Project: Gloucestershire - Tewkesbury, with Worcestershire - Upton-upon-Severn.

No. 1 - 4: 2007 UNITED KINGDOM FLOODS

(Duration: 1 June 2007— 26 July 2007

(Gloucestershire: 20 - 26 July 2007)

Damages: about £6 billion

Fatalities: 13

over the counties indicated below, but concentrating on Gloucestershire.)

 

The 2007 United Kingdom floods were a series of destructive floods that occurred in various areas across the country during the summer of 2007. The most severe floods occurred across Northern Ireland on 12 June; East Yorkshire and The Midlands on 15 June; Yorkshire, The Midlands, Gloucestershire and Worcestershire on 25 June; and Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire and South Wales on 28 July.

 

June was one of the wettest months on record in Britain. Average rainfall across England was 140 millimetres (5.5 in), more than double the June average. Some areas received a month's worth of precipitation in just 24 hours. It was Britain's wettest May–July since records began (in 1776). July had unusually unsettled weather and above-average rainfall through the month, peaking on 20 July as an active frontal system dumped more than 120 millimetres (4.7 in) of rain in southern England.

 

Civil and military authorities described the June and July rescue efforts as the biggest in peacetime Britain. The Environment Agency described the July floods as critical and expected them to exceed the 1947 benchmark.

 

Meteorological background

June 2007 started quietly with an anticyclone to the north of the United Kingdom maintaining a dry, cool easterly flow. From 10 June the high pressure began to break down as an upper trough moved into the area, triggering thunderstorms that caused flooding in Northern Ireland on 12 June.

 

Later that week, a slow moving area of low pressure from the west of Biscay moved east across the British Isles. At the same time, an associated occluded front moved into Northern England, becoming very active as it did so with the peak rainfall on 15 June. Rainfall records were broken across the region, leading to localised flooding. As it weakened, the front moved north into Scotland on 16 June and left England and Wales with a very unstable airmass, frequent heavy showers, thunderstorms and cloudy conditions. This led to localised flash flooding and prevented significant drying where earlier rains had fallen.

 

On 25 June another unseasonably low pressure (993 hPa / 29.3 inHg) depression moved across England. The associated front settled over Eastern England and dumped more than 100 mm (3.9 in) of rain in places. The combination of high rainfall and high water levels from the earlier rainfall led to extensive flooding across many parts of England and Wales, with the Midlands, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, South, West and East Yorkshire the most affected. Gales along the east coast also caused storm damage. RAF Fylingdales on the North Yorkshire Moors reported rainfall totals of 103 mm (4.1 in) in 24 hours, an estimated 100 mm (3.9 in) in Hull and 77 mm (3 in) on Emley Moor in West Yorkshire. The average monthly total for June for the whole UK is 72.6 mm (2.9 in).

 

On 27 June, the Met Office released an early warning of severe weather for the approaching weekend, stating that 20 to 50 mm (–2 in) of rain could fall in some areas, raising the possibility of more flooding within the already saturated flood plains.

 

On 20 July, another active frontal system moved across Southern England. Many places recorded a month's rainfall or more in one day. The Met Office at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire reported 126.6 mm (5 in): a sixth of its annual rainfall. The college at Pershore in Worcestershire reported 142.2 mm (5.6 in), causing the Environment Agency to issue 16 further severe flood warnings. By 21 July, many towns and villages were flooded, with Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Warwickshire, Wiltshire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, London and South Wales facing the brunt of the heavy rainfall.

 

Climate researchers have suggested that the unusual weather leading to the floods may be linked to this year's appearance of La Nina in the Pacific Ocean, and the jet stream being further south than normal.

 

Affected areas in England.

England was affected by the June and July floods, with the North badly hit in June, the West badly hit in July, and many areas hit in both. It was England's wettest July on record.

 

I am just giving details for Gloucestershire here! However to discover about other counties please check out

www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_UnitedKi…

 

Gloucestershire

Severe flooding in Tewkesbury

 

Gloucestershire was the worst affected county - with both some minor flooding in June, and major flooding in July.

 

On 17 July, a father and his 24 year old son died from asphyxiation due to carbon monoxide poisoning after using a petrol-powered pump to pump water out of the unventilated Tewkesbury Rugby Football Club cellar.

 

On the night of Friday 20 July an Amphicar was used to ferry fish fingers to over 100 school children who were stranded by floodwater at Tewkesbury High School.

 

On 22 July, Gloucester City A.F.C.'s Stadium was flooded. Tewkesbury was completely cut off with no road access, parts of the town were under around 3 feet (0.9 m) of water and flood waters entered Tewkesbury Abbey for the first time in 247 years. Tewkesbury's Mythe Water Treatment Works were flooded, threatening drinking water supplies to 350,000 people, and Severn Trent Water warned that treated water would run out by early Sunday evening in Tewkesbury, Cheltenham and Gloucester. Combined military and civil emergency services tried to stop floods reaching the Walham electricity substation in Gloucester supplying half a million people.

 

On 23 July 50,000 Gloucestershire homes were left without electricity after a major electricity substation in Castle Meads, Gloucester was turned off due to the flood.

 

On 24 July, the battle to save the Walham substation succeeded, stopping flood waters just short of entry and the Castle Meads substation was repaired, restoring power supplies.

 

By 24 July 420,000 people were without drinking water, including most of the population of Gloucester, Cheltenham, and Tewkesbury. Emergency services continued repair work at the Mythe water-treatment works but Severn Trent Water estimated that water supplies would not be restored for at least fourteen days. 900 drinking water bowsers were brought in and the Army was mobilised to distribute three million bottles of water a day and keep the bowsers filled.

 

On 25 July, Coors, Carlsberg, Scottish and Newcastle, Inbev and Greene King brewing companies offered 23 beer tankers to help supply drinking water.

 

On 26 July Severn Trent Water organised a temporary water supply to 10,000 homes in Tewkesbury;] the water was suitable for use in toilets and for washing, but not to drink. It was not until 7 August, 16 days after Mythe Treatment Works stopped pumping, that the tap water for the 140,000 homes affected was considered safe as drinking water.

 

By 29 July, Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service had attended 31,800 calls in an 48 hour period. Normally they attend 2,000 in a year.

 

On 28 July, a body was recovered in Tewkesbury. It was that of a 19-year old Mitchell Taylor who had gone missing on 21 July.

 

Timeline for this flooding:

* 20-26 July:

 

England (Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Gloucestershire, Greater London, Herefordshire, Lincolnshire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, Wiltshire, Worcestershire),

 

Aftermath

Rescue effort

 

Following the flooding in late June, the rescue effort was described by the Fire Brigades Union as the "biggest in peacetime Britain". Following the flooding in July, the RAF said it is carrying out its biggest ever peacetime rescue operation.

The Environment Agency described the situation as "critical".

www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_UnitedKi…

 

Larger size:-

farm3.static.flickr.com/2529/4006788968_2aaf4a208c_b.jpg

 

Taken on:-

August 29, 2007 at 12:54 BST

 

Done