Truly Awash

Boating in 2012 was a trial, with drought up to March and flood thereafter. There are too many blog entries here called "Awash" and "Nene Floods" for my liking!
There's an excellent page from the BBC here showing the rainfall stats and musing on the climate. 
They do rather better than the Met Office to put across complex data for public consumption.
A nostalgic look back on our floods in the eastern region takes me to
May 1st
May 9th
not forgetting the Royal Pageant (very wet in the afternoon)
June 30th
July 13th
November 22nd and pretty well every entry in November!
 Actually it looks as if we did nothing but moan about rain all year!
Here's to a brighter 2013.

Nene Floods 2

Driving through Cambridge at Fen Causeway and also across Port Holme at Huntingdon I see a lot of water, but John alerts me to the floods which are hitting the Nene in a big way!
The EA is recording near record heights at Lilford tonight, November 25th:

and at Oundle Marina staff have closed the chandlery and are going around checking moorings.

MARINA NEWS

Sunday 25th November. The water is very high in the marina and moorers may not be able to get to their boats. The staff & Environment Agency are out making sure that boats are not tied up too tightly. If you are coming to the marina today please do not put yourself or anyone else in danger.

We'll be OK at our pontoon in a safe basin, but how would you feel if you'd tried to save a few quid by leaving your boat at some godforsaken spot on the river?
This is Tewkesbury in 2007. From the M5 we clearly saw boats  of all kinds washed up and subsequently stranded on fields bordering the river at Tewkesbury.

 
 Later News ... "Lock mooring has become detached from Lilford Lock and is on its way down river towards Upper Barnwell Lock"
From Canal World Discussion Forum. 
And flooding pics here from ITV news.

Nene Floods

Popping across to care for Patience (see next blog) it became clear that there's an awful lot of water in the rivers around here.
At Huntingdon, Port Holme was awash and the race course was also flooded.
First the road leading to Oundle was partly flooded, then passing Barnwell Upper Lock we noticed water was pouring fiercely over the lock gates.

Further on, the marina levels were higher than usual but under the bridge at Oundle the river had burst its banks and was belting along at a great rate.
So once more, thank you The Environment Agency's  Floodline, with your warning:
Strong Stream Advice has been issued for the River Nene. Several locks on the River Nene are closed to navigation and are being used to discharge flood waters.

The Environment Agency strongly advises against attempting to boat on the River Nene. River flows are above normal and head-room at some sites will be restricted.
And thanks for your flood maps ...

... some of which are clearer than others!

Boat Stuck in River Nene

Since we moved from the Ouse to the Nene we've become increasingly aware of the unpredictability of the river and have faithfully signed up for Floodline advice.
Here's what can happen if you don't ... This is Ditchford lock near Northampton. But we note that Gurnamore got stuck on Thursday 1st Nov - and we received our flood warning at 9.35 on that day. Were the warning notices in place by the time they arrived? Had the locks already been "reversed" and the helmsman noticed too late? Here's a description on reversing locks, by the Environment Agency.

John has often quizzed me about "what I would do if ..." and here's a real poser.
The real answer is that you wouldn't set out if there is a Floodline warning and if the river is moving uncomfortably fast. I understand the owners of Gurnamore thought they'd signed up for Floodline but had not done so for the Nene. Perhaps this is a case for blaming the division between the EA and the CRT. Of course the Nene and the Middle Levels are used not only for leisure boating but also as a drainage system taking water from the East Midlands out to The Wash and surges of water are common. The EA has a different job from the CRT.

Evidently the boat was going downstream, west to east in this aerial view, heading for the lock to starboard then - perhaps because he was travelling too fast with the stream and would have hit the guillotine - slewed over to port, maybe hit the edge of the island and the force of the stream swung him round across the line of the green weir floats. Thank heavens he didn't keep on going ....
I feel sorry for the unhappy couple and their frightening experience, but am bound to say that if the water gets too fast or the conditions too challenging, it's far better to moor up and sit it out - even on the Nene, where good moorings are few and far between. Easy to say of course; tempting to plough on regardless; so hard to judge how fast the stream is while you're afloat; and if you're already scudding along at 6mph can your full power in full reverse actually stop you? I'm sure we couldn't stop in a straight line ....

* For more on this, including a video clip go to ITV News.
* For more pictures and for details of the two owners (who abandoned ship safely) read The Daily Mail.
* For details of the River Canal Rescue operation read this article.
* For detailed advice on coping with a narrow boat in fast river conditions read the thoughtful comments on Canal World. They are the best answers to John's quiz.
And anyone who thinks it's easy to cope in these conditions should read those comments very carefully indeed. There but for fortune go you or I ....

Strong Stream Advice

Strong Stream Advice (SSA) is a valuable service published by the Environment Agency to warn of fast moving water in their rivers. Phone the 24 hour SSA hotline: 0845 988 1188. Choose option 1 and listen to the pre-recorded information followed by one of these quick dial codes:
    •    Nene - 032112
    •    Great Ouse - 033211

Since we left the haven of The Lazy Otter on the Old West River we have made progress only as far as March Marina, having been held up in our progress to Oundle on the Nene by a combination of SSAs and our busy schedules on other matters.
Now we have signed up for the EA's email and text alerts for flooding and SSAs (call Floodline on 0845 988 1188).
Here's the latest:

Wednesday July 11th
From the Environment Agency
"The Strong Stream Advice issued for the River Nene has been cancelled. Locks that were closed to discharge flood water have been re-opened."
Hurrah!

Friday July 13th
"Strong Stream Advice has been issued for the River Nene. Several locks on the River Nene are closed to navigation and are being used to discharge flood waters.
The Environment Agency strongly advises against attempting to boat on the River Nene."
Aaaagh!

Missed the 2 day window of opportunity! We envisage another month or so at March Marina instead of our new home at Oundle.
We dream enviously of our former moorings at the calm and lazy Otter.
Will this downpour never end?!
Are other folks having similar problems? Share your stories!

Still Awash

In pursuit of more information on how the current flooding (May 8th 2012) is affecting our boating area, John pulled on his waders and visited St Ives...

... where he found a car casually mooring up at the Ferryboat Inn at Holywell.

Both gates of the St Ives Lock are still open with water cascading through, though further up river at Godmanchester, while the sluices and weirs are working hard to thunderous effect, the lock is calm and usable.

Nice riverside pub. Nice car. Swap for a used narrow boat?

Alarmed!

I remain inconvenienced by the floods and I know the Environment Agency is, quite naturally, concerned. Some boaters may be really worried - but this sign on the EA building at Hermitage lock, Earith, indicates the building itself is alarmed.

Is this like a security setting - red warning, black alert? Or maybe lock buildings have feelings too ....

It reminds me of the story about Noah Webster, author of the great US dictionary :
Going unexpectedly into the parlour of their house one day, Mrs. Webster discovered her husband embracing their maid.
"Noah, I am surprised!" she exclaimed.
Webster released the maid and re-assumed his professional dignity.
"No, my dear," he corrected his wife, "it is I who am surprised; you are merely astonished."

Awash!

So that was the wettest April since records began!
I think that's put paid to our plan to pootle along the Ouse to Bedford this week. I took a circuitous route to Godmanchester today, going via Stretham to check on Patience (lying quietly at her moorings, dry as a bone inside, though the gas lockers and the engine room have a bit of water swilling around) then on to Earith (locks closed until at least the weekend, water meadows awash and the channel invisible) and St Ives (channel awash).

Water Meadows at Earith, by Hermitage Lock 1st May 2012

Here at Godmanchester the water level has subsided by a good 6 inches, though it's still flowing fast and Port Holme remains virtually impassable on foot. The forecast is some improvement for a couple of days but more rain at the weekend.

Time to chuck another log on the wood burner and get stuck in to that long novel you've brought with you.

The Ouse in Spate

End of April and we're planning a trip at the end of the week. But what about the weather? Yesterday was the rainest day I can remember in Cambridge. One of those days where you look out of the window and fall back into bed because it's too grim to contemplate...
But wife and friends were running a 10k run along the Cam in the morning so I valiantly set forth to support them, which involved standing in the rain for an hour and a bit, protecting my camera from the downpour and snapping away when they hove into view. They all did really well (though the organisers seem to have lost Jenny's time through some electronic chip failure) and as we stomped off into the warmth of a Chesterton living room the brave rowers continue to stroke back and forth up the Cam, wet through, but oblivious.
But while yesterday was a day for hunkering down and avoiding the outdoors, today dawns warm and dry, so I was in optimistic spirits when I set off for Godmanchester - only to find the river in full spate, the lock and sluices full to the brim of raging water, the recreation ground and much of Port Holme flooded.
I'm glad to say there were no boats out except those in secure moorings, as the speed of water would be easily enough to cause serious problems. It was surely going faster than Patience could go at top speed, and assuming it's the same at Earith, cruisers could probably not fit under the bridge nor even see the channel below the flooded fields.

Here's a pic I took a couple of years ago, last time the Ouse burst its banks at Godmanchester. Not quite so bad today, but not a day for taking Patience out. This scene is normally a lush green lawn looking out onto a gentle river with a grassy recreation ground beyond!
However amongst the rushing through the sluices and the occasional tree trunk charging past I did see a ten minute battle between a gannet and an eel. The gannet had the eel firmly in its beak but couldn't easily get it down its throat. The eel put up a fierce fight, even after it had eventually disappeared down the bird's gullet, and for some time afterwards the gannet was twisted into spasms while the eel continue to try to escape from the stomach. A rare sight in warm sunshine, made possible by the great downpour of the last week.
When will the river slow down to let Patience out? The friendly chaps from the EA couldn't tell me, but they were wearing conspicuous life jackets .... This has officially been the rainiest April since records began over 100 years ago.