It was during the afternoon & evening of the 5th and early morning of 6th November 2000—exactly 10 years ago—that Rhuthun/Ruthin saw its heaviest rain, rain that would lead directly to the worst floods in town in living memory.
10 years ago, the backdrop had been an extremely wet October. For 25 of its 30 days, Rhuthun had seen rain. That rain continued on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd November. There was a break on the 4th. And then the deluge came.
That deluge was in the shape of a heavy storm that began in the early afternoon and continued for nearly 24 hours. Heaviest on the hills above Rhuthun, it affected the catchment of the River Clwyd as it sweeps round and down from Coedwig Clocaenog Forest. It also charged the tributary stream that flows through Mwrog Street. By the end of October 2000, land in the catchment was already at capacity and it could not soak up any more rain.
In fact, there were three separate episodes at about this time.
The early November 2000 floods were described at the time as being a one in a hundred years event. Two further floods in the following 18 months were minor by comparison. There were a also number of flood alerts. There had previously been minor flooding in about 1998, owing to a blockage in the Mwrog Street culvert. Before that, in the early 1960s, there was very localised flooding around the Clwyd Street bridge. It was back in 1931 that flooding was anything like as bad as in 2000.
Back in 2000, there were also floods in Corwen, Yr Wyddgrug/Mold and Llanelwy/St Asaph.
Compare today and last month with October & November 2000. Yesterday, Thursday, was windy all day and wet from late afternoon. There've been far fewer rainy days this year. If anything, it’s been drier than average. As if to empathise, though, the weather forecast for today and tonight is rain, plus more rain on each of Saturday, Sunday and Monday nights.
10 years ago, the backdrop had been an extremely wet October. For 25 of its 30 days, Rhuthun had seen rain. That rain continued on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd November. There was a break on the 4th. And then the deluge came.
That deluge was in the shape of a heavy storm that began in the early afternoon and continued for nearly 24 hours. Heaviest on the hills above Rhuthun, it affected the catchment of the River Clwyd as it sweeps round and down from Coedwig Clocaenog Forest. It also charged the tributary stream that flows through Mwrog Street. By the end of October 2000, land in the catchment was already at capacity and it could not soak up any more rain.
In fact, there were three separate episodes at about this time.
- On 30th October, water entered many properties along Mwrog Street. This resulted from a culvert collapse.
- On 5th/6th November, Mwrog Street was again affected, owing to a surge in the culvert. The banks of the Clwyd overflowed, causing flooding in Clwyd Street, Crispin Yard, Park Road and Borthyn. The same houses in Mwrog Street saw flooding plus many more, plus those elsewhere in that vicinity.
- On 10th November, Mwrog Street again saw flooding but none entered housing, on that occasion.
- Properties and businesses along Mwrog Street (twice), Borthyn and the lower part of Clwyd Street & Crispin Yard were all flooded.
- There was localised flooding outside the town.
- Several roads suffered slippages on 5th/6th November. The damage to roads was only rectified some years later.
- Significant acreage of agricultural found themselves under water.
- Flooding of the Denbigh Road sub-station resulted in a loss of electricity for much of the town. Telephones were out of action for several hours, owing to the loss of power.
The early November 2000 floods were described at the time as being a one in a hundred years event. Two further floods in the following 18 months were minor by comparison. There were a also number of flood alerts. There had previously been minor flooding in about 1998, owing to a blockage in the Mwrog Street culvert. Before that, in the early 1960s, there was very localised flooding around the Clwyd Street bridge. It was back in 1931 that flooding was anything like as bad as in 2000.
Back in 2000, there were also floods in Corwen, Yr Wyddgrug/Mold and Llanelwy/St Asaph.
Compare today and last month with October & November 2000. Yesterday, Thursday, was windy all day and wet from late afternoon. There've been far fewer rainy days this year. If anything, it’s been drier than average. As if to empathise, though, the weather forecast for today and tonight is rain, plus more rain on each of Saturday, Sunday and Monday nights.
Tags:
Flooding