Muddyboots

Follow the fortunes of Muddyboots & Family on their East Yorkshire farm which has changed from dairy farm to luxury ice cream manufacture

Tuesday 26 June 2007

time to take stock....

the past 24 hours have seen what the met office is calling the wettest June ever. East Yorkshire has had continuous rain for a period of 24 hours. Flood water rushed along main roads & country lanes like ragging torrents, reaching depths of 4 to 5 feet.

Villages, towns & cities were cut off from the outside world, whilst here on our little hill we watched with horror & amazement at the events unfurling before our very eyes.

Yesterday evening Harry was out in one of the tractors rescuing drivers marooned in flooded cars, driving through depths of water that if his father had known about, he would have been banned for ever from driving a tractor again! Harry & Ben, trawled the lanes checking abandoned vehicles & trying to prevent the foolish from attempting to drive through river depth floods.

This morning, although the sky was still overcast, it did have some texture promising an altogether better sort of day. Went down to the beach first thing, the footpath was still flooded in places, Gordon thought this was great fun wading through but Lucy-Piglet, a more sensitive soul, was a little concerned that her 'rabbit run' was under about a foot & a half of water.

The cliff face too had not escaped undamaged. Water of any description does not work well with boulder clay & sure enough large landslips had been taking place, turning the clay to a very runny chocolate sauce consistency. Shanty Town is now on the brink of extinction. This caravan was making its way gracefully down to the beach whilst this morning, l would imagine, the hut dwellers would have had to get out of bed very gingerly indeed to prevent any downward movement.

Out and about this morning, villages were still impassible. Hull, well put it this way, we didn't even attempt to deliver to Hull Truck Theatre. There are cars & buses abandoned every where. People are, as so often the case, having to fend for themselves.

What is interesting and a point mooted by Harry last night was that the police seemed unable to cope. They were closing roads off, which was a good point, but in doing so appeared to have no plan in place as to where to send cars that were being diverted. Cars were still attempting to pass through deep water sending 'bow waves' washing towards the already flooded houses.

Today, hardly a policeman has been seen, villages blocked by flood water have had no 'road closed' signs, to prevent through traffic from getting stuck. As usual, with adverse weather conditions, utter chaos prevailed.

13 comments:

Sally Townsend said...

Fantastic pics muddyboots, it's feeling a bit brrrrr here in Dorset I must say, hope conditions are improving for you.

Anonymous said...

Yes, love the pics. Terrible business all this. I feel very lucky living on top of a hill. We get a flooded burn every so often and a few sodden fields but nothing we can really complain about. My heart goes out to the poor souls who have lost their lives in all this and of course their families who are now living with the dreadful consequences.

Crystal x

snailbeachshepherdess said...

have you noticed the awful stink as well? When we have floods in the cold weather you dont notice the smell...but this time of year...it is vile!

Woozle1967 said...

Our cottage is safe up on the edge of our hamlet, but all the lanes that lead towards Ledbury from here are mini reservoirs. There just doesn't seem to be anywhere for the water to go - even the ditches are full of water. Amazing pics.x

Suffolkmum said...

They are amazing and quite shocking pics, even though I've seen it all on the news, I can hardly believe it's happened. It seemed from watching the news that people were complaining about the stench - that's soething you don't really think of. i think the impotence of the 'authorty' figures is one of the most scary things.

Kitty said...

thankfully we're on higher ground too, but the bottom of the field is flooded - well, we did say we wanted a pond! When will it stop? it's cold and yes, SBS, smelly too.

Pig in the Kitchen said...

god, what a nightmare, I hope your house is safe and sound. Had not thought about bow waves, that's like twisting the knife isn't it?
Makes my paltry sewage flooded cellar last week seem laughable.

Mutterings and Meanderings said...

Good god... perhaps the Jehovah's witnesses are right after all and the end really is nigh!

Milkmaid said...

I've been wondering how you have been getting on with the floods, glad to hear your'e still ok. we just keep getting a stream thru the yard as the beck breaks it's banks, 3 times in 10 days no tarmac left it's all now at the bottom of the yard

Gwen said...

They are great pictures but the situation looks very scary. You seem to have got the worst of the flooding where you are. Suffolk Mum makes a good point about the fact that the Authorities should be doing something to help. I take it that they haven't. If not they should be doing something very fast.

Andres, JCT said...

wow!

Elizabeth Musgrave said...

hope things are looking better now. heard from cca today that she had been speaking to you. we are up a hill and our very steep lane ran like a river on monday but never seen pictures like these. here's hoping the weekend will be ok.

Pondside said...

What a disaster! Your photos say it all. I have been following on the news, as it has finally become an item of interest over here. I pray that your family remains safe through all of this!

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