It was the water from the Avon first, closely followed by the water from the Severn. Some , people came so, so close to losing power as river levels rose to within inches of a switching station where , volts are transformed in to usable power for Gloucestershire and beyond. In fact Castle Mead substation nearby was switched off as water rushed in, leaving 48, homes without power for around 19 hours. If they had failed, , homes would have had no electricity supply. After waiting for three hours with mum Kelly Demvenski, son Jake, aged three from Tuffley, gives her a hand in collecting their allocation of free bottled water from the army in the car park of the Tesco store at Quedgeley.
Although rain receded on the Sunday of the floods crisis, it was the day when the enormity of the rescue and recovery task facing firefighters became truly apparent. River levels rose as rainfall further upstream in the Midlands and Wales took effect. The Mythe water treatment works at Tewkesbury was the first affected, then later in the day the two stations on the banks of the Severn were under imminent threat of being engulfed.
Twelve hours after the Mythe had been shut down, Walham electrical switching sub-station was under threat. Then an hour later, the sub-station at Castle Mead faced the same peril. Although it was switched off, serious damage was averted by throwing up a temporary flood wall around it and pumping the water all the way along that section of the South West bypass, in to the Gloucester and Sharpness canal, via Llanthony Road.
Western Power Distribution shared these images of Castle Mead from At Walham, six huge pumps were installed along with nine smaller ones. Around personnel were there plus Royal Navy marines and the Army, and they set about building a barrier around the site. With an aluminium frame covered by huge lengths of plastic tarpaulin weighed down by sandbags and lengths of metal chain, the aim was to get more water out than was coming in.
By Monday evening, the battle reached a crucial stage. As the water came half way up the barrier, which was about ft high, the National Grid was considering shutting the site down. That was because inside the building, water was just inches from vital switch gear, under the floor. That would have meant cutting power to , people on Monday evening, just as their water supplies were running dry. The 'Battle of Walham' was won with two inches to spare before water would have topped the switch gear, as Monday night turned into Tuesday morning.
The Walham switching station transforms , volts down to , volts where it is transformed again at sub-stations including Castle Mead and nearby Port Ham. It was then run by Central Networks, and has since seen massive improvements under the auspices of National Grid.
Louise and Elysia Byrne behind a sand bag wall in the front doorway of their property in Cypress Gardens. It was worth every penny to them though, as they can sleep soundly at night and one day will be able to sell the home near a spot where the Severn can get so low that it is said that the Romans forded it nearby. Back in however, it burst its banks and Sam said he can remember seeing the water rush across the fields to the east.
Their home stood under 4ft 6ins of water and floods have lapped about 4ft up the wall since. But since we have had the house raised, we have been fine. When floods have marooned them, Sam has had a plan —neighbours have a boat and he keeps his car at the Gloucester end of Sandhurst Lane. The water has to go somewhere. In fact she took it off the market when the deal fell through, because she likes the area and the people there.
She blamed builders rubble blocking pipes and the pumping station being too low as the main cause of the floods which devastated Evergreen Walk and Cypress Gardens.
It was like that for a lot of homes. People like the local councillor Kathy Williams were there, helping clean up — she got her hands dirty. Big Norman's much-improved pumping station is just across a meadow alongside the A40 Northern Bypass and between Cypress Gardens and the station is a large flood alleviation zone. Bunds around the brook increase its capacity as well. Vernon Smith was inspired to become a county councillor after the floods.
He is anxious to point out that the 10th anniversary is not all about what the council has done but is a time for reflection.
It was very close to being an even bigger disaster than it was. Vernon Smith and Dave Witts have worked hard to prevent a repeat of They told Tim, the manager of the then Southern League Premier Division club, that he had two hours to remove as many things as he could from the ground before it flooded.
Within an hour it was coming up over the wall surrounding the stadium. It was just crazy and totally unreal how quickly that water filled up. Tim spent time away from the club when he was director of football at Newport County for five years but is again the manager of the now Vanarama National League South club. We overcame just about every obstacle and hurdle you can do and we had to find astounding amounts of money to build a football ground.
Work is finally under way on raising the level of Meadow Park by 8ft ahead of the proposed building of a new stadium. If it happens, it will end 10 years of the club playing its football away from Gloucester at grounds belonging to Cheltenham Town, Cirencester Town and Forest Green Rovers. So how does Tim feel about the length of time it has, and still is, taking to get the club back in the city? Now, demolition work is well under way ahead of the proposed building of a new ground.
But despite being angry and frustrated at the problems the club has had to solve, he remained positive about the future and proud that it had come through such a tough period in its history. Three people from Tewkesbury died during the floods following the heavy rain on July 20, — Mitchell Taylor, 19, and father and son Bram and Chris Lane.
Bram and Chris died together in the floods in as they tried to pump water out of the basement of Tewkesbury Rugby Club and were overcome by fumes. The Guardian UK Floods-Case studies of causes and effects and flooding policies. Search this site. Causes of Flooding- Flood Intensifying Factors. Map showing location of major UK floods. Coastal Flooding in Towyn Boscastle Flood- 16th August Tewkesbury Flood in July Flooding Policies.
Questionnaire on UK Floods. Progress Report. Tewkesbury is situated in Gloucestershire, see Figure 10, and was the worst affected part of the county when the floods hit in July In July about 1, homes were flooded. The town was briefly cut off and water supplies to , homes in Gloucestershire were hit when the Mythe treatment plant was inundated.
This autumn's flooding, affecting perhaps a dozen homes in and round the town, is nothing compared to that. But it is nevertheless a good time to reflect on the trials, tribulations and frustrations of living in a flood zone.
Anthony Rhodes, the managing director of Rhodes Real Estate on Church Street, admitted that selling houses and flats had been a challenge since In , a couple who were climbing fans lived there, and they set up a zip wire to get from the top floor to dry land. It's not," he said. It was possible for people to still get home insurance, he said, but every time the town features on the news it makes the phone calls to under-writers that bit more difficult.
Since , Severn Trent has spent millions improving defences at the Mythe treament works, which have worked. But no huge flood defence system has been built to protect Tewkesbury itself. The position of the town, at the confluence of the Rivers Severn and Avon , would make any major engineering scheme vastly expensive and probably very unsightly.
Still, some think the Environment Agency could do more. Vernon Smith, a Conservative member of Gloucestershire county council, dismissed the EA as a "quango with no teeth and no idea". The sooner it's disbanded and replaced by a national rivers authority with proper powers the better.
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