Floods misery hits motorists and homeowners

4:24pm Sunday 8th July 2012 in Local News By James Tourgout

STALLED: The A37 at Stratton (Picture: Ruth Meech) STALLED: The A37 at Stratton (Picture: Ruth Meech)

FLOOD warnings are still in place for many rivers in Dorset.

They include the Upper Frome at Dorchester, the Bride at Burton Bradstock and Litton Cheney, the Upper Frome from Dorchester to Maiden Newton and the Char at Charmouth.

The One World Festival on King's Road playing fields in Dorchester has been cancelled.

Radipole Lake in Weymouth burst its banks, flooding nearby car parks and roads - including Radipole Park Drive.

Motorists on the A35 from Bridport to Dorchester still face hold-ups and delays.

The area around Winterbourne Abbas is particularly badly hit.

Police said latest report show the following issues although these are subject to change:

* Localised flooding in Winterbourne Abbas, Winterbourne Steepleton and Martinstown.

* Large volumes of traffic using B3159 due to closure of the A35 at Winterbourne.

* The Bridport and Weymouth B3157 coast road is now open.

* Concerns have been raised about the bridge in Burton Bradstock, but police are monitoring the situation.

* Water is still several foot deep at Stourpaine.

* A hamlet called Hammoon, north of Blandford, has been completely cut off.

* The A35 westbound is closed between the A37 and the A3066 due to flooding. It is expected to reopen at 5pm.

Comments(15)

pd7 says...
7:23pm Sun 8 Jul 12

plenty of water for the sailing events

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Weston7 says...
7:26pm Sun 8 Jul 12

So the councils thought they could do without a strong, experienced Engineers Department.
Bring back the Borough Engineer and his merry men who who always had the knowledge and expertise to deal with such emergencies, (and no expensive consultants either).

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hac says...
7:29pm Sun 8 Jul 12

May be plenty of water now but knowing our weather once the sailing events start we shall have wall to wall sunshine and they will be completely becalmed!!

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IDONTKNOWIFITISTRRUE says...
8:28pm Sun 8 Jul 12

It seems as though they forgot to install drains in the Swannery car park. Why weren't the sluices opened at Westham Road?

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Joe_Bloggs says...
8:32pm Sun 8 Jul 12

I think you will find the sluices were closed because of a high tide and the fear of totally flooding all around the harbour

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IDONTKNOWIFITISTRRUE says...
8:41pm Sun 8 Jul 12

Joe_Bloggs
But if the tide was as high as the Wey, there would have been flooding anyway.

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Red23 says...
8:45pm Sun 8 Jul 12

high tide was at 9:20am and 9:20pm Saturday, plenty of time for them to have opened the sluices at low tide. the fact is there's a lot of money around the harbour side (yachts and properties) so they didn't want to risk it. as for the park district, well, they can fill their own sandbags and pray.

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RonnySunshine says...
9:44pm Sun 8 Jul 12

Plus an hour for the high tides but we see what you are trying to get at Red23.

I saw video footage of the sluice gates with loads of water coming through on saturdayafternoon, apparently that was them fully open? The gates are supposedly controlled automatically and there are sensors at various stations along the water course. I'd guess the the env agency monitor them?

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Red23 says...
10:42pm Sun 8 Jul 12

Weymouth hide tides were 9:20am and 9:20pm on Saturday, you're getting mixed up with Portland tides.

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IDONTKNOWIFITISTRRUE says...
1:06am Mon 9 Jul 12

It will be interesting to see whether there are any drains in the car park when the water goes but maybe that is how the water got there anyway. Another bit of clever design by those who purport to be civil engineers in the council?

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Weston7 says...
8:59am Mon 9 Jul 12

IDONTKNOWIFITISTRRUE wrote:
It will be interesting to see whether there are any drains in the car park when the water goes but maybe that is how the water got there anyway. Another bit of clever design by those who purport to be civil engineers in the council?
The council got rid of their engineering department several years ago. it's all airy-fairy community/planning/d
iversity units now. That's the problem.

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unexpected error says...
9:41am Mon 9 Jul 12

Weston7 wrote:
IDONTKNOWIFITISTRRUE wrote:
It will be interesting to see whether there are any drains in the car park when the water goes but maybe that is how the water got there anyway. Another bit of clever design by those who purport to be civil engineers in the council?
The council got rid of their engineering department several years ago. it's all airy-fairy community/planning/d

iversity units now. That's the problem.
Yes, but to be fair 4" rain in 36 hours is always going to cause a problem.

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Weston7 says...
9:47am Mon 9 Jul 12

unexpected error wrote:
Weston7 wrote:
IDONTKNOWIFITISTRRUE wrote:
It will be interesting to see whether there are any drains in the car park when the water goes but maybe that is how the water got there anyway. Another bit of clever design by those who purport to be civil engineers in the council?
The council got rid of their engineering department several years ago. it's all airy-fairy community/planning/d


iversity units now. That's the problem.
Yes, but to be fair 4" rain in 36 hours is always going to cause a problem.
Exactly. That's why you need locally based expert engineer-led teams to promptly deal with such emergencies.

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JamesYoung says...
10:18am Mon 9 Jul 12

Red23 wrote:
Weymouth hide tides were 9:20am and 9:20pm on Saturday, you're getting mixed up with Portland tides.
Actually he's not. Tide times are quoted as GMT. Therefore high tide at 0920 GMT is actually 1020 on your watch.

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the equaliser1940 says...
6:55pm Wed 11 Jul 12

Remember when the water companies said they wanted it to rain until Christmas to top up the resoviors. Well be careful what you wish for, you might get it.

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