Over the last few months of changeable weather, there have been a lot of flooded roads and problems with standing water... After heavy rainfall, I occasionally have to turn round when trying to leave the village and seek alternative routes as there are certain points where the water tends to flood across the road. Over the Christmas period, some families in Bedford had to leave their homes.
GaugeMap is a great way of testing the level of your local river from a distance.
All of the gauges can be followed on Twitter, have widgets embedded, and show the risk of flooding with a colour coded dot on the map.
The site also has other data, such as groundwater levels.
Many of us drive over rivers on the way to work or school.
How many do you think you drive over?
Now check an OS map along the route to see all the various hidden channels that are culverted under the road, or have a small bridge which is not obvious when you cross it in your car.
I've just done that, and my route to work means that I cross the following channels:
- The Lexham Broad Water (when it's rained a lot and overflows)
- The River Nar (which also skirts the road for several miles)
- Drainage channels near Barton Bendish
- The Lode Dike
- Numerous channels near Denver
- Cut off Channel of the River Great Ouse and associated channels
- The River Wissey
- The Ten Foot Drain and associated channels
- The Decoy Drain and associated channels near Southery
- The Great Ouse
- The River Lark
- Sandall's Cut
Admittedly, driving across the Fens means that I probably get a higher score than most.... plus my commute is almost 50 miles long, so also a bit longer than most.
One of the roads I pass the end of is the causeway to Welney, where there is a WWT reserve.
This is often flooded during the winter, causing a long detour.
This diagram above shows the days when it was flooded, and the drop in level which then allowed the road to reopen...
GaugeMap is a great way of testing the level of your local river from a distance.
All of the gauges can be followed on Twitter, have widgets embedded, and show the risk of flooding with a colour coded dot on the map.
The site also has other data, such as groundwater levels.
Many of us drive over rivers on the way to work or school.
How many do you think you drive over?
Now check an OS map along the route to see all the various hidden channels that are culverted under the road, or have a small bridge which is not obvious when you cross it in your car.
I've just done that, and my route to work means that I cross the following channels:
- The Lexham Broad Water (when it's rained a lot and overflows)
- The River Nar (which also skirts the road for several miles)
- Drainage channels near Barton Bendish
- The Lode Dike
- Numerous channels near Denver
- Cut off Channel of the River Great Ouse and associated channels
- The River Wissey
- The Ten Foot Drain and associated channels
- The Decoy Drain and associated channels near Southery
- The Great Ouse
- The River Lark
- Sandall's Cut
Admittedly, driving across the Fens means that I probably get a higher score than most.... plus my commute is almost 50 miles long, so also a bit longer than most.
This is often flooded during the winter, causing a long detour.
This diagram above shows the days when it was flooded, and the drop in level which then allowed the road to reopen...
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