Sheffield Flooding 25th June 2007

[kbhogalW126]

How did any of you locals fare in Sheffield last night?

We didn't get home until after midnight this morning!

Unfortunately Mrs B took her car into the city yesterday and i spent hours trying to find her and get her parked up safely.

Every single road to our house was closed.

Now, the road we managed to slip in on last night is closed as well as the M1.

We are well and truly stuck.

Luckily I can get on with some work as I've got the laptop with me.

Regards,

KJ


Excerpt from Sheffield City Council Website:

Rain - 26 June 2007 - 5.15am update

There have been two fatalities in Sheffield as a result of tragic accidents caused by the effects of the heavy rain. The deaths of a 68 year old man and a 14 year old boy have both been confirmed by the emergency services.

Warning to travellers

Following yesterday's heavy rain, which caused severe disruption to Sheffield's transport network, the general advice is to please avoid travelling into the city unless absolutely necessary. Travel on roads in all parts of Sheffield is still difficult. Emergency services staff are asked to travel to work, and other health services staff are asked to make it to their nearest place of work if they can't get to their usual place of work.

Buses were not operating yesterday evening, so please check if buses are running before you go out.

Travel problems are likely to continue today, Tuesday 26 June

Please try to consult your workplace, local school and the media (Radio Sheffield) before making any journey across the city.


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Road Closures

Heavy rain has caused disruption to the road network. The following roads / areas were closed yesterday:

Attercliffe Road (Norfolk Bridge)
Ball Street Bridge at Kelham Island
Barrow Road
Brightside Lane
Cowley Lane in Chapeltown
Fife Street at Wincobank
Green Lane/Woolley Wood bottom in Ecclesfield
Malin Bridge at Rivelin Valley
Meadowhall Road
Meadowhall Bus Station
Mill Road in Ecclesfield
Nursery Street
Penistone Road
Saville Street (Norfolk Bridge)
Shiregreen Lane, outside Concord Sports Centre
The Common in Ecclesfield
The Wicker
Upwell Street
Whitley Lane in Ecclesfield
Woodhouse Lane
Sheffield Road in Rotherham

These roads / areas are also affected:

Nearside Lane on Penistone Road by Hillsborough Park
Europa Link
Darfield - Stonyford Road, Station Road and Low Valley Area
Thurnscoe - Park Road - Dearnlea Residential Home has been evacuated

The M1 is currently closed between Junctions 31 and 34.
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Other News

200 people have been evacuated from Winn Gardens - the situation is being managed and more information will be given when available. Residents have been taken to Tapton School and All Saints School.
Around 1,400 people are currently in rest centres across the city
For general information and advice please ring 101

Please see the Environment Agency website for more detailed information about flooding in England and Wales.

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School Closures

Several schools were closed on Monday 25 June because of the bad weather:

Busk Meadow School
Ecclesfield Primary School
Ecclesfield Secondary School
Firth Park Community Arts College
Greengate Lane Primary School in High Green
High Green Primary School
Lound Junior School
Monteney Primary School
Norfolk Park Special School (has been closed since 15th June)
Sheffield Springs Academy
Shirecliffe Junior School
Stocksbridge Nursery Infant School
Yewlands Secondary School

Parents should listen out for information on the radio or television about school closures on Tuesday, or contact schools directly for further information.

 

[Alfie]

Here is the latest;

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/itn/20070626/tuk-hundreds-evacuated-as-floods-kill-th-dba1618.html

Whats the betting we will be told there is a water shortage again

 

[PJH]

Whats the betting we will be told there is a water shortage again

It will depend if it's been the wrong sort of water.

 

[portzy]

Followed it, or rather was over-awed by it, while watching News 24 on the telly last night. Scary stuff alright

Makes my 'slightly' leaky garage roof pale into insignificance.

Portzy.

 

[seepee]

Padley Gorge

This is the stream in front of my house normally 18" which the kids paddle in!!!

 

[glojo]

I feel for all those that have suffered but it never fails to surprise my how different the weather can be in such a small country. On our local news this morning the weatherperson stated in the last two days we have only had 1.5mm of rain, today has been beautiful with the wife outside trying to attack our jungle\garden.

Hopefully the weather will improve for everyone else and no one has been effected by the reported flooding?

Regards
John

 

[pammy]

If anyone is interested in seeing the scale of the devastation in South Yorkshire - here's tonight's Look North:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/...16x9&bgc=C0C0C0&nbram=1&bbram=1&nbwm=1&bbwm=1

It makes pretty incredible viewing. My folks escaped with a flooded cellar - so got off very lightly indeed.

 

[Dieselman]

Is the M1 still shut, it was when I was coming home at 7:00pm.?

Not normally I answer my own questions but just for reference, yes it is..

HERE

 

[pammy]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/southyorkshire/traffic_latest_feature.shtml

Also good for travel news

 

[Dieselman]

Just been watching the news feed, saw one of the Fire hose lorries on it's way up there this morning, going the other way..70 miles away, but full on Blues and Twos and shifting down the outside nicely.

 

[glojo]

When I watched the news yesterday and heard the journalist state the reservoir was being drained I wondered what planet they were from because of the amount of pumps being used. There must be huge amounts of water coming into this source and only three or four pumps extracting water. I see on the news THIS morning; 24 hours later the authorities are now 'flooding' the location with pumps. Years ago I played with a gas turbine fire pump, by crikey that thing made the World's 'Must Have' water pistol. Fingers crossed this issue gets resolved as quick as possible and the unfortunate residents can return safely back to their homes.

John

 

[pammy]

My understanding is that they're not trying to drain it fully but trying to balance the excess water going in so the damm can cope with the pressure.I used to play near Ulley a lot when I was young.

My Dad sent me some photo's last night of Whiston which sits nicely close to Ulley too. Whiston has a wee stream running through the middle of it - very picturesque. The village was flooded and the stream a raging torrent.

The road disruption is still massive. M1 still shut by the looks of things.

 

[kbhogalW126]

We are going to try and get to the city from the north shortly.

We live on one of the 7 Sheffield Hills so the worst we got was being isolated, not able to get anywhere near the City Centre.

Need to get some diesel first though.

Had a half tank on Monday morning.

By the time we got home had nearly no diesel left!

It was manic.

The trip computer said 5mpg at one point!

Wish us luck!

Regards,

KJ

 

[glojo]

My understanding is that they're not trying to drain it fully but trying to balance the excess water going in so the damm can cope with the pressure.I used to play near Ulley a lot when I was young.

I'm very much a lay person with NO knowledge about how to drain a reservoir, but I do credit myself with a certain degree of common sense and when the reporter stated the emergency services were going to drain this location I simply asked myself if these reporters have researched their reports at all? It as plain stupidity to say it, and frightening to think just how many folks take at face value whatever they hear these baffoons say. As the day progressed a clearer picture emerged, but I just hate the way most, if not all reporters make up what they say and try to make the item as dramatic as possible and who cares about the truth? Hopefully no one will think I am trying to belittle this very serious incident? Far from it, I just object to listening to drivel that is supposed to be factual reporting on very serious current events.

As an aside, I wonder how many of the flooded houses have been built on areas that are vulnerable to flooding?

I see that we are not the only country being effected by torrential rain, this is just in Europe.

I do hope the rain has stopped and things will return to normal as quickly as possible.

John

 

[pammy]

As an aside, I wonder how many of the flooded houses have been built on areas that are vulnerable to flooding?

I think it depends what you mean/interpret as vulnerable to flooding. If you count such as the city centre of York as vulnerable where we can all remember several occassions where it has flooded then I would suggest in this case it is virtually none - this is unprecidented.

One report from a village near where I live - Collingham - showed houses flooded out. They have never ever flooded and it is not a known flooding area.

It's one of the bizarre things. Certain areas which you would expect to flood haven't, others that you wouldn't expect to flood have. It's been caused mainly by the torrential downpour on already saturated land so where it would have normally sunk away naturally it's had to find an alternative course.

The sheer volume of water landing in such a short period of time meant the drains could not cope so the water wasn't being taken away from the concrete/tarmac surface either. rather the drains were spewing water and filth up instead of taking it away.

People will think it's all over now though but the water still has to work its way down the rivers so places like York etc still have it all to come.

 

[Dieselman]

My understanding from the news feed is that they are actually trying to reduce the level of water in the reservoir, at least a partial drainage, the Fire officer commented that they have already reduced the level but will be draughting more larger pumps to drain it quicker.

They will need to drain it to repair the dam wall.

 

[BonzoDog]

Any Civil Engineer want to comment?
I always understood that the pressure on damn walls was relatively low as the weight of the water is primarily a downward pressure. The forward pressure against the wall is provided by only a small segment of the water and is relatively low. Is there a knowledgeable person who can comment?

 

[grober]

Any Civil Engineer want to comment?
I always understood that the pressure on damn walls was relatively low as the weight of the water is primarily a downward pressure. The forward pressure against the wall is provided by only a small segment of the water and is relatively low. Is there a knowledgeable person who can comment?

When in doubt try I always try wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dams
Theres a paragraph somewhere in the middle about your question. Theres also a worrying list of dam failures at the end. I think many dam failures occur because of erosion of loosly consolidated dam material due to overflow before complete CATASTROPHIC failure similar to what happened to the levees in the New Orleans disaster. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effect_of_Hurricane_Katrina_on_New_Orleans#Levee_failures
Thats my guess anyway.

 

[glojo]

My understanding from the news feed is that they are actually trying to reduce the level of water in the reservoir, at least a partial drainage, the Fire officer commented that they have already reduced the level but will be draughting more larger pumps to drain it quicker.

They will need to drain it to repair the dam wall.

I don't see why they will have to physically drain the complete reservoir to repair the visible damage? From the close footage it would appear the side wall of the overflow collapsed\broke and this then allowed the mud bank to erode? By temporarily diverting the water away from the overflow, could the wall be rebuilt, then the mud banking fully restored.

News reports are now becoming far more sensible, but all morning yesterday, Sky, BBC and ITV were all stating the fire brigade were draining this reservoir. I have no idea how many (if any) rivers\streams flow into this huge lake, or the amount of flood water pouring in, but when these reporters were flippantly making these statements, there were just four pumps extracting the water!! FOUR. Today there is far, far more and hopefully these pumps will indeed lower the water level.

John

 

[DITTRICH]

I saw the pictures of the dam on TV last night. My degree is in Civil Engineering specialising in "soil mechanics" ie foundations and earth structures - including dams - which I helped in the design of. The reason they are trying to reduce the water level is to lower the pressure of the water against the dam wall. Hidden in the centre of the earth dam will be a clay section - to all intents impervious to water. The failure of part of the downstream section may have caused movements in the dam and created pathways along which water under pressure might escape. It starts little by little but once it gets going you've got very little time until failure - a hour or two at most. The presence of water in the soil reduces the strength of the soil so by lowering the water level, they are trying to drain the more permeable parts of the dam and increase the strength of the soil that is left. Removing the water also has the benefit of being able to inspect the upper face of the dam for "sink holes" or areas where water is escaping. They will have to accurately survey the remaining dam section to see if the bits still standing have moved - or are moving over time - even 10mm in 24hrs would be significant because it indicates ongoing deformation which points to failure later on down the line.
Rgds
Les

To add a little bit more - when soil structures fail, they generally fail along a line of least resistance known as a "slip surface" - a little bit like geological faults. These act as pathways for water to escape. Its simply not a question of filling in whats left, they have to remove quite alot of earth to ensure there are no surviving weak bits - and rebuild that section again - not a small or quick job. When you deal with the rust worm on your W210's shouldn't you replace the whole panel or rather than skimping with a little filler and zinc wire mesh?
Rgds
Les