Flooding hits communities across northern England: Leeds city centre inundated.

[Nick 0208 Ldn]

Can any Caf residents from the afflicted counties provide a local perspective? Has it been a close-run thing for them these past days?

Looking for positives at such times, at least Cumbria escaped the worse of it.

Liz Truss described the rainfall as 'unprecedented', a description that it is being used on an increasingly regular basis. After the Government's highly criticised response to the flooding of the Somerset Levels, and then Cumbria before this, people are rightly asking if lessons have been learnt.

 

[Ixion]

I've been visiting family in Rochdale the past few days where the town centre was basically submerged and it caused a power cut to 20,000 homes that's still on-going. It's been quite crazy. I went for a jog and most of the traffic lights were out and many of the roads flooded.

http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/new.../flooding-in-rochdale-town-centre-under-water

 

[Glory Glory Denis Irwin]

Really surprised this hasn't had it's own thread already since a lot of greater Manchester was flooded last night. Radcliffe, Rochdale, Bury, Salford, Delph etc. There's photos outside the Lowry in town this morning and it's turned it into a beach. God knows if the Mark Addy pub will ever open again after being completely submerged yesterday

 

[Smores]

I'm back at the parents over the holidays, they're fortunate that they're not in an area that will be flooded but I'd say 15 minutes in every direction will take you to some of the worst hit areas. Particularly horrible to see beloved areas such as Hebden Bridge completely awash.

Liz Truss hasn't a clue and comes across as very much a PR mouth peice to avoid any blame being laid towards her party.

 

[The Black Pearl]

Not in England but this is down the road from me (Galway, Ireland). I've been seeing an awful lot of devastation first hand these last few weeks and helping some of those that have had their homes and property destroyed. In the latter part of that clip the locals here in Gort were fundraising for years to reopen the WB Yeats Tower and make it a tourist attraction for the area, it was finally opened a few months ago. It's more or less destroyed altogether now. Absolutely terrible. Worst part about it is, apart from neighbours/local volunteers no one seems to give a flying fck about those affected.

 

[Amethyst]

I live in Leeds but I'm with family in Manchester at the moment. I'll be heading back tomorrow so will be checking it out myself first hand. Fortunately I live in Headingley rather than the city centre so my house won't be underwater when I get there.

 

[Bury Red]

Really surprised this hasn't had it's own thread already since a lot of greater Manchester was flooded last night. Radcliffe, Rochdale, Bury, Salford, Delph etc. There's photos outside the Lowry in town this morning and it's turned it into a beach. God knows if the Mark Addy pub will ever open again after being completely submerged yesterday

Hadn't seen the pics of the Mark Addy, at least it's still there though. The Waterside in Sumerseat where we'd quite often head for late drinks in my youth will definitely not be reopening. http://www.manchestereveningnews.co...rside-pub-collapse-astonishing-drone-10654099

 

[Silva]

Hadn't seen the pics of the Mark Addy, at least it's still there though. The Waterside in Sumerseat where we'd quite often head for late drinks in my youth will definitely not be reopening. http://www.manchestereveningnews.co...rside-pub-collapse-astonishing-drone-10654099

Adrian then went to watch Manchester United being beaten 2-0 at Stoke City and then came home to be told he would not be allowed into his apartment building because of safety fears.

“I’ve had better days,” he said.

 

[Rado_N]

The Mark Addy gets flooded all the time, the river gets really high around there any the Lowry quite frequently. Not that that means it doesn't matter, but it'll likely be fine.

 

[711]

I live a few yards from the Ribble, just as it becomes tidal. I was watching river levels yesterday afternoon and evening as they rose, then fortunately fell again before the midnight tide. The environment agency flood warnings site is very good now, if you navigate to 'river and sea levels' and keep zooming in to your area you find data for various points on the main river and tributaries. This means you can see if the levels are rising or falling well upstream, and have some advance warning. Strangely there are two areas on their website called 'river and sea levels', the right hand one is much more detailed. Daughter gone to work today, to help clear up after being flooded.

 

[unchanged_lineup]

Not in England but this is down the road from me (Galway, Ireland). I've been seeing an awful lot of devastation first hand these last few weeks and helping some of those that have had their homes and property destroyed. In the latter part of that clip the locals here in Gort were fundraising for years to reopen the WB Yeats Tower and make it a tourist attraction for the area, it was finally opened a few months ago. It's more or less destroyed altogether now. Absolutely terrible. Worst part about it is, apart from neighbours/local volunteers no one seems to give a flying fck about those affected.

Poor Craughwell getting hit like that again, I remember the last time driving through after and the road through the town was ripped up.

 

[justboy68]

Live in Littleborough which is the town along from Todmordon and Hebden Bridge towards Rochdale. Quite badly affected but we were away for the Xmas weekend. Power was out in the village and quite a lot of flooding. Luckily our house was okay but houses were flooded not much more than 100 yards away so quite a close call. Community really came together though which was good to see.

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co...ews/homes-evacuated-cars-washed-away-10654590

Bizarre to see those pictures, I live just a bit off the left. came back today and there was lots of work going on and they seem to have done a great job.

 

[SilentWitness]

Got a train to Sheffield from Dundee via Edinburgh and Manchester tomorrow, hoping the delays aren't too bad.

 

[Glory Glory Denis Irwin]

Hadn't seen the pics of the Mark Addy, at least it's still there though. The Waterside in Sumerseat where we'd quite often head for late drinks in my youth will definitely not be reopening. http://www.manchestereveningnews.co...rside-pub-collapse-astonishing-drone-10654099

Lucky it's been closed for a few years really, otherwise it could have had people in there.

 

[RedTiger]

Video of my cousin's road in leeds
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=171152019908945&id=100010424442330

 

[Moriarty]

I've got close relatives in York who have been evacuated from their home which is about half a mile from the Ouse. They don't know the extent of the damage yet and they don't know when they'll be allowed back in.

 

[VeevaVee]

It doesn't even seem like it rained enough to cause such floods.

 

[Nitsche]

I live in Leeds but I'm with family in Manchester at the moment. I'll be heading back tomorrow so will be checking it out myself first hand. Fortunately I live in Headingley rather than the city centre so my house won't be underwater when I get there.

Pretty much the whole Kirkstall area, including all of the Kirkstall Road was under water today. Unbelievable, really!

http://www.itv.com/news/calendar/up...e-as-kirkstall-road-in-leeds-becomes-a-river/

All just a 10 minute walk from my house!

Meanwhile, parts of the City centre were badly flooded, especially around the docks etc, and there were a number of power cuts last night (15,000 properties throughout the City lost power last night).

 

[Penna]

It doesn't even seem like it rained enough to cause such floods.

It reached the tipping point after weeks of wet weather. It was the straw that broke the camel's back, on already-saturated ground.

 

[Mozza]

Northern Waterhouse?

 

[StuCol]

This was Rochdales new council offices on boxing day

 

[Paul the Wolf]

Here in the french Alps , not a flake of snow, haven't seen rain for over 3 weeks and 700m up we're at 21 degrees in clear sunshine on 28th December , weather's gone crazy

 

[Stobzilla]

This was Rochdales new council offices on boxing day

Still, the big building behind it looks to be coping.

 

[711]

 

[StuCol]

Still, the big building behind it looks to be coping.

 

[ZIDANE]

Almost two full days of no electricity. I can see a diesel generator outside my window which powered us through last night.

Regarding Rochdale, the River Roch reached its highest level on record. Same for most of the others including Irwell I think when I was looking at the graphs. Hence the unprecedented phrase being fairly accurate, but also probably somebody not estimating the cost needed for defences and being caught out this year particularly as this has been a growing issue over the past month in surrounding areas. Still they responded fairly well: army, engineers, generators, free food vans, etc.

More heavy rain expected on Wednesday.

 

[711]

The DoE graphs don't go back very far to be honest. Certainly I've seen the lower Ribble higher quite a few times over the years, but I can remember back to the late fifties.

That doesn't rule out individual tributaries and rivers being records this time due to local rain of course, and in any event the levels recorded recently on their site will really help people to evaluate the situation if future.

 

[Dante]

Still, the big building behind it looks to be coping.

 

[JackXX]

Still, the big building behind it looks to be coping.

 

[Snowjoe]

Still, the big building behind it looks to be coping.

 

[Silva]

Still, the big building behind it looks to be coping.

 

[JoaquinJoaquin]

I live in Cumbria and it has been terrible here, Thankfully my town has avoided a good chunk of it. But some of the rugby teams in my league's pitches and club houses have been destroyed as well as a few friends houses. It has pretty much rained every day here for around 2 months, sick to death of it now.

 

[ZIDANE]

Following on from the picture above I heard people blaming the recent re-opening of the River Roch for the area around town so did some research.

The project is expected to complete March 2016, Rochdale will then be the only town in Greater Manchester to benefit from an open river running through the heart of its town centre.

http://www.rochdaletowncentre.com/home/Developments/river-re-opening
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co...oric-bridge-beneath-rochdale-revealed-9643718

http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/new.../flooding-in-rochdale-town-centre-under-water

A spokesman for Rochdale Borough Council said this evening: "People are blaming the river opening, however, the opening is not to blame, water escapes quicker now than it did before it was open. The river broke its banks behind Number One Riverside, before the bridge."

Who knows what to believe and as the work is still on-going what defences would've been in place. There would've still been flooding in Rochdale just maybe not so much in the town centre and possibly the electrical sub-station (it has never happened in recent history).

Hopefully it is something they can re-assess and rectify while the remaining work is carried out.

 

[ZIDANE]

On another note maybe sometimes mother nature wins

 

[711]

I live in Cumbria and it has been terrible here, Thankfully my town has avoided a good chunk of it. But some of the rugby teams in my league's pitches and club houses have been destroyed as well as a few friends houses. It has pretty much rained every day here for around 2 months, sick to death of it now.

Cumbria's still a great place to live though.
Anyway, rugby league, so on the coast, somewhere Barrow way? And are you really Cumbria, or 'Lancashire over the water'?

 

[Organic Potatoes]

We've had half the US under ice, snow, rain, and tornadoes. Must be El Nino.

 

[Silva]

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/natalie-bennett/uk-floods-david-cameron_b_8888914.html

It's no wonder that in June, the independent Committee on Climate Change, in itsofficial report, said that the government's worst failing was failure to deal with extreme flood risk, with the recommendation that it "develop a strategy to address the increasing number of homes in areas of high flood risk". Failure to spend £500million would cost £3billion, it said. Yet the government rejected the recommendation for action.


Prime Minister Cameron has been the modern equivalent of the Emperor Nero fiddling while Rome burned.

 

[Penna]

As I've said before, if this was happening in the Home Counties, there'd be more money spent.

 

[Silva]

http://www.theguardian.com/commenti...public-spending-britain-europe-policies-homes

This what happens when policy is made by people from debating societies rather than scientists who've spent decades researching something. All because people would rather vote for the party that'll tax them 5% less.

 

[Walrus]

Its weird because I never personally see floods as too big a deal. simply because when growing up as a child my parents owned/ran a pub located next to the river Severn, and we got flooded most every year. To me as a child it was a lot of fun - having to get in our little speedboat to take us to where the cars were parked (on the higher ground)... it was easy enough to tell when the water was rising and make preparations. Often made it onto local and even national news - I had my picture in a paper getting the boat to school in the morning

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=l...hVFbxQKHQcQAwgQ_AUIBygC#imgrc=vNVmDMk7WDtK2M: