Flooding at Blackhall Mill

I awoke today to the sound of dripping water, overnight I had had a small amount of water had come into the house. It may just have been the severity of the rain, but it is something I will have to get checked out. Further, in the kitchen there were a couple of pools of water. I first thought it had come under the door, but as I looked I realised that it was coming from one of the windows. As I collected my milk from the back gate, I could see that the join in the gutter has failed and it was there that the water was flowing behind the seal and getting into the house.

While not something to make for a great start to the day, I am not suffering from flooding. Therefore it was ironic that having just posted about the risk of flooding in the region that I should go out to experience the flooding of my local river.

I was in need of some shopping but mainly I needed to get some food for the cat. So I went to catch the free bus to the supermarket in Consett. I had not been at the stop for more than a minute when my neighbour crossed the road to tell me that the buses may not be running because of flooding. At Rowlands Gill the River Derwent had already breached the banks and the buses were not going down to Blackhall Mill because of the risk of flooding. There the road is five feet bellow the river bank. An embankment protecting the houses on the water front is there but with the volume of rain I could understand the concerns. However, as the River Derwent is normally twelve to fifteen feet below this point I was also really intrigued to see what the river was doing.

As I waited for the bus another villager came to wait for the bus. I told her what I had been informed, but the bus arrived. So we headed off to the supermarket. As we got to the river, while it was high it looked fine, then I realised it had already flooded the field to the south. Then as we crossed the bridge we saw that the water was flowing over the road from the flooded field to another field.

It was not impassable so the bus continued. I must say that I was impressed with the driving skills of the bus Driver, as he drove with care and skill. Then on through Ebchester where there were places where water running off the surrounding land was pooling on the roads. However once through Shotley Bridge the road to Consett gains elevation as when they say snow on higher ground in weather forecasts they are talking about Consett.

I even had a joke on the way that the bus was going to be replaced by a ferry. Well the return was going smoothly until we reached the turn of for Blackhall Mill and the road to my village. There was a Fire Officer there stopping traffic taking that road. Therefore we had to find another way back. This effectively meant that the bus had to detour around my local wood. That's an extra four or five miles, and there were moments when I was not sure we were going to get through. The ground already saturated was shedding water where ever it could and pools were forming in each and every hollow.

But again I praise the driver as with care he got through them and back in the village us shoppers were disgorged but in reverse to the way we got on. After making myself a mug of tea (or should that be a gullible person of tea) and putting the shopping away, I decided to go and film the flood at the mill.

I was prepared to be turned away, as I realised that if the police and fire service had deemed it unsafe, it was likely that I would not be allowed to get down to the river. But while they were stopping traffic, I was not impeded at all. I didn't attempt to go anywhere where the emergency services were working, but while they were pumping out at a couple of points the situation was not dire.

Also while the River Derwent had burst its banks it was not flooding homes when I left. That said the high tide had not yet been reached so I may be eating my words in a latter posting. One thing that was impressive was the stoical attitude of the residents, there was no panic, no one was trying to blame the authorities, they were there ready to move if they needed to but just cautiously getting on with life. I wish them all well.