Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Wightman Road gardens flooded by the New River
Today (Thursday 18th) around 12.30 the fire brigade showed up at the Wightman Road entrance to the New River path. It seems that six houses had reported flooding in their back gardens.
It was clear that the water level in the river was well above normal. This photo is looking north towards the Hamden Road bridge.
This one shows the water touching the underside of the foot bridge and spreading over the grass bank. A solitary Thames Water employee came along at the same time and spent hours dragging weed out of the river. The usual careful routine of daily inspection and quick action clearly broke down badly this time.
Here is the mass of accumulated weed caught by the primary grating and holding back the flow and raising the water level.
Even the secondary grating was heavily blocked:
Four hours later, the level at this grating is at least a foot lower:
Later still the immense mass of weed has been tidied away:
and the river is back to a more normal level. The water is well over a foot lower and no longer touching the footbridge.
I don't which houses were affected nor how serious the damage. I was told, however, that the water came through into the street.
As the gratings had not been cleared for several days and the build up of flotsam was accelerated by routine weed cutting on Wednesday, this sounds like a serious incident that should have been avoided.
Tags for Forum Posts: flooding, new river, new river water level
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Marco on
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Well guys this was an accident that I was aspecting . I have been reporting this matter for tge last month to the council Thames water and also the environment agency. Who is going to take the blame?
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Permalink Reply by HoL Site Admin on
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Forwarded to us by Cllr Nilgun Canver:
The Council was contacted by residents yesterday (Thursday 18th July) afternoon reporting flooding to back gardens in Denmark Road and Whiteman Road (Harringay Ward).
The water was coming from the New River, which was at a higher than usual level, and as a result was not being held back by the embankments. At this point, the New River is higher than the level of the gardens of nearby residents.
Thames Water were contacted, as the asset owner, who identified that the problem was caused by blockages due to a build up of material behind trash screens. Once the trash screens were cleared, the water returned to a normal level.
As far as we are aware there are no further immediate problems. We have advised residents who believe they have suffered damage that they should raise their claim with Thames Water.
It is our intention to follow-up with Thames Water to clarify their maintenance regime for New River, as it would be preferable to clear these screens before it causes a problem for residents. We will also raise with Thames Water an incident affecting Eade Road (Seven Sisters Ward) on Monday 15th July, which we have become aware of but was not reported directly to the team.
Kind regards
Andrew Meek
Head of Emergency Planning and Business Continuity
Public Health Directorate
Haringey Council
020 8489 1127
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Permalink Reply by David Schmitz on
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In fact, I made a complaint to the Environment Agency on the 8th July to the effect that contractors engaged by Thames Water had dumped grass cuttings and weeds into the New River, and that these were blocking up the river between Lothair and Endymion Roads.
If anyone is making a claim, therefore, and if there is any need to show that Thames Water was aware of the blockage, the fact of this complaint may be relevant. The reference number is 1130249 and the Agency can be contacted on 0800 80 70 60.
In addition, there are, I believe, others may have complained either to the Agency or to Thames Water directly before yesterday's incidents. Perhaps they too could place postings on this site.
Needless to say, I'll be happy to liaise with anyone who has suffered damage.
David Schmitz
Liberal Democrat Councillor for Harringay Ward
david.schmitz@haringey.gov.uk
07854 002742
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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The New River down at Woodberry Down is really low...
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Permalink Reply by Dick Harris on
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It is true that when the grass on the banks is cut, some clippings end up in the water. In my experience this grass does not lead to problems on the scale we have just seen. The great majority of the material caught by the gratings (also known as trash screens) was weed that grows in the water. The growth is more vigorous in the Summer and comprises both a slimy mass that floats and seems only loosely attached to the banks and also a denser plant material that grows firmly attached in the bed of the river. It seems that the latter type of weed is cut from time to time by a team of men working in a motorised punt equipped with specialised cutting equipment. The punt was working in this section on Wednesday and presumably this was the source of most of the stuff that was dragged out of the river yesterday. Probably more than one mistake was made but one big mistake was to cut weed without having someone on duty to drag it out as it arrived at the grating.
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I don't know but I can ask. However, the fresh green piles shown above are not typical. The usual stuff is liberally interleaved with litter that is thrown or blown into the waterway, eg plastic bags, food cartons, cans, bits of polystyrene (and this morning a large teddy bear). It also contains a certain amount of water life, snails and the occasional dead bird etc. In any event, the rotting material is considerably more smelly than my own compost heaps so I am glad that they usually take it away before it becomes over-powering.
Here is a picture of a fresh water crayfish that crawled out of the weed.
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About 6 inches overall. The Thames Water guy told me that some people have permission to fish for them and that they are very plentiful.
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Permalink Reply by Protheroe O'Shea on
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wow, so it must be pretty clean then. I wonder why they don't stock it with fish?
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We have Crayfish, too, in our part of the New River, between the North Circular (Bowes Road) and Whittington Rd, N22. The water is crystal clear here!
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