Category Archives: Flooding

Rolling blog: when stormy weather becomes the norm…

24 Monday Feb 2020

Posted by in Flooding, Rolling blogs, Travel, Wales, Weather

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07:30.

This morning the wind woke us up before the alarm clock got its chance! Our little refuge is getting a battering from the elements and as I made coffee the rain arrived, drenching the windows, making it difficult to see more than a few metres. A bush on the edge of the property provided a useful wind gauge as I could watch it shivering as each gust hit. I pity any birds planning on nesting right now! Stormy weather no longer seems unusual nowadays, it’s become the norm – a worrying thought.

We’re driving back to Yorkshire today, which might be ‘fun’. The weather forecast has just appeared on the TV news and heavy snow is predicted for the North – and not just limited to high ground. Our plans for doing some sightseeing before we head home may have to be binned…

09:45.

Packing the car in a howling gale was fun but at least the rain has abated and nothing got blown away. We’re now ready to sally forth from the warmth of our little retreat and brave the elements to indulge in a spot of weather-watching. Our first stop was just outside Beaumaris, where we spent some time observing a pair of vessels fishing close to shore in the Menai Strait, which was at high tide. This isn’t a sight you can normally get so close to. Watching them zig-zag up and down over a small area of the strait as they deployed and collected their dredging nets was really quite interesting. We worked out that they were probably after shellfish, but we’d no idea what. It was only when I looked up this trawler on the internet that the answer was revealed. Mussels.

According to internet records, the Belfast registered Mare Gratia is a 43 metre long, 315 gross tonnes mussel dredger built in Holland in 2003. The boat’s been a regular visitor to Wales for many years.

I’d hoped to have got some more shots of life around the Strait and the suspension bridge but the combination of high tide and low cloud didn’t lend itself to the sort of shots that I had in mind. Ah, well – we’re just going to have to come back another time! Mind you, as we’re planning to have a crack at that Penrhyn Quarry zip-wire in the summer…

12:20.

We’ve made our way back through the Ogwyn valley to Betws-y-Coed and boy is it wet! It was bad enough around the town itself, but then we headed North up the Conwy valley to get back to the coast and really hit the flooding. This is the B5106 across the valley to Llanrwst! The valley’s effectively been cut in half as this is one of only two few river crossings between Betwys and Conwy.

Here’s another view showing how badly the river Conwy has burst its banks. The actual bridge over the river is that hump in the road in the distance!
Here’s the fields to the left of the last picture. The fields are flooded to a depth of 1-1.2 metres. There’s a hell of a lot of water out there.

18:30.

We’ve made it home with little incident, despite the weather. Once we left the Conwy valley the weather actually brightened up and for a period we actually had some sunshine! Even so, the countryside on both sides of the border was absolutely sodden. I’ve never seen so many flooded fields.

Bowling along the M62 we were fine until we passed Manchester when the leaden skies opened once again. Leaving the motorway at Ripponden the roads resembled lakes as the water was running off the hills in torrents. The only consolation was that the torrential rain had washed away the dusting of snow the area had received first thing this morning. We didn’t see any, which was a relief.

The pair of us are now relaxing at home in the warm, unpacking our kit and grateful the journey back wasn’t as fraught as it could have been.

Tomorrow I abandon the roads (flooded or otherwise) to get back on the rails as I’m heading back to London for the George Bradshaw address tomorrow evening at the IMechE. It’s always a great excuse to catch-up and gossip with friends and colleagues from the rail industry and media and – more often than not – hear from an interesting speaker. I’m staying overnight at the home of a friend, so my trip will allow me to fill some picture requests from clients and catch up with the latest changes to the capitals rail network, which I’ve neglected recently as there’s been so much happening up in the North. At least the weather in my old home’s looking better than it has been here in the North recently so the camera should be kept busy. No doubt there’ll also be time for a rolling blog…

Rolling blog: cancel the Ark (for now)…

16 Sunday Feb 2020

Posted by in Calder Valley, Flooding, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel

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11:31.

Like the waters themselves, the concerns about flooding have receded. Despite last night’s atrocious weather the Calder didn’t burst its banks overnight. Today the rain has eased and storm Dennis didn’t produce much menace for us.

That said, South Wales has taken a pounding and Pontypridd has flooded.

Right now I’m on a train from Sowerby Bridge that’s heading to Hebden Bridge (where trains to Blackpool North are terminating due to planned engineering work) we’re running late and right now we’re at a stand just West of the Sowerby tunnel at the 27m 35 chain mark due to lineside flooding! Water has been running down the hillside and the driver’s got out to check to see that the ballast hasn’t been washed away, affecting the stability of the track. Having returned, she seems unsure. This may be a short trip!

11:47.

Our Driver and Conductor are now waiting for advice from Control on what to do next. In the meantime, we sit and wait…

11:54.

To add insult to injury a Class 195 has just passed us at speed in the opposite direction! There’s only 12 of us passengers aboard this 2 car Class 158. Presumably, most people have made the sensible decision to stay at home today. Good for them – not so good for the many businesses along the line that rely on travellers.

12:10.

Our Conductor has just informed us that Network Rail have a MOM (Mobile Operations Manager) on site inspecting the track, so we should know our fate soon…

12:30.

The MOM has requested extra staff as they’re going to dig a drainage ditch to divert the water from the track. In the meantime, we sit and wait. If only this was a Class 195 I was stuck on. I could have had wifi and got on with some work!

12:41.

We’re finally on the move, heading for Mytholmroyd…

13:07.

At last I’m on the way to Manchester! The train I was on was terminating at at Hebden Bridge before heading back to York. Following on behind it was a Manchester bound service. Nowadays, due to the December timetable change and deletion of stops Sowerby Bridge and Mytholmroyd travellers are forced to change at Hebden more often.

15:00.

Well, that was an interesting couple of hours! After passing through Todmorden and seeing the lineside flooding I abandoned my intention of going to Manchester and bailed out of the train at Walsden – just in time to get caught in a hailstorm! For the best part of a couple of minutes it hammered down. For once, the line hadn’t flooded at this point. I managed to grab a couple of shots of Eastbound workings but everything heading West was cancelled so I decided to get some exercise and walk back to Todmorden to check out a couple of locations. The amount of homes along the road that had flood barriers across their front doors told the tale. The valley around Gauxholme is steep and narrow, which provides ample opportunities for flooding, especially as the river’s been hemmed in and constrained by centuries of human activity. I headed for a footbridge over the railway just West of the railway station where I’d spotted lineside flooding. It was quite a sight when I got there as you can see from this picture.

The culvert you can see here passes under the railway and empties out into the Rochdale canal which is 100m out of shot to the left. It’s not neglected. The steep approach off the hill to the left was relined just a couple of years ago and the parapet and railings were put in at the same time. But it’s been blocked by debris washing down off the hill and through the woods so water has spilled onto the tracks, washing away the ballast and breaching the formation to the right of the alignment just inside the fence. It’s also running along the left hand track, trying to find a way across.

Here’s a close-up of the culvert. I have to say, I’m not sure that was the best place to locate some equipment cabinets! The water from the blocked culvert is flooding past them.

Here’s a closer view of the damage the flood water has done to the trackbed. It’s actually washed away part of it and deposited a large amount of ballast and other material on the other side of the fence, where I’m standing. Nearby, homeowners have built makeshift dams to divert the water away from their homes and into the canal.
Water from the blocked culvert seeping through the trackbed. The potential for damage here is obvious as the weight of water can easily cause the formation to shift.

Our Victorian railways simply weren’t designed to withstand this weight of floodwater and rebuilding them to do so would be a horrendously expensive task. I hate to think how much it would cost (and the level of disruption it would cause) just to widen this one culvert.

Menaced by Dennis…

15 Saturday Feb 2020

Posted by in Calder Valley, Flooding, Musings, Railways, Travel

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Today’s been a weird day for several different reasons. It started badly when I logged on to Twitter this morning and found a message from a mutal FBPE (Follow Back Pro Europe) follower where they announced their intention to commit suicide on Valentine’s day. Alarm bells ringing I did a bit of checking and found that it’s almost certain that they went through with it. I’m still trying to process the awful news, especially in light of the information that they left behind. I’m not going to blog about it now as I need time to think about it – because I think their utterly tragic story is worth telling, but I don’t want to cause more harm than good by relating it. My only hope is that this poor tortured soul is finally at peace.

Meanwhile, we seem to have found ourselves menaced by the latest storm. This one, named ‘Dennis’ – arrives just a week after the floods in the Calder Valley that affected Hebden Bridge, Mytholmroyd and Sowerby Bridge. We seem to be back here again in a chain of events that used to be described as ‘once in a lifetime’.

The latest warning is that the River Calder will reach its height at 4am Sunday morning. People have been advised to get their flood defenses ready today, and hope…

The weather’s been pretty crap all day with a combination of high winds and torrential rain that’s running straight off already sodden ground. The pair of us had planned to get out for an hour despite the conditions but in the end circumstances and the climate beat us. I finally ventured as far as the local supermarket a couple of hours ago and got battered by the winds and near horizontal rain. At least on the way back the shopping provided a bit of ballast! Mind you, I also popped in to our ‘local’ for a swift pint and a change of scenery, which also helped. Now I’m back at home, determined to salvage something positive from a pretty negative day.

I’m currently keeping myself occupied by scanning an album of old rail pictures from the summer of 1990. Looking back through them it seems like a different age in so many ways. Not just because how much has changed on the railways, but also because of what I was doing that that stage in my life. In those days I was young, free and single – and in the process of saving up to travel the world. Just over a year later I would pack in my job, pay the rent on my shared flat in London for 12 months and book a single ticket to India. The railways, the UK and my life would look very different when I got back…

Here’s a couple of samples of the pictures I’ve been scanning today, just to show you how much things have changed in 30 years.

Where do I start on this picture? This was taken on the 20th July 1990, from the rear of a train heading South from Stirling in Scotland. You wouldn’t recognise this scene now. For a start, the days of being able to stick your head out of a train window to take a picture like this are gone. So are the old semaphore signals. The goods yard to the right of the picture’s been a car part for years and the view of the station is now dominated by a massive footbridge which crosses the picture from left to right. Oh, and the place has now disappeared under electrified wires as the Scottish Government has rolled out railway electrification North as far as Dunblane.

Here’s another Scottish shot that you wouldn’t recognise now…

On the same day in 1990 a ‘push-pull’ fitted Class 47 backs on to its train at Glasgow Queen Street before working a service to the North of Scotland. Nowadays the skyline beyond is dominated by a massive shopping centre, the Buchanan galleries, and the car-park which was built across the top of the railway to close in a lot of the approaches to the station. This engine (47706) soldiered on for several more years. In November 1990 it was transferred South of the border to Crewe where it became a parcels train locomotive. It lasted in that role until May 1995 when it was stored. A few months later, in August, it was cut up for scrap at Crewe works.

Whilst I’ve been scribbling this the rain has stopped and the wind’s abated. A sign of a positive change – or literally just a lull in the storm? Tomorrow could be interesting…

Storm Ciara floods the Calder Valley.

09 Sunday Feb 2020

Posted by in Calder Valley, Flooding, Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire

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This morning we woke up to the sound of the arrival of storm Ciara as strong winds and driving rain hit the Calder Valley. This is how it looked and sounded from our bedroom at around 10:30.

It’s certainly been a heck of a storm. I can’t remember when I last saw so much torrential rain arrive in such a short time. When it subsided I started checking social media and found that Ciara was already causing chaos in the valley. Both Hebden Bridge and poor Mytholmroyd were flooding, despite the millions that are being spent on new flood defences – especially in the latter town. Then I saw that our own town, Sowerby Bridge was also flooding for only the second time since 1968.

Dropping what I’d been planning to do I donned my waterproofs, grabbed the camera bag and headed out. Here’s a collection of photographs and videos of some of what I saw.

My first port of call was the new bridge over the River Calder which is almost immediately below the house. The bridge itself is a massive modern structure which was in no danger from the floods. Thankfully, the new housing estate which is sandwiched between the river and the canal was also safe, although the canal was also perilously close to overflowing.

The River Calder at Copley. That group of trees normally sit on an island in the middle of the river. Beyond is the embankment of the railway from Halifax to Sowerby Bridge.
A Landrover drives through floods outside the recycling centre on Copley Valley Rd. Much of the road was flooded, cutting of large parts of Sowerby Bridge from the other, including the railway station. The video below shows the level of the water in the Calder immediately behind where I’m standing. You can see the recycling centre through the trees.

Industrial units on Walker Lane on the banks of the Calder are flooded. The river runs behind them. Note the tail lights are illuminated on the red car as the water fuses the electrics

The river is normally flowing to the left here! This container was bobbing up and down gently, but thankfully it hadn’t broken free to drift downstream. Notice the ironworks has got its flood protection barriers in place. I just hope they worked. Further upstream towards the centre of Sowerby Bridge I took the next video which shows the level of water at the bridge by the old Gasworks site.

The river is overflowing into the Calder and Hebble Navigation in central Sowerby Bridge whilst narrowboat owners can only sit it out and hope their homes don’t get beached.
Debris builds up on a bridge across the Calder.
Looking back from the last shot with the railway passing overhead.
The A58, West St is submerged under several feet of water. This is the lowest point in Sowerby Bridge. Behind me is the Calder whilst the Ryburn flows behind these buildings to the left, where it joins the Calder just under the railway bridge. This area bore the brunt of the Boxing Day flooding in 2015.
The view of Sowerby Bridge from the bridge over the Calder.
Flooded properties in central Sowerby Bridge next to the river.
A drowned car in a residential carpark with the river behind.
Water boils under the main bridge across the Calder in the centre of Sowerby bridge whilst detritus builds up against it. Police had closed the bridge due to the flooding on the other side.

16:29.

The storm (for now) has abated. But more gales and rain are forecast later. It’s been impossible for me to get over to Mytholmroyd as the roads are flooded, as is the railway further down the valley at Walsden. So, spare a thought for those who’ve been flooded out of their homes once more.

Here’s a look at the railway at Walsden which graphically illustrates why the Calder Valley line’s closed.

It’s now 23:41 and I’m about to call it a day. I’m lying in bed listening to the wind and the rain beating against the window once more. God knows how things will look in the morning…

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Surrey sojourn.

24 Tuesday Dec 2019

Posted by in Flooding, Musings, Surrey, Tilford, Travel

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It’s Christmas Eve and the Platt family and I have congregated in Surrey, where Darren, my brother-in-law lives with his family. As it’s Darren’s son Sam’s 12th birthday we’re all off to a Spanish restaurant in Guildford to celebrate.

Considering the time of year the weather’s surprisingly mild – if wet! The amount of flooded roads and sodden fields has dropped since we arrived a couple of days ago, but there’s more rain forecast, which could make the traditional Boxing Day stroll a bit of a challenge. You need wellies, not walking boots around here right now.

Even without the rain it’s a challenge to get around as Tilford is partially cut-off do to one of the two bridges over the river Wey that provides access to the village is closed for rebuilding. A temporary pedestrian bridge has been built to allow folk to get to vital services like the local pub, but for vehicles the detour adds miles to the journey. The bridge is expected to remain closed until late 2020, which is causing a lot of grief. I’ll add some pictures later when I get time.

Rolling blog: The judging continues…

29 Monday Jul 2019

Posted by in ACoRP, Calder Valley, Flooding, Mytholmroyd, Northern Rail, Railways, Rolling blogs, Transport, Weather, Yorkshire

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07:49.

I’m on the rails again. This time judging three stations across Yorkshire for the ACoRP awards. After the fun and games we had last week because of the heat, today could be problematic for a different reason. We’ve had torrential rain overnight and there’s more to come. When I walked down to Sowerby Bridge station this morning I did so along roads that were full of debris washed down from some of the steeper roads, which had been transformed into waterfalls. Crossing the river Calder I could see it was way above it’s normal level, although nowhere near its worst. In 2015 it was so high it flooded the lower level of the building you can see to the left of this picture.

Arriving at the station I walked straight on to a very late running 07:00 to Leeds, which was 41 minutes down after being delayed in the Walsden area due to flooding. This is a regular occurrence in the area due to a stream that runs under the line just by the station.

08:58.

I’m now waiting for the 08:48 from Leeds to Hull which is being delayed by flooding in the Stalybridge area. It’s currently 12 minutes kate, putting our 15 mins connection in peril. Not a good start to the day!

10:39.

We were meant to be at Driffield on the Yorkshire coast line 10 mins ago but we did miss our connection in Hull as we were 27 mins late. We’re now on the following service, leaving us 30 mins down. Luckily(due to the vagaries of the service) we’ll still have plenty of time to do our tour.

12:00.

First visit done, we’re now heading back to Hull from Driffield. Here’s a historic picture displayed on the station. It shows WW1 soldiers on the same spot we were stood, ready to go off to a war many of them never returned from

Driffield’s rather attractive. Here’s the old canal basin which is just 3 mins walk from the station

16:15.

The weather’s changed and I’m rather overdressed for the rapid rise in temperature now the sun’s appeared! We’ve left Bingley and headed into Bradford and walked across the city from Forater Sq to Interchange. There’s still residual delays, which means we’ll arrive in Mytholmroyd at the right time – just on the wrong train!

18:19.

The day’s done and I’m back at Sowerby Bridge, having a celebratory pint outside the Jubilee Refreshment rooms on the station before walking home. It’s a beautiful evening and such a contrast to this morning!

Sunday miscellany

11 Sunday Feb 2018

Posted by in Calder Valley, Environment, Flooding, Miscellany, Mytholmroyd, Rail Investment, Rail Moderinsation

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It’s another dismal day here in the Calder Valley as we’ve suffered from high winds and waves of sleet and snow showers. In fact the whole weekend’s been a washout due to the changeable weather. It’s prevented me cycle training and left me catching up with household chores, paperwork and some picture editing.

Some of the pictures are from Friday’s visit to nearby Mytholmroyd, which is still recovering from the devastation caused by the Boxing Day floods of 2016. For those of you unfamiliar with events, have a look at this article from the Guardian newspaper.

Whilst most homes and businesses have now been re-occupied, a row of shops that were sandwiched between the main road and the river Calder were seriously damaged and have been demolished by the Environment Agency, they’ve been replaced with these ‘Lego’ blocks which form part of the new flood defences that are still under construction around the town.

DG289401

The view from the road bridge over the River Calder, showing the new flood defences which occupy the site of former homes and shops.

A few hundred metres up the road, behind the Shoulder of Mutton pub the Environment Agency’s rebuilding the shattered banks of Cragg brook that were overwhelmed. Flooding the pub, nearby homes and the housing estate opposite.

DG289403

Looking upriver along Cragg Brook towards Cragg Vale. The housing estate behind the wall was under several feet of water after the floods.

DG289410

Looking in the opposite direction to the previous photo. The Shoulder of Mutton pub can be seen on the right. The River Calder is a few hundred metres beyond the railway viaduct.

I only hope that once the Environment Agency’s finished the work Mytholmroyd will be protected from such devastation in the future and the problem isn’t simply moved downriver…

On another front, the resignalling of the Calder Valley line is continuing apace. More and more new signals are springing up along the route. Some are straight replacements for older signalling such as this pair at Mytholmroyd where the new signal has been moved forwards

DG289394

Others are new, installed to reduce the size of the signalling sections, such as this one in Sowerby Bridge which is protecting the station.

DG289502

What’s immediately noticeable about the new signalposts is the absence of ladders that previously allowed S&T staff to reach the signal head. These have been made redundant as the post is hinged at the base so that it can be lowered to the ground.

It’s now Sunday evening and the weather’s deteriorated as the temperature dropped. One minute you could see the other side of the valley – the next you were lucky to see 50 metres!

20180211_152624

The calm before the next storm. Looking down over Sowerby Bridge from by the Wainhouse Tower. The next snowstorm is coming in from the West  (to the right of the picture).

The wind whipped the snow flurries so that they were almost horizontal. Then, suddenly – blue skies would appear, giving a blissful few minutes peace before the next lot of flakes stormed in. We abandoned attempts to go walking and sought solace in the local pub for an hour of fun and laughter with friends.

20180211_155200

The Big 6 is a traditional pub of the old school. There’s no wifi or TV, you go there to drink good beer and engage in conversation with people. Beer like this…

20180209_183602

After the pub the two of us settled in for a productive evening at home. Dawn had promised to make another batch of her Thai style chilli pickle so the pair of us spent ages cutting up a large bowl full of red and green chillies which produced these jars full of weapons-grade pickle for ourselves and some friends.

20180211_210429

This stuff isn’t for the faint-hearted & should probably be banned under the Geneva convention – especially the next morning when its had chance to work its way through your digestive system. Johnny Cash summed up the effects perfectly…

Goodnight folks!

 

 

 

More on the Calder valley line

24 Friday Mar 2017

Posted by in Calder Valley, Engineering, Flooding, Mytholmroyd, Network Rail, Northern Powerhouse, Rail Investment, Railways, Yorkshire

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As the weather was meant to be good yesterday I took a little trip down the Calder valley line to Mytholmroyd, one of the towns which was badly hit by the Boxing Day floods of 2015. Nearly 15 months later, Mytholmroyd is still struggling to recover from the devastation. Although both the pubs have reopened, they’re still showing the effects. The Shoulder of Mutton’s beer garden backs on to Cragg Brook which burst its banks that day, flooding the whole area under several feet of water. Here’s what the brook and beer garden look like today. Giant ‘Lego’ blocks act as a bulwark against the brook, but take up all the beer garden!

DG267761. Flood repairs. Mytholmroyd. W Yorks. 23.3.17

The Environment agency is currently working on strengthening the towns flood defences, so I’m hoping that this is only a temporary measure.

It’s not just businesses that suffered in the floods. I passed several homes along the brook which are still empty as the owners are waiting for them to be renovated or dry out. Whilst the floods no longer make the news it’s clear the effects linger, even if the TV cameras  don’t.

The reason for my visit  wasn’t to gawk at the damage caused by the floods, it was to have a look at another of the worksites on the railway West of the station as a follow up to my earlier blog on the Calder line modernisation. There’s several footbridges on this stretch. Most of them have been renewed over the past few years and replaced with high sided metal structures suitable for electrified lines. What they’re not good for is photography – unless you’re carrying a ladder. However, one stone arch bridge remains at the end of Erringden Rd. Wide enough for a road, it’s now just a footpath. It cuts right across what will be one of the sites for where track renewal will be taking this coming weekend (25-26th March) – as you can see from this shot.

DG267764. Preparing to relay the track. Mytholmroyd. W Yorks. 23.3.17

Looking back East towards Mytholmroyd station. The Up line on the right was renewed back in January 2014. Lights and matting have been left in the cess next to Down line which will be renewed this weekend. New rail has been dropped in the four-foot of the Up line. In the background is one of the new footbridges. The two signals seen here are controlled by Hebden Bridge signalbox, which will be abolished as part of the resignalling scheme. No new cable troughing has been laid in this area but the existing troughs have had broken or missing lids replaced.

For reference, this next view was taken back in January 2014, looking back to the bridge I was standing on today.

DG168579. Relaying the Up Main. Mytholmroyd. 19.1.14.

Renewal of the Up line in January 2014

Whilst I was in the area I had chance to get a shot of one of the new freight flows that use the line. Last summer, GBRf started hauling stone from Arcow quarry on the Settle-Carlisle line through to Bredbury or Pendleton in Manchester. The trains run as Q services (Q=as required) and have several different paths allocated for them to use in the timetable, so they’re a bit unpredictable. I only found this one was running a few hours before it did. Here’s 66725 hauling 6M38, the 11.25 Arcow quarry to Bredbury.

DG267801. 66725. 6M38. Arcow Quarry - Bredbury stone. Mytholmroyd. W Yorks. 23.3.17

If you want to see the location on google maps. Use this link.

 

The anti Hs2 mobs crocodile tears over flooding

27 Sunday Dec 2015

Posted by in Anti Hs2 mob, Flooding, Hs2

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As the North of England & parts of Wales count the costs of the Boxing day floods the anti Hs2 mobs cynicism levels are full to overflowing.

Desperate for any opportunity to try & revive their dying campaign they’re cynically exploiting the floods to call for Hs2 money to be diverted to flood defences – just like they did last time (and the time before that). It seems opposition to Hs2 has a fantastic affect on people’s intellect: Not only does it automatically make you a rail expert – it also makes you  flood experts and a whiz at economics!

My local town (Sowerby Bridge) is one of those that’s been badly affected. It’s flooded for the first time since 1968. What the anti Hs2 geniuses will never understand is expensive flood defences wouldn’t have make the slightest bit of difference as such an unusual event couldn’t have been predicted. What would make a difference is something that would cost very little money – a change of Government land use policy. These interesting articles from George Monbiot explain the issues. It’s not about turning our rivers and streams into sterile storm drains & scarring our landscape – it’s preventing the bloody floodwater from getting to them in such catastrophic quantities!

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/17/farmers-uk-flood-maize-soil-protection

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/13/flooding-public-spending-britain-europe-policies-homes

Of course, none of this suits the anti Hs2 mobs agenda, so it will be ignored. Then again, so will their ridiculous either/or flood defences or Hs2 comparisons. Wiser heads have always prevailed when it comes to building Hs2.

UPDATE;

A couple of days on and the anti Hs2 mob have got worse. This tweet is pretty typical.

Cutler floods

Hs2 would be “underwater” eh? No. It’s complete tosh. The area in question is the Aire Valley flood plain. Hs2 will cross it on a couple of viaducts, the longest of which will be 2335m long! You can find the detailed plans here.

As usual, the anti Hs2 mob never let the facts get in the way…