Flood waters

More photos from the flooding on Sunday. In 2015, the water surrounded the bench in my photo above and inundated the car park and mill buildings on the far bank. I think, apart from the basement, they were spared this time. Further out, beyond the park, the flood plain was doing its best to hold the water. This is the site of the new nature reserve, so one hopes nature can adapt to the boggy conditions, and wild flowers will still bloom in the meadow in the summer.

The picture below shows, in the far distance, the football pitches between the river and the canal. The river's normal course is between the blue stands and the line of trees in the middle distance. On Sunday, you really couldn't tell the difference between this side of the trees, normally grassland, and the river itself. The new bench and newly planted trees seemed to be holding firm, thankfully. It would be a sad shame if all the work volunteers have put in to the nature reserve were to go to waste.

Things were even more dramatic upstream by Hirst Weir and the rowing club. You can see the clubhouse through the trees, impossible to get to. The normally minor trickle of Loadpit Beck comes down, from the right, to meet the river here. There is a little footbridge that crosses it. You can just see its handrail in the trees, in the midst of the swirling mass of water. There are some houses, just behind where I stood to take this photo. They were above the water line but I imagine it was making the residents rather nervous.