago, Slim said:

Nothing on the scale of whats happening further north but the level just north of Cropredy (South Oxford) rose overnight. In Cropredy marina I awoke at about 4am listing. Went out and eased my lines to the fixed jetty and boat levelled. Guess the port side had been about  5 " down (significant due to exceptional circs). Eased the lines on a couple of neighbouring boats, looked around but no other boats seemed in distress. Dozed in a chair for rest of night . About 7 am someone, don't know who yet, came by checking moorings. He told me he'd been out since 4 am checking/easing lines. Whoever he is, Cropredy moorers owe him their thanks.

In the meanwhile it seems all boaþs in the marina are safe. 

At 7am the water about an inch below the jetty woodwork.

 

Frank

I imagine Banbury is a bit deep and the Cherwell in torrent.

[Up-Side-Down]

29 minutes ago, Boater Sam said:

I imagine Banbury is a bit deep and the Cherwell in torrent.

With no distinction twixt canal and river further south!

[Alway Swilby]

On 10/11/2019 at 11:08, Up-Side-Down said:

With no distinction twixt canal and river further south!

Talking of Oxford has anyone ever seen the Castle Mill stream (opposite College Cruisers) or Isis lock overflow into the canal ? The lock is only about 8" deep at the moment.

[MoominPapa]

2 hours ago, Alway Swilby said:

Talking of Oxford has anyone ever seen the Castle Mill stream (opposite College Cruisers) or Isis lock overflow into the canal ? The lock is only about 8" deep at the moment.

Blimey! It'll be in the Snork Maiden's back garden at this rate.

 

MP.

 

[Victor Vectis]

The Oxford certainly looked full from the M40 yesterday.

[Momac]

On ‎05‎/‎11‎/‎2019 at 14:48, MHS said:

The Trent will sadly be up quite for a while yet. It’s raining upstream for the foreseeable future. 

The forecast s and your prediction has proved correct .

I don't think you will be going  to Torksey any time soon.

 

 

[Peter X]

Ee, it's grim up north. Looks pretty awful. And a bit grim everywhere else at the moment really. People have mentioned the South Oxford getting too much water from the Cherwell, and there are CRT notices about that. Also, I see on the EA website that the whole non-tidal Thames is on red boards now, and we know from another topic that the Wey is breached just above Guildford. Jeremy Corbyn, looking for votes in Yorkshire the other day, said that if that flooding had happened in Surrey the government would have done more about it, but have they? I suspect that every seat in and around Guildford will elect a Conservative regardless of party policies about flood defences on the Wey.

[MHS]

The flow at West Stockwith appears to be one way only. Strange to watch as when the tide is coming in, the flow is still going out like the clappers as the water rises. 

 

We want to head through to Newark and onto the Coventry Canal. Torksey was just a stopover if it was needed. Looks like 30th Nov / 1st Dec now our next target. There are a few boats now hoping to make the trip. Could be a busy day on the river. 

[peterboat]

54 minutes ago, Peter X said:

Ee, it's grim up north. Looks pretty awful. And a bit grim everywhere else at the moment really. People have mentioned the South Oxford getting too much water from the Cherwell, and there are CRT notices about that. Also, I see on the EA website that the whole non-tidal Thames is on red boards now, and we know from another topic that the Wey is breached just above Guildford. Jeremy Corbyn, looking for votes in Yorkshire the other day, said that if that flooding had happened in Surrey the government would have done more about it, but have they? I suspect that every seat in and around Guildford will elect a Conservative regardless of party policies about flood defences on the Wey.

They did flood defense work after the last flood, waste of time,  dredging would help and less houses on flood plains would work better still 

[Momac]

2 hours ago, MHS said:

The flow at West Stockwith appears to be one way only. Strange to watch as when the tide is coming in, the flow is still going out like the clappers as the water rises. 

 

 

I  have  never seen that but can imagine .

 

 

I have certainly done all the way from West Stockwith to Newark in a day but that’s when the tide makes the river romp uphill . I normally visit West Stockwith when its springs. Usually getting 3 knots of free fuel going up hill at first and gradually dropping off with distance travelled. Often the tide doesn’t quite reach Cromwell so the last few miles seem slow.

However that’s in a seaworthy cruiser and , even though we may be we going slow the entire journey,  our  definition of slow its still 5 or 6  knots through the water so significantly  faster than any narrowboat.

 

In ordinary conditions I would say a stop and rest overnight waiting for the next tide  at Torksey or perhaps at  the pontoon at Dunham Bridge might be the best way to go in a narrowboat. That way you will save fuel too if you time it right.

 

As you describe it at the moment it’s obviously a no go, and would be so even in a more powerful craft. However west Stockwith seems to me as good a place as any to be stuck.

 

 

 

[cheshire~rose]

It is not only us that's had it bad. 

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-50401308

 

The Acqua Alta came arrived in Venice as usual except it was higher than usual and although they are used to and geared up for water that covers the pavements in most of the city the tide reached a 50 year high last night. 

 

We often have a rotating view of Venetian webcams on our TV throughout the year, it was something Dave found before we visited back in May. When we went there we sought out the location of each of the webcams (yes I know, it;s a bit sad, but it was interesting to place where the view was that we had been watching.) He flicked to that channel last night to see the place in darkness with a power outage that seemed to be affecting the entire city. Several of the cameras were down as you might expect and others showed police boats busy with blue flashing lights all over the place and a LOT of water where there is usually none. 

 

This morning we could see vaporetto had drifted onto the paved areas before the water receded leaving them at a very dodgy angle. Dave managed to find some live feed of them attempting the refloating of them. It felt odd seeing one of the vessels I can identify as one we traveled on sitting at a precarious angle with a crane on a floating pomtoon supporting it while another crane was brought across the lagoon to assist. 

 

Meanwhile I hope everyone in areas already affected by flooding escape the worst of tomorrow's forecast rain:

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/2633551

[MHS]

17 minutes ago, MartynG said:

I have certainly done all the way from West Stockwith to Newark in a day but that’s when the tide makes the river romp uphill . I normally visit West Stockwith when its springs. Usually getting 3 knots of free fuel going up hill at first and gradually dropping off with distance travelled. Often the tide doesn’t quite reach Cromwell so the last few miles seem slow.

However that’s in a seaworthy cruiser and , even though we may be we going slow the entire journey,  our  definition of slow its still 5 or 6  knots through the water so significantly  faster than any narrowboat.

We have done West Stockwith to Cromwell previously in around 6 hours in one go. 

Our narrowboat can do more than 6 knots through the water when it’s deep enough. We managed that on the Weaver which has virtually no flow. 

[Alan de Enfield]

1 hour ago, MHS said:

Our narrowboat can do more than 6 knots through the water when it’s deep enough. We managed that on the Weaver which has virtually no flow

 

 

If you are measuring the speed thru the water any flow (either with or against you) is irrelevant. 

[Naughty Cal]

5 hours ago, MHS said:

The flow at West Stockwith appears to be one way only. Strange to watch as when the tide is coming in, the flow is still going out like the clappers as the water rises. 

 

We want to head through to Newark and onto the Coventry Canal. Torksey was just a stopover if it was needed. Looks like 30th Nov / 1st Dec now our next target. There are a few boats now hoping to make the trip. Could be a busy day on the river. 

We have seen the flow like that previously which is why I said in a previous post you would be in for a long slog upstream.

 

Wouldn't fancy it in a narrowboat as it was bad enough with NC!

[MHS]

 

41 minutes ago, Naughty Cal said:

We have seen the flow like that previously which is why I said in a previous post you would be in for a long slog upstream.

 

Wouldn't fancy it in a narrowboat as it was bad enough with NC!

One boat moving upstream today. Think it might have been Trisantonia that moors near Owston. 

1 hour ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

 

If you are measuring the speed thru the water any flow (either with or against you) is irrelevant. 

But if there’s no flow, you can confirm your speed over the water, as it’s the same as over the ground. 

Edited November 13, 2019 by MHS

[noddyboater]

1 hour ago, Naughty Cal said:

We have seen the flow like that previously which is why I said in a previous post you would be in for a long slog upstream.

 

Wouldn't fancy it in a narrowboat as it was bad enough with NC!

We once had the pleasure of going from Stockwith to Torksey with the tide going the “wrong” way due to a lot of fresh on. It took over 4 hours instead of the usual 2. The worst part was exiting the lock and being pushed downstream before I could turn against it and make some headway. 

I always make a point of keeping something in reserve but I think at one point the old Gardner could have nudged 900rpm! 

[Mac of Cygnet]

7 hours ago, MHS said:

The flow at West Stockwith appears to be one way only. Strange to watch as when the tide is coming in, the flow is still going out like the clappers as the water rises. 

 

. 

 

It was exactly like that when we were stuck on the Chesterfield for 6 weeks in 2007.  And another 2 weeks at Torksey waiting for the flood gates to open after getting a tow from a much more powerful boat, with my engine going full belt as well.  However, that was in July, if I remember rightly.........

[matty40s]

I expect the Nene to go silly today with the overnight and continuing deluge,  along with the Upper Avon and Great Ouse.

[robtheplod]

As a newbie am I right in thinking most canals would be ok here as they have overflows - assuming where they are overflowing is not flooded?  Most notices seem to be of rivers...

[matty40s]

1 minute ago, robtheplod said:

As a newbie am I right in thinking most canals would be ok here as they have overflows - assuming where they are overflowing is not flooded?  Most notices seem to be of rivers...

The canals are ok until the rivers they are next to, or fed by break their banks. 

The embankments and cuttings are also ok until the ground becomes completely saturated and starts to shift/flow.

[roland elsdon]

29 minutes ago, matty40s said:

The canals are ok until the rivers they are next to, or fed by break their banks. 

The embankments and cuttings are also ok until the ground becomes completely saturated and starts to shift/flow.

I remember boats put on the towpath on the oxford a number of years ago. That’s a heck of a level rise given the pound length. However given the leaks I suspect the opposite would now happen and an embankment would breach instead. There has been an embankment patched with plastic and sandbag below priors hardwick for a couple of years now, ready to pop.

It’s certainly hurling it down in Northamptonshire this morning.

[JohnB]

The Nene has been "silly" for the last fortnight, the stretch above Orton is well up and there is only 5ft or so clear under the gate at Alwalton lock!

It seems that they have been clearing the upper reaches to make room for this band of weather.

 

[MoominPapa]

1 hour ago, roland elsdon said:

I remember boats put on the towpath on the oxford a number of years ago.

Our Oxford correspondent sends this picture of Isis lock this morning. I wonder if the river is coming over Dukes cut lock and feeding the canal?

 

MP.