Jubilee River & Wraysbury floods

I assume they do their best to protect everybody and provide warnings to protect life and property, but their isn't enough space for all the water or enough money and if you build in a flood plain then you must expect to get flooded - period.

Don't forget there is a limit to what they can protect against and unfortunately that limit, for what ever reason (this one needs an entire thread to itself), is becoming lower and lower. The Government is already tell us all to expect and plan for extreme weather events as it will get worse and people on here seem to be turning round and using it as a justification to bash the Jubilee River because in their mind, they are flooded more frequently.

We all need to face up to two very simple facts - flooding is getting worse (frequency and intensity) and if you live in a flood plain you should expect flooding. No amount of armchair hydrologists will change this!

CJL
 
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In considering flood risk and the amount of Government funding directed to Flood and Coastal Rick Management (FCRM) bear in mind that this directly impacts on grant in aid for the navigations which comes from the same pot. Recent discussions relating to the Customer Charter have highlighted issues arising from the combined responsibilities of lock and weir keepers and their actual contribution to flood management duties as opposed to "navigation" duties assisting passage etc. Furthermore, we are not yet aware of how the allocation of grant in aid will be managed following the reduction of EA management from a National/Regional/Local organisation to a two tier National/Local. Our "Local" area is expected to be the current West Thames area and my bet is that the cross funding issues between flood and navigation could well result in significant argument regarding allocation of funds. I would not expect pure "navigation" needs to enjoy particular preference over flood management costs !
 
CJL said:
I assume they do their best to protect everybody and provide warnings to protect life and property, but their isn't enough space for all the water or enough money and if you build in a flood plain then you must expect to get flooded - period. CJL
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Maidenhead used to suffer flooding every 5 to 7 years and yet there were many new buildings approved in the flood plains against all the advice. Solution build Jubilee river at a cost of £100 million now flood return once in 65 years.

I am pleased for Maidenhead ,Windsor as I am sure are the residents of Ham Island, but I am concerned that my garden has flooded twice now since 2003 and before that 1947 I am concerned that the next time I will paddle in my living room. I am not setting out to knock the EA but I want to make sure that every opportunity is taken to learn from each flood event. I am sure that the EA would agree that they have learned a lot about design and operation of the Jubilee since it was opened in 2002 but it seems to me that they casually dismiss the possibility of any impact downstream.

I want to see the 3 new alleviation channels built and it would seem to me that now that it is the only way to avoid more serious and regular flooding.

£256 million is a lot of money but so is £50 billion for HS2 I am sure this will benefit the north but perhaps they would prefer to have their flooding issues resolved.

My confusion about Taplow guage on the jubilee I have been told now that it was a faulty gauge. The gauge indicated lower and lower levels and the Jubilee river rose higher and higher.
 
TT_WO said:
My confusion about Taplow guage on the jubilee I have been told now that it was a faulty gauge. The gauge indicated lower and lower levels and the Jubilee river rose higher and higher.
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There is a clear weakness in the monitoring system which results in false readings. A video link - webcam - is a cheap simple means of measuring levels and can be monitored by the public if it's available online. It's not brain surgery but the E.A. isn't sufficiently subject to its customers wishes to change its ways. 'We know best' trumps all sensible suggestions. A webcam can also allow concerned residents to monitor water levels more frequently than the E.A.'s present infrequently updated online level graph. Flood warnings are given but all clears don't come for far longer than could be safely achieved, resulting in worried residents moving their belongings or staying awake all night.
 
2Tizwoz said:
There is a clear weakness in the monitoring system which results in false readings. A video link - webcam - is a cheap simple means of measuring levels and can be monitored by the public if it's available online. It's not brain surgery but the E.A. isn't sufficiently subject to its customers wishes to change its ways. 'We know best' trumps all sensible suggestions. A webcam can also allow concerned residents to monitor water levels more frequently than the E.A.'s present infrequently updated online level graph. Flood warnings are given but all clears don't come for far longer than could be safely achieved, resulting in worried residents moving their belongings or staying awake all night.
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I found the data to be a superb way of planning what we were likely to get in our part of The Thames. I have suggested to the EA that a configurable view of water levels several stations above and below would be helpful and, to their credit, they are listening.
 
Gavi said:
I found the data to be a superb way of planning what we were likely to get in our part of The Thames. I have suggested to the EA that a configurable view of water levels several stations above and below would be helpful and, to their credit, they are listening.
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The information is interesting to me and perhaps even useful however, because of the Taplow gauge failure, I was naive enough to believe that they may even have been closing the JR to limit downstream flooding, only to find out that the JR had been running at its maximum for the previous 5 days whilst the gauge was indicting the opposite.

I would have thought that this information was crucial to the EA trying to manage the system and later evaluate it's performance. 10 years ago the report into the 2003 event noted the number of gauges that were unable to provide information.

Here is a letter from someone who is clearly suspicious of these failings.

PRESS RELEASE – 21st JANUARY 2014

ENVIRONMENT AGENCY ON-LINE HYDROGRAPH ISSUES
Yet again the rural areas downstream of Royal Windsor in Berkshire have suffered serious flooding which may have been exacerbated by use of the £110m Jubilee River Flood Alleviation Scheme.
There is now evidence to prove that the Environment Agency has ‘misrepresented’ (for want of a better word) flood water levels on some of their local on-line hydrographs – in particular in Datchet and at Maidenhead.
Whether deliberate or accidental, in practice the affected hydrographs reduce the visual impact of the data by compacting the chart range and thus suppressing the vertical movement of the graphic line.
Today this is a local issue, but it is likely that this practice has been used elsewhere.
There is a report and a series of Power Point slides to illustrate not only the problem but also the consequences of this developing story.
If you would like any further details please feel free to contact me.
Ewan Larcombe
67 Lawn Close
Datchet SL3 9lA
01753 544302
07968 661431
 
After a few days of little or no rain I was surprised to see the river level at Old Windsor lock and downstream at Wraysbury suddenly increase by about 8 cm after midnight last night (according to the EA river level website). During the same period the Maidenhead area appeared to drop significantly, so I can only assume the EA have been playing with the Jubilee River again.

With the threat of more heavy rain due on Wednesday I was hoping the Thames would be dropping not increasing, I have only just cleared up from the last floods in January.

Glen
 
We have just had a 'Severe flood warning' from the EA here at Wraysbury - that's a first and I've lived here 30 years.

Glen
 
Having lived the first 16 years of my life in Welley Road, that almost makes me glad I live in Somerset now. Hope it's not as bad as they're forecasting for you.
 
I have just come back from a meeting in out village hall and out local councillor was summoned to an emergency meeting today with the EA and they have estimated we will get another 12 inches on the Thames river level as of midday, over the next 24 hours - that will be in my house, not what we wanted to hear. Evacuations have already started in areas of Wraysbury and Datchet !!

Glen
 
Heed the warnings.
It is a lot worse in cookham/maidenhead,above and below boulters/jubilee river entrance than the last time in early jan.
There is no visible drop on the weir at bray:(
 
Confession at last

"Communities Secretary Eric Pickles, who is in charge of the government's flood defence, said the government had relied too much on the Environment Agency's advice and the flood-hit Somerset Levels should have been dredged.

"I apologise unreservedly and I'm really sorry that we took the advice, we thought we were dealing with experts.""

As we have all been saying since the EA was formed, and decided (overnight) that rivers were self-dredging. I am not saying that it would have solved ALL of the current crisis, but, at last we get a confession from the top that the EA have been duping both the people and Westminster.

Would the guilty civil servants please clear their desks; don't slam the door on the way out.
PO
 
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