 |
| Flood heights near Ouse Bridge |
Below: Flood heights at Ouse Bridge (gardens between Ouse Bridge and Skeldergate Bridge) – given in
feet and inches. Most recent, and the highest 2000.
Date
|
Height
/ m
|
Height
/ft
|
Comment
|
04/11/2000
|
5.4
|
17’8”
|
|
1636
|
5.3
|
17’
6”
|
|
27/12/2015
|
5.2
|
17’1”
|
|
26/09/2012
|
5.07
|
16’8”
|
|
1831
|
5.08
|
16’8”
|
|
05/01/1982
|
5.05
|
16’7”
|
|
March
1947
|
4.99
|
16’
4 ½ “
|
|
1763
|
4.94
|
16’
2 ½ “
|
|
December
1978
|
4.85
|
15’
11”
|
|
1892
|
4.77
|
15’8”
|
|
1991
(Feb?)
|
4.72
|
15’6”
|
|
1995
(Jan?)
|
4.70
|
15’5”
|
The
floods of 2012 and 2015 have yet to be added to the Skeldergate gauge; and I
didn’t notice them marked anywhere else either. Regardless or real estate value
and the property market, they shouldn’t hide these things; though may be have
information near the gauge / floodmark about flood defences reducing the risk.
The 1982 flood was the first one I
remember hearing about clearly; as a 14 year old deeply into rivers. December
had been cold with heavy falls of snow throughout Britain, which thawed rapidly
as it turned mild and wet. Around new year, there was flooding on the River
Severn. Then the highs shifted to Yorkshire; the Wharfe bursting its banks; Dad
noting this having painted it in much more benign conditions at Bolton Abbey
the summer before. In York there was widespread flooding around the city; and
on the tidal Ouse at Cawood and Selby downstream. I recall hearing about it all
on the BBC evening TV news; and on John Craven’s Newsround. Also stuck cuttings
from The Guardian into my diary; one
showing a bleak picture of the flooded Vale of York somewhere around Selby. All
the bleaker as, though the weather was better back home, I was at the difficult
age of 14; unhappy and anxious; spotty and overweight; I wanted friends at
school but couldn’t find anyone on my wavelength; but realistically, my
frequency was someway off the conventional spectrum expected at that age. The
news reports of floods focused on Britain; but there was also widespread
flooding in Europe (presumably through a similar combo or melting heavy
snowfalls and heavy rain coinciding); including the Seine in Paris; and Vistula
in Poland. The BBC News mentioned the latter, Poland being in the news anyway
because of martial law being imposed by the communist block General Yarozelski just before Xmas 1981.
I don’t know about Scotland, but I’m
pretty sure January 1982 flooding episode in England & Wales where melting
of heavy snowfall was a big factor. Since then all the major floods in England and Wales have been pluvial (rainfall). Relatively mild winters (eg 2015/16, 2000/01). During the colder winters (early
1991, 2009/10, 2010/11) the snow has been less heavy, shorter lasting and
thawed slowly. The last two cold spells were largely cold and dry.
The 1982 York flood prompted the
building of flood defences later in the 1980s, including floodgates outside the
row of houses alongside the river above Scarborugh railway bridge; the Clifton
Ings floodwall / sluices; floodbank alongside playing field below Clifton
Bridge; and the Foss Barrier.
1991 – January or February – the biggest flood in York since 1982; as far as I’m aware the flood defences coped and it was just mentioned in passing by The Guardian with a photo. The first I heard of it was there and not on TV / radio. This came during an otherwise prolonged relatively dry period; with a succession of drier than average winters straining groundwater and chalk streams in southern England.
 |
| Foss flood barrier, operating since 1988 |
1991 – January or February – the biggest flood in York since 1982; as far as I’m aware the flood defences coped and it was just mentioned in passing by The Guardian with a photo. The first I heard of it was there and not on TV / radio. This came during an otherwise prolonged relatively dry period; with a succession of drier than average winters straining groundwater and chalk streams in southern England.
November 2000 – the highest flood
recorded here. On the night of the flood (3rd November), it was
touch and go whether all the flood defences would hold in the rising water;
predicted levels raised after further heavy rain on the Pennines. This was one
of the notorious areas during a period of prolonged, repeated widespread
flooding across the UK. For several months that autumn, one low pressure moved
in after another; some of them slow moving, leading to heavy rainfall
accumulations. The floody trouble began in southern England in October,
affecting SE England, including Lewes on the Sussex Ouse. Then on the night of
Sunday 29th October there was a storm and strong winds. We had a
power cut lasting several hours in Church Crookham, Hampshire, the winds
bringing down trees and branches over power lines. The power was restored in
early hours of Monday; but several more shorter power cuts for about a year
afterwards everytime the wind got up. However, we got off lightly; something
which became clear the following day amid news reports of rivers rising across
the country. Among the first to rise were the reactive Wealden (the Mole) and
Pennine rivers; then the slower respoinding ones like the Severn. The Severn
floods were among the worst since 1947 and strengthened calls for better flood
defences along the middle Severn through Shropshire and Worcestershire. In the
north, meanwhile, reporters in wellies in York. I thought I heard one BBC Radio
4 news report mentioning the Aire charging through Leeds with a flow in excess
of 1000m3s-1. The Aire flows into the Ouse downstream, so
it didn’t contribute to the flooding in York; but the Vale of York was badly
affected for sometime afterwards. For the remainder of 2000, there were
repeated flood warnings here; and there was a further (but lesser) flood in
January 2001. The spring and summer of 2000 had been wet, too: the Ouse flooded
in early June. The EA used that flood as a test of their revamped flood warning
service, ie flood alert, flood warning,
severe flood warning. News crues’ floody reports reminded me another visit
to York and the Ouse was overdue. I made two trips there during the much calmer
autumn and winter of 2001. The first one, in late September was solo; with a
couple of nights at YHA York and a day looking round before an OU revision
weekend at the University of York. During my wanderings, I some verse to the
tune of The Grand Old Duke of York
nursery rhyme flowed into mind. Verses added as more floods happened.
Oh
the dark brown Ouse of York
In
its 2000 flood
Rose
over the top of the bank
And
caked the place in mud
And
when it was up it was up
And
when it was down it was down
And
when it was only half way up
It
was neither up nor down.
Then at the beginning of December, a duo trip, again based at the YHA, arriving on Saturday 1st December to view Treske furnishings in Thirsk. We also had a look round York and walked along the river. I remember particularly the Millennium Bridge and golden reflections of Ouse Bridge in bright winter sunshine. In complete contrast to the winter before, and no doubt a relief to people living and working in the area, it was a largely dry anticyclonic winter; though there was minor flooding in February 2002. It had also been a fine, bright autumn, with the autumn colours lingering into early December.
26th September 2012
Unusual timing: September is usually
dry, the weather breaking much later in the autumn, if it’s going to. 2012,
though had been a very unusual year: starting off dry with real worries about
drought in large parts of England and Wales after two successive dry winters.
Then, an about-turn in April with heavy rain from the middle month. The Severn
and Ouse flooded during the last week. Even more unusually, the groundwater and
southern chalk streams recharged; rain percolating through the soil when it
would normally evaporate or be taken up by plants. The early summer was wet,
too. A lull later in the summer; but then it all started up again in late
September. There was so much rain over Yorkshire that the Ouse rose to its
highest level since the 2000 flood; though as far as I know the flood defences
held limiting property flooding. News of this flood (mainly online)
incidentally, distracted me briefly from a renewed period of health-related
preoccupation and anxieties post-ITP diagnosis. While walking along the Swale
at Richmond the year before, I thought York was about due for another large
flood; to which the Swale would surely contribute. Through my life, they’d
tended to happen about every ten years; though purely a perception and not a
fact. After this flood, then, I thought the Ouse had had its fill for a while.
But I was wrong…
Pages from my scrapbook, December 2015
Storm Eva December 2015 – Yet another
when one rain-bearing low pressure after another rammed the country leading to
widespread flooding. Two winters before, (2013/14) it had been the south and
Midlands. Now it was the north’s turn; and the low pressures had names (adopted
by the Met.Office from an alphabetical list of names chosen by the public).
Most notoriously, Storm Desmond 5th/6th December causing
unprecedented, devastating flooding throughout Cumbria and to a lesser degree
the Pennines. Come Christmas, warnings of another low developing, this one
called Eva, set to hit on Boxing Day. At first they thought Cumbria would spare
the brunt yet again; but this time the biggest problems were in Yorkshire,
including York. The Ouse exceeded its 2012 level, but was some way below that
attained in 2000. However, the property flooding was widespread throughout the
city. Much of it was due to the failure of the Foss flood barrier, or more
precisely, the Environment Agency – after considerable and careful thought –
lifted the barrier to prevent the control room flooding. Normally, when the
barrier is closed, it prevents the rising River Ouse backing up the River Foss
and flooding the centre of city; pumps, meanwhile discharging the flow from the
Foss into the Ouse near the barrier. When we visited York at the beginning of
December 2017, construction work was in progress by the barrier installing
eight new higher capacity pumps and a new control room which is less likely to
flood. There as also major flooding on the River Wharfe which joins the tidal
Ouse at Cawood above Selby. At Tadcaster it took out (destroyed) a historic
stone bridge, which didn’t reopen until more than a year later. At Flint Mill
Weir, near Tadcaster, the CEH / NRFA say the peak flow was around 500m3s-1
for a catchment size of 758km2 and mean flow of around
18m3s-1.
Foss flood barrier construction work, December 2017
Finally the naming of rivers, the Ure-Ouse and Humber are one river; and one of the longest in England; though I guess you could take the Ure-Ouse to be a tributary of the Trent, meeting the Trent at Trent Falls. I don't know why names change along this river system and not others. Maybe it's the marked change in the character and landscape reflecting local Geology moving east from hilly limestone dales to the flat Vale of York, then wide estuary. One theory says the Ure (Yore) and Ouse sound similar and have
the same derivation, probably water
as most British river names do. Others say it’s the Ouse Gill Beck, flowing in
below the confluence of the Ure and Swale which usurps the title. Broadhead says
the Ouse (this stream) was Born in a
Workhouse.
Books and Websites
Books
Ivan E. Broadhead - Portrait of the Yorkshire Ouse, Hale (1982)
– bought secondhand in about 1983. Even after all this time, still a good read
and appreciation of the river.
Websites
York Stories – Why does York flood?http://yorkstories.co.uk/why-does-york-flood/
Flood
Heights on the Ouse | York Civic Trust
River
Foss Barrier - Wikipedia
York's
Foss flood barrier: New pump to be installed - BBC News
