Post flood walk and road damage

It is now two weeks since the rain and flooding, followed by freezing mornings and ice. The weather has finally stayed dry for long enough to go for a reasonable walk today, 12kms up the hills but still having to keep to the roads. There is a great deal of mud and grit on the roads, both from slippage off the bank sides and run off from the fields and overflowing streams. In some places the sides of the road have been eroded and also the tarmac has been ripped up. One road in particular is badly torn and higher up has a 'Road Closed' sign.

The house drive had been washed away and the torn tarmac has been used to fill the hole so that they can get out onto the road. It will probably be weeks before all the damage is fixed.

Another road had debris deposited about 2ft above road level and the stream at the side has flung stones into the adjacent fields. The road itself must have been like a river.

The damaged road - with water still running in the hole from an underground stream.

After the flood

The wet and then ice have still restricted our walking but we have managed some short walks (5 - 7kms). The path near the stream has dried out and the water is back to winter levels.
A lot of gravel has been moved in the stream bed, some of it dropped on the bank tops. Away from the stream stones and gravel have washed out of fields and bank sides and have been deposited on the roads. Debris is hanging feet high on gates and in the bushes. In one place the tarmac has been torn up by the force of the water and in many places the edge of the road has been broken away. The roads too must have been like rivers.
However this morning it was more a case of being careful not to slip on the icy patches. We hope that the roads dry out soon to make it possible to walk up some of our local hills. That will happen when the last of the run off from the fields finally dries up and we have less frost. At least the sun was shining as we walked round the roads today.

Compare the levels in these 2 photos with the floods below. The stones and gravel dropped by the flood can be seen on the bank and in the stream in the left hand photo

Floods

Following the recent wet weather we have again been confined to the roads, and some of them were not passable. Our little stream was flooded as these photos show. Then we had torrential rain for hours last weekend. Our little brook became a raging torrent, we could hear it roaring in the night. Several homes near its banks were flooded when it rose 8ft!. The corner of the grass bank in the fourth picture has been partially torn away since we took the photos.

Finally we did manage a walk up the hill, with water still running down the road sides. Our thoughts are with those whose homes were flooded and with farmers who are struggling with the dreadful conditions.

The stream burst its banks and came up to the path with the first flood and over it at the second. It usually flows to the right of the tree in the left hand photo; and the right of the tree in the right hand one

Taken about 1 hour apart the level was dropping at the bridge

During the second flood 24 hours later the water was up over the sides of the bridge and onto the road