Cause of flooding from storm Henk

[andyt87]

This brook is normally 30-40cm deep, 3m wide & is 2.5km from source, 1km to confluence with river, 6.4km to sea. All farmland below this point except last 700m which is channelled though a power station.

Last couple years it's overtopped during heavy rain but I don't remember it doing so as regularly before that. New housing and road developments in last 5 years up stream from this point though.

Not much the brooks can do when even the sloped fields are saturated anyway. Just hasn't let up for weeks with us

 

[Kevtherev]

Sheer volume of rain coupled with fast run of from roads car parks driveways and housing and you get peak floods.
Land has been saturated since October in most places.

 

[Werzle]

Lots of pics and videos of flooding around the country from storm Henk and plenty of flooding here too but why?
We only had 20mm which isn't usually enough to cause widespread flooding. Using Wundermap to look around at rainfall elsewhere it appears to have been similar, even in areas with pretty bad flooding events. I know Wundermap isn't the most accurate of things but it is close enough if you look at plenty of station records.
My thought are that there was so much flooding because everywhere is absolutely saturated already, and further rain is just run off.
I have also concluded that if the drainage system was properly maintained the land would not be so saturated as it would have dried out over the last week or so. We haven't had much rain over the last week really but as it can't get away it just builds up and overflows as it did yesterday.
Rainfall here has been

25/12/23	0.00mm
26/12/23	0.00mm
27/12/23	12.8mm
28/12/23	4.01mm
29/12/23	0.81mm
30/12/23	5.21mm
31/12/23	0.81mm
1/1/24	7.21mm
2/1/24​	19.61mm

That sort of rainfall shouldn't cause an issue and shouldn't lead to flooding. I think it shows that if the streams and rivers were working as they should there wouldn't have been any issue at all. That might not work for everywhere but it certainly would in this part of Cheshire and it wouldn't mean elsewhere in Cheshire would be flooded either as it would be in the sea.
Using farmland as a buffer for flooding is a load of rubbish as far as I can tell around here and as people found out yesterday when the farmland is full you guys downstream are getting the whole lot in one go. The sponge is full.

Its been awful wet off and on since November so water table, brooks and rivers were full before the recent rain which had nowhere to go. I agree alot of things could be done to ease flooding buts more than a few days rain thats caused it

 

[Hfd Cattle]

Big planning application gone in to Hfd Council for 500 plus houses ....... the land ( or at least half of it) was under water this week!

 

[firther]

started raining in bludi july and it aint stopped since, apart from a very short spell here an there

 

[grainboy]

Big planning application gone in to Hfd Council for 500 plus houses ....... the land ( or at least half of it) was under water this week!

don’t worry, they will just build a holding reservoir,
Oh and name it River Meadows,

 

[ollie989898]

I've never known the lawn to feel so wet underfoot in the time we've been here. The land is saturated. I'm putting it down to a lack of beavers and non-stopped oil.

 

[Werzle]

Big planning application gone in to Hfd Council for 500 plus houses ....... the land ( or at least half of it) was under water this week!

Mad. Flooding of the river lugg isnt helped by the fact that at atleast two sites where gravel was extracted people were given permission to use the sites for other purposes once gravel extraction had ceased. Large areas of floodplain that would of stored millions of gallons of water once returned to nature now industrial sites with water pumps going flat out which could be causing flooding elsewhere.

 

[robs1]

Road just down from us is flooded too dark to see how much of the farm is but some must be at least eight feet deep for it to be on the road, first time for a very long time that the road has been covered.
I looked on the ea flood warning site it has part of the farm at risk that has never flooded in my 63 years, yet other areas that will be wel flooded today aren't at risk according to them. their flood maps are very inaccurate which doesn't help planners etc make good decisions

 

[Mahsil]

Lots of pics and videos of flooding around the country from storm Henk and plenty of flooding here too but why?
We only had 20mm which isn't usually enough to cause widespread flooding. Using Wundermap to look around at rainfall elsewhere it appears to have been similar, even in areas with pretty bad flooding events. I know Wundermap isn't the most accurate of things but it is close enough if you look at plenty of station records.
My thought are that there was so much flooding because everywhere is absolutely saturated already, and further rain is just run off.
I have also concluded that if the drainage system was properly maintained the land would not be so saturated as it would have dried out over the last week or so. We haven't had much rain over the last week really but as it can't get away it just builds up and overflows as it did yesterday.
Rainfall here has been

25/12/23	0.00mm
26/12/23	0.00mm
27/12/23	12.8mm
28/12/23	4.01mm
29/12/23	0.81mm
30/12/23	5.21mm
31/12/23	0.81mm
1/1/24	7.21mm
2/1/24​	19.61mm

That sort of rainfall shouldn't cause an issue and shouldn't lead to flooding. I think it shows that if the streams and rivers were working as they should there wouldn't have been any issue at all. That might not work for everywhere but it certainly would in this part of Cheshire and it wouldn't mean elsewhere in Cheshire would be flooded either as it would be in the sea.
Using farmland as a buffer for flooding is a load of rubbish as far as I can tell around here and as people found out yesterday when the farmland is full you guys downstream are getting the whole lot in one go. The sponge is full.

I was surprised to see so much of us under water from what appeared to be a relatively small amount of rain. We have 50 acres flooded here at the moment
But the clue round here may be looking at the dates.
We are on the coast and water is actively managed by the Environment agency by pumps and tide locks to get it out to sea, or supposed to be !

Christmas and new year; active management, environment agency ? Maybe not !

 

[BrianV]

Anybody received that novel early warning mobile phone call rushed out when the war in Ukraine started that I thought was supposed to be for just such circumstances.

 

[soapsud]

 

[trebornella]

Sheer volume of rain coupled with fast run of from roads car parks driveways and housing and you get peak floods.
Land has been saturated since October in most places.

Exactly this, but also uncultivated farmland. Around here (west suffolk) there is more run off from drilled land than I have ever seen. Field behind my property hasnt seen any deep cultivation for years.

 

[Tamar]

I'm waiting for the environmental minister to announce it was the wrong sort of rain or the wind was in the wrong direction, which caused the floods.......

.......oh no, that minister has been replaced !

 

[ollie989898]

View attachment 1156827

Can't help but notice why is he driving with the door open?

 

[Wood field]

Can't help but notice why is he driving with the door open?

Don’t worry, there’s a snorkel fitted

 

[trebornella]

Can't help but notice why is he driving with the door open?

To let the water out or is it in?

 

[goldeneagle]

I attended a flood group meeting before X-mas with lots of these ecologist types & a SEPA (Scottish EA) Rep in attendance who all championed this 'slow the flow' nonsense - they had no answer when I suggested our forefathers knew nothing then for building properties with sloping roofs & draining the land to move the water off faster.
When I explained North Scotland was different to lowland Scotland in that our rivers & streams are spate driven they just looked at me blankly - these people really need steered away from any decision making process that involves the whole of society. They are on par with Vegans

This is just another example of the commuter belt, centralised, highly educated but under experienced wisdom we get in Scotland.

Need local offices with local agents who understand the their area not highly educated idiots that excel in failure within these Quangos of power that don't understand the differences in the country. The current FM and his civil service team in a former guise didn't realise their are no commuter flights between Aberdeen and Edinburgh during an AWPR photo opportunity as an example of the lack of basic knowledge they exude.

 

[Beames]

This is a picture of my Mrs horse paddock’s last Tuesday. That is all run off from the new housing estate at the top of the picture.

 

[Hfd Cattle]

Can't help but notice why is he driving with the door open?

To let the clutch out