Were We Glad the Ribble Was at Low Tide?
Yes.
Were we glad that the Ribble doesn't have a barrage, keeping the riverwater at a permanent high level so that the tide never goes out?
You bet.
Today's torrential downpour caused chaos and several flooded streets in Penwortham and Broadgate...
Some houses suffered flooding...
...and Middleforth really lived up to its name.
Leyland Road was one of the worst affected, several shops suffered flooding...
...and the wash caused by the traffic didn't help matters...
...although it also brought a great deal of laughter and enjoyment!
To our relief, the flash flood coincided with low water levels on the Ribble...
... so the drains quickly took the flood waters into the Ribble to safely drain away...
...the force of the waters gushing through the large number of drains into the Ribble was a loud and impressive sight...
...but they did the job quickly and efficiently so that less than one hour later...
...it was as though it had never happened...
... although those houses and shops which did experience flooding inside the buildings will still have work to do drying out.
As the tide was out - and the water level NOT artificially raised by a Barrage - the flash floods drained away quickly, so not too many buildings were breached. If the river water had been at a higher level, the flooding would have been much more severe as the drains would not have been able to let the water out.
Many local residents were particularly relieved the flood subsided so quickly as the flood was inches from a great many more front doors...
According to the LEP, one family had to climb down the riverbank to prise open their local storm drain as it was jammed shut - what would happen if all those drains are closed under permanently high water levels on a barraged Ribble just does not bear thinking about...
What a difference in weather from just a couple of days ago when local residents were Spring Cleaning the Riverbank in glorious sunshine rather than wading through our flooded streets! It seems that Summer or Winter, high rainfall can cause flooding anytime, so we are glad our river is free and open to drain over 75 linear miles of the North West, and who knows how many square miles of Lancashire in total, from North to South, East to West, drains into the Ribble...
Long Live the Ribble Wild!
You can contact us at savetheribble@tiscali.co.uk
Labels: flash floods, flooding, floodplain housing, ribble, Ribble Barrage
posted by Reigh Belisama @ 8:00 pm
3 Comments:
There is a story in the Evening Post about the barrage today. It'll get uploaded shortly with a link back to you. Plus, we have an online survey we are asking people to complete on the barrage, so please fill it in and pass the message on, we want to get as many completed surveys as possible.
The survey is on the lep.co.uk homepage or it can be accessed here:
http://www2.prestontoday.net/ribble_survey/ribble_barrage1.htm
Regards,
Josie Hill
LEP Community Reporter
josie.hill@lep.co.uk
Thanks Josie,
we're pleased the LEP are running this survey as it allows so many more local people to give their views.
If the council had spoken to local people who know the Ribble - or even read their own previous 'Ribble Weir Appraisal', they would have found out that a barrage raises flood risk to locals - instead they continue to throw money at this frankly stupid project.
When are they going to see sense and invest their energies into something USEFUL?
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