Curly's Corner Shop, the blog!

Sunday, June 19, 2005

Flash Floods

South Shields Big Splash

I've been away in the Lake Distict for a long weekend with the family, where we stayed in Pooley Bridge, Lake Ullswater, the weather was beautiful, all be it a bit "steamy", jungle weather you could say, very hot and humid. A perfect example of the British summer would be three hot days and a thunderstorm.

We travelled back on the A686 Penrith to Alston route up Hartside Pass, and stopped to take a picture from the top, and it does show the amount of moisture being driven up from the south-west as well as a massive amount of humidity rising above the lake District.

Click to enlarge picture.
We arrived back in South Shields at 2.00 p.m. and it wasn't too long before the thunderstorms arrived, they were at their most intense from 5.00 p.m. till 7.00 p.m. I was at the children's grandparents with them and they were terrified! They'd experienced thunderstorms before but not the incessant heavy driving rain and hailstone that this storm produced (some of the hailstone was as large as some ice cubes I've had in drinks at the bar!). Water was running down from Westoe Road through my father's estate like a river in a torrential surge, gardens were quickly submerged in a foot of swirling water which started to enter properties. Some people broke down fences to stop the build up of water in their gardens, the result was that they released a further torrent to surge further downhill into someone elses property.
Despite the increasing worry of my elderly parents and young children, the water reached the level of the doorstep but stopped short of entering the house, we had taken the precaution of lifting the hall carpets and moving to the first floor. The amazing thing was that the properties on either side were inundated, as well as those in the adjacent walk, I don't know how we remained dry!
St. Bede's Church on Westoe Road had it's evening service interrupted and parishioners were seen with buckets bailing out the water, before the onset of further storm water put an end to their efforts. Properties near the railway embankment next to The Office public house were also inundated and the roads were impassable for a while, properties in Ravenswort terrace have also suffered water damage as the streets off Stanhope Road all lead downhill to there, in effect about four rivers ran down to Ravensworth Terrace. I dread to think what Tyne Dock and Ullswater Gardens looked like.

# posted by Curly : 7:16 pm

Comments:

I cant ever remember having a downppour like what we got I was coming back from Whitely Bay, it took me 3/4 hours to get from the tunnel up to the West harton.

If I had a penny for everythime I have travelled up hartside i would be rich now, we goto to Alston every year, and travel that way across to Penrith etc, must admit there is some beautiful views round that area

# posted by

Anonymous : 10:48 pm