Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
River Lee flood warnings
It's not happening here yet, but the Environment Agency maps of likely flood warnings makes sobering viewing. A flood alert was issued in Hertford this week as the river level was critical and some low-lying areas areas were under water. Yesterday roads were closed in some Hertfordshire towns. The Environment Agency has issued flood warnings for the River Lee from Lemsford to Ware, as well as the River Ash at The Hadhams and the River Beane in Walkern.
That's the River Lea (or Lee), the one that runs through Tottenham and Hackney. Check the map, and see for example that the whole of Tottenham Hale is in a priority flood warning area - that's all those new tower blocks and the station. I remember being at a public meeting when the development was first mooted, and asking whether it wasn't all a bit close to the river. It's OK they said, they will be built to allow for that. I hope they remembered to do so.
This map should also be superimposed onto the Tottenham Area Action Plan. Will the developers have allowed for this, in their forthcoming land grab? We must project forwards too, this new climate is not going away.
Tags for Forum Posts: climate change, environment agency, flood, river lea, river lee
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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Waiting for the Liverpool Street Vaporetto? Or trying to unblock the plughole?
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Permalink Reply by Sapphireblue on
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Gosh!
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Permalink Reply by Madeline on
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Up near my son's place in Ware. Note the car in the distance by that bridge:-
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Permalink Reply by matt on
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Difficult to understand the impact of the water on the streetscape in your image Madeline, even after looking at a streetview image from a nice sunny day back from 2009. But I do get your point about the car under the railway bridge in the distance!
The water is lapping at the runways of Heathrow too says the beeb. The last major flooding of 2007 which started in Hull, joined by Gloucester etc, made its way along the Thames until Oxford, then stopped. Not this time. Now even low lying parts of outer London are affected.
The BBC has just posted an article on water flow rates for main rivers which shows exceptionally high flow rates - see their map for the River Lea. The flow rate is almost as high as for the Thames. Actually I'll copy the map here;
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Permalink Reply by pamish on
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I walked up the Lea yesterday from Markfield Park to Stonebridge Lock, and it looks very ordinary down here. A good few feet of spare bank each side. But in Enfield (pic above) it was the speed it was moving that struck me as new.
It must be that nearer the source in Hertfordshire it's less controllable? Sympathy to those poor people - I once had four feet of water in a basement from a flash flood, foul, but the water was pumped out in a day. The thought of living with the stink for a month - gak.
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Permalink Reply by Sam R on
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I took this pic from Tottenham Marshes a couple of weeks ago. It had already broken over the bank then
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I'm a bit confused as to the flooding of the lower Lea. I used to live on a boat between Tottenham and Stonebridge locks and we never saw any flooding of the navigation. We were moored on the island between the navigation and the reservoirs but between us and the reservoirs was what we knew as the old river Lea which is now a flood race. The locks themselves could be topped by any high water and over flow into the pound below. This would obviously carry on down from lock to lock. If I remember rightly the flood controls for the old Lea begin around Waltham Abbey, then this water is allowed down that channel and comes out below Tottenham Lock. Now that's where there would be a flood danger. That pound, although a long one, has both the old Lea and the rain water ditch (Black river we used to know it as) emptying into it just below the lock but further down I would have thought that Hackney marshes would become a flood plain if the water rose too high.
I think that maybe that picture of Tottenham marshes is taken above Stonebridge Lock from the marsh side (tow path opposite?) which should also act as a flood plain as the river bank isn't built up along that side.
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I was at that spot yesterday where the picnic benches are at the road access to Tottenham Marsh. As that's a normal height table, must be about 2 feet deep. No sign of any water there at all. Maybe it works that the marsh provides overspill drainage.
I get confused between the River Lea and the Lea Navigation Canal - as they all link into and away from each other.
Here's pics from yesterday - pulled outdoors by the pre-spring sunshine.
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Permalink Reply by James R Grinter on
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Which area of the marshes was that pic taken from? It looks like you're somewhere around the green arrow ?
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Can I ask people taking photo of flooding near the River Lee to give dates, times and as far as possible the location data. Also to warn others if there seem to be particular spots where walkers and cyclists need to take special care. I'm thinking for example of badly waterlogged ground; or flooded subways. Or where there appear to be risks of water lapping over footpaths or towpaths cutting people off; or making it unclear where the path ends and the river begins.
I'm rather hoping too, that lessons learned from the country-wide floods will make developers far more cautious about new buildings - especially tower blocks - adjacent to or near rivers - including the Lee.
If you haven't seen it, today's (14 February) Guardian has a front-page photo and article by Prof Nicholas Stern "Climate change is here now and it could lead to global conflict".
A few years ago there was very positive discussion on Harringay Online about Jared Diamond's books - especially on why some societies "Collapse". It seems to be well overdue for more people to make his acquaintance. There's an 18 minute TED video summary here. But you may want to order a copy from the Big Green Bookshop so you can lend it to you friends.
A final recommendation: George Monbiots's detailed and thoughtful article Drowning in Money : the untold story of the crazy public spending that makes flooding inevitable
(Tottenham Hale ward councillor)
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Permalink Reply by Bob Lindsay-Smith on
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I would hope that developers (and planning departments) will be more cautious about building in flood plains, and not just for a year or so while these floods are in recent memory.
You've linked to lots of interesting articles etc to study there, Alan! I shall have a good look later. The first link seems to be broken. I've found the article, but can't remember how to put a link in this comment properly!
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