The road was still flowing, this morning, when the cloughs had all receded; strange. I walked up Calf Lee’s road to find out where the water was coming from and discovered that the reservoir was overflowing. Needless to say, the Warland mob are all over that and are already planning to get into the company to repair the road.
The culverts under the dam at the stables, under the road above that and under t’Other field all seem to have coped. Calf Lee’s enthusiasm to improve the roads could be their downfall. The water was held on the road by the debris under Paul’s Armco barrier, creating a second river all the way down the road until it spilled into the canal. This flow has undermined the surface in many places and has started to erode the downhill edge as the water tries to get back into the stream, where it belongs. If the edge collapses near an undermined section, big lumps of road could head off down the slope to Warland Water.
I was pleased that none of the flow came along our driveway; it just turned the corner and kept to the road. None of our walls, down the road or behind the house, showed any leaks or signs of stress. The corner did get eroded a bit and if the water broke through we might have water into the septic tank so I’m further convinced that a stout kerb would be of value. The folk at the top of Claremont Villa were concerned by a flow that was trying to get across their car park; and Warland House had a small waterfall down from the road behind. Doris was pretty cheerful about the whole affair, mainly because she didn’t get the expected leak into her cellar. Jessica had been worried overnight and Bill was out to supervise everything. Dan, Wayland and Darrell have all made a showing; Dan has gone up to take photos of the overflow.
The marsh opposite was about half-covered last night but is back to normal today. The river is still at the top of its bank, there, and the canal is still high. I’ve seen a few video clips of Tod, Hebden and Mytholmroyd showing how, lower down, the flows burst out of the banks and created torrents in the streets. At least when it floods here, it’s just water flowing past; lower down, the sewers get involved.
The locals, beyond Warland, are sanguine about the whole affair even though this is the worst most have seen. I haven’t yet heard comment about whether the new flood defences were ready or whether they worked; no-one seems to need to criticise them.
The road at the corner is littered with rocks, now, and the flow is reducing. It’s probably worth my while to go push the stones aside to prevent the cars grinding them into the surface and doing more damage.
A United Utilities Land Rover has been bailed up, just outside. They own the reservoir and must be on their way to inspect the overflow.
Off to shovel stones, now