The River Wild
The River Ribble is not a pretty chocolate-box river - she is beautiful, wild and free, her moods changing from calm to stormy in hours...
This isn't the sea on a stormy Winter's day, it's the River Ribble, in spate and flowing between Preston and Penwortham to the sea...
These pictures were taken today, 18th January 07, from high tide until 2 hours later...
...walking downriver from Priory Park in Penwortham - where huge waves were whipped into spray by the high winds...
... and it was difficult to believe that the tide had been going OUT for over an hour at this point...
... walking back upriver over an hour later, by Liverpool Road Bridge the surface was more calm but flowing down towards the sea at high speed, drowning the riverside footpath here near the allotments...
... and Broadgate sails by as the Ribble speeds on her way to the sea...
...and trees are carried down towards the sea on the Ribble's spate waters at high speed...
... and Leyland Rd is very close indeed, here near the Bridge Inn...
... the Riverside footpath on the Penwortham side has disappeared altogether under the flood waters...
- careful with that poop scoop -
...the bench usually overlooks the Ribble here, set back from the river's edge by several metres, but today it is swamped by the spate waters, despite high tide being 2 hours earlier...
... to compare with low tide and little rain a couple of weeks earlier, these joggers are passing the same benches...
- the high rainfall and high river level means the water table rises -
- including on Margaret Rd, but luckily the spate waters will drain down to the sea in a matter of hours, allowing the water table to subside too...
... the drains backing up and spraying water out are an impressive sight (but only if not in your kitchen or back garden!)...
Long Live the Ribble Wild!
savetheribble@tiscali.co.uk
Labels: flash floods, flooding, floodplain housing, River, Riverworks
posted by Atlantic Salmon @ 3:42 pm
3 Comments:
God knows what would have happened had the Riverworks Barrage and the 4000 houses that Preston City Council want to put in the Ribble floodplain already been built - any barrier between all that floodwater and the open sea would have been disastrous - luckily the waters could flow straight outwards.
The river did outflow it's banks, but onto green fields and allotments, which soaked up the waters like a sponge. Had the council put up 'enhanced green space' (their terminology for 'huge yuppie housing estate) in this area, the waters would have flowed onto concrete and road, which has much less absorbent power than a green field, football field or an allotment.
I also wonder whether boat owners would be that keen to put their craft in the the target range of the fast moving logs and trees that were thrust down the powerful currents of the Ribble today.
The people who thought up these Riverworks proposals knew nothing about the the River Ribble, and cared less about those of us who live next to it...
Hiya
What fantastic photos, and so soon after my comments about what the river can really do/trees coming down etc. [see recent Tales from the Riverbank] As Riversider says, God knows what would have happened if there was a barrier between the river and the sea, plus the river would have been even higher to start with due to being held at high spring tide level!
Mike
listen all you idiots that want to build on our river . ive fished ribble for sevral years now and know it like the back of my hand . she is one powerfull freak of nature not to be messed with . i feel sorry for any one tryig to mess with ribble she will take back wot you take from her she is a beutyful river with so much life running up and living on herso get a grip you ass holes and leave nature to its own fate.
Post a Comment
<< Home