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River Wey and Wey Navigation flooding at Byfleet

MtB

By MtB
in General Boating

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Leo No2 Rising Star

Leo No2

Posted
Posted

Just had an e-Mail exchange with the Manager of the Wey Navigations.

 

They have all the weirs fully drawn, the two sets of flood gates (Walsham and Worsfold) are closed and he says there is nothing more they can safely do until the levels subside which they will do quite quickly once the rain stops (!). They are concerned that there may be damage to the lock infrastructures caused by the debris flowing down with the flood water which will only become apparent on the lowering of the water levels and a thorough inspection. If you boat on the Wey or are considering venturing up the Wey (a beautiful waterway IMHO) then please do monitor this website - http://riverweyconditionsnt.wordpress.com. It is the place where the National Trust 'keep' their operational data for the navigations as the main NT website is not set up for operational data of this nature.

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adam1uk Experienced

adam1uk

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Some of what they refer to as flooded roads, are actually what the rest of us would call rivers. The Tonbridge photo, for example, captioned "Disappeared: A street in Tonbridge, Kent, is completely overcome by flood water", is a view of the Medway -- with the bridge on the High Street clearly visible.

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Leo No2 Rising Star

Leo No2

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Blimey how did all that rubbish get in the lock?

 

So much for their policy of leaving lock gates OPEN!

 

 

MtB

MtB - remember that Thames lock is on a river section which takes 'all' of the water from the river and canalised sections BUT it does have a lock keeper and it usually has the upper gates closed. There are two big weirs just above Thames lock which should take a lot of the water and debris but I expect they are blocked. Thames lock usually has a fall of 8' 6" but the picture shows a water level about 3' down which I believe indicates the level of the Thames below Shepperton Lock at the time of the picture (so 5' 6" above normal)! I suspect the level of the Thames was probably much higher earlier in the week which is why the bigger logs are on the lock side! Edited by Leo No2
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mark99 Veteran II

mark99

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Do you know I echo sounded part of Shepperton weir and it was 35 foot deep in parts and going deeper (but I was too near the lash to go further). This was 20 odd years ago. (I think it was scoured badly).

Edited by mark99
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Leo No2 Rising Star

Leo No2

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Do you know I echo sounded part of Shepperton weir and it was 35 foot deep in parts and going deeper (but I was too near the lash to go further). This was 20 odd years ago. (I think it was scoured badly).

We call the bit below Shepperton lock and across to the entrance to the Wey the 'washing machine'. I have had a 60' boat just spin through 360 degrees there caused by the outflow from the weir and the flow from the upper weir. With it being that deep in places I am now not surprised it can get so challenging in that area! And that with Yellow stream decreasing boards!

Edited by Leo No2
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mark99 Veteran II

mark99

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We call the bit below Shepperton lock and across to the entrance to the Wey the 'washing machine'. I have had a 60' boat just spin through 360 degrees there caused by the outflow from the weir and the flow from the upper weir. With it being that deep in places I am now not surprised it can get so challenging in that area! And that with Yellow stream decreasing boards!

 

I know most of the Thames around that area and used to regularly go into no go places like weirs with a small 12 foot Dory trail boat which had an echo sounder. Most of the Thames around there is a uniform 10-13 foot deep. Some of the weirs have massive boulders on bottom - which I assume is to try to prevent scour.

 

On a good day, I would drop the anchor fish off the boat and when too hot jump off and swim in the Thames. Took the boat as far as Houses of Parliament.

 

I used the echo sounder to find the old foundations of Staines Bridge - one of the oldest on the Thames - which got washed away.

Edited by mark99
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