We're approaching the 10th anniversary of the first of Rhuthun/Ruthin's autumnal floods, the floods that made headline news not just in Wales but in the UK.
What caused the flooding? It was an unfortunate convergence of things. We'd had rain for 25 days out of October 2000's 30. As a result, the land above Rhuthun was saturated to the point that the water table could take no more. With a particularly heavy storm during the afternoon of 29th and even heavier downpours still during the early hours of 30th, we took almost two inches of rain, but this would have been significantly more on the hills themselves.
Yet more and even heavier rain was to follow in early November. Indeed, over the 24-hour period from 3 p.m on 5th November 2010, Rhuthun saw nearly three inches of almost continuous storm conditions.
Because of the height and condition of the water table, this very quickly fed into rivers and as run off. The surge was enough to breach the Clwyd's banks in several places. Added to which, the Mwrog Street culvert could not cope with the volume of water. It was also reported as blocked. Assisted by a lorry cracking the culvert's surface, water took the direct course of running along Mwrog Street and into people’s homes.
The result was an almost continuous lake along Mwrog Street, across Crispen Yard, the bottom of Clwyd Street and along Borthyn, punctuated only by the bridge over the Clwyd by Bridge Services.
This was but one of three floods affecting this part of Rhuthun, over the following 12 months. Not only that, there were numerous occasions when the town was on alert, with sandbags being distributed.
To be continued…
What caused the flooding? It was an unfortunate convergence of things. We'd had rain for 25 days out of October 2000's 30. As a result, the land above Rhuthun was saturated to the point that the water table could take no more. With a particularly heavy storm during the afternoon of 29th and even heavier downpours still during the early hours of 30th, we took almost two inches of rain, but this would have been significantly more on the hills themselves.
Yet more and even heavier rain was to follow in early November. Indeed, over the 24-hour period from 3 p.m on 5th November 2010, Rhuthun saw nearly three inches of almost continuous storm conditions.
Because of the height and condition of the water table, this very quickly fed into rivers and as run off. The surge was enough to breach the Clwyd's banks in several places. Added to which, the Mwrog Street culvert could not cope with the volume of water. It was also reported as blocked. Assisted by a lorry cracking the culvert's surface, water took the direct course of running along Mwrog Street and into people’s homes.
The result was an almost continuous lake along Mwrog Street, across Crispen Yard, the bottom of Clwyd Street and along Borthyn, punctuated only by the bridge over the Clwyd by Bridge Services.
This was but one of three floods affecting this part of Rhuthun, over the following 12 months. Not only that, there were numerous occasions when the town was on alert, with sandbags being distributed.
To be continued…
Tags:
Flooding