Oxford Under Water

Parts of Oxford have been flooded for the last few days, and apparently the worst is yet to come. I worked from home yesterday, intimidated by the available choices of traversing flooded roads or else taking the hilly 3+ mile diversion around the problem areas, but today: I decided that it was time to man up and cycle in to the office.

Kennington Road underwater.
Here’s where I forded Kennington Road. Yes, I just used the word “forded” to describe crossing the road.

Conveniently, we’ve somewhere along the way acquired a large pair of Wellington boots (we think they might have been Paul‘s, but as he’s now left Oxford without them, they’ve been sitting in our charity-shop-box). So I booted up and set out. I was yawning all the way:

Police direct traffic away from a waterlogged Abingdon Road.
Police direct traffic away from a waterlogged Abingdon Road.

I had to weave my way back and forth around the cyclepaths nearest my house, and – on a couple of ocassions – get off the bike and wade it through: I’d considered riding through some of the larger puddles – my mean pedal-ground clearance is about as high as the top of my boots, anyway – until I met a soaked cyclist coming the other way: he’d become disbalanced going over a submarine kerbstone and fallen into the freezing water. Seeing that quickly made me choose the safer strategy!

Flood defences erected near Hinksey Lake.
Near Hinksey Lake, serious flood defences have been hastily erected and pumping operations are underway to clear gardens and footpaths.

Alongside the lake was one of the most flood-damaged areas, but heavy barriers had been erected and pumping engines were working at returning the water to the “right” side of them. The lake bridge was completely closed off: it looked like it might be traversable, but if the water gets any higher, it won’t be.

In Hinksey Park, the playing fields and cycle path are completely underwater.
In Hinksey Park, the playing fields and cycle path are completely underwater.

I took the cycle route through Hinksey Park in order to avoid the flooded parts of Abingdon Road, which runs parallel, but I’m not sure that it was much better. In the photo above, you’d be forgiven for thinking that you’re looking at the lake… but in actual fact, the lake is behind me: that’s the playing fields. You can just about make out the line down the middle of the cycle path, through the murky water.

Flooded garden and driveway.
Between Hinksey Lake and the Thames there are flooded driveways and gardens. The sign on the gate reads “No parking. Keep entrance clear at all times.”, in case anybody was thinking of parking in this waist-deep water.

Pressing on, I came to the Thames Path, which my route typically follows for a short distance to the footbridge into the city centre. And that’s when I realised quite how high the river really is.

To the right of the bush - the river. To the left - the footpath. You'd be forgiven if you can't tell the difference.
To the right of the bush – the river. To the left – the footpath. You’d be forgiven if you can’t tell the difference.

By the time I found myself on a footpath with a current, I realised that my route might need a little bit of a rethink. With the bridge I was aiming for just ahead, though, I was able to double-back and cut through an alleyway (between some seriously at-risk houses), duck under a couple of “footpath closed” barriers, and splash out to the bridgehead.

From the bridge, it's clear how much the waters have risen.
From the bridge, it’s clear how much the waters have risen. The path on the left continues to get deeper and deeper underwater: when I’m working in a different office or running training, that’s the route I take to work!

By the time I was on the higher, better-reinforced East bank for the river, things began to improve, and within a few minutes I was right in the city centre. There, you wouldn’t know that, only a short distance away, a significant number of streets were underwater. To sit in the dry, on Broad Street, in the middle of Oxford, it seems strange to think that on the edge of town, people are being evacuated from their homes.

Further reading:

  • Flood warning for Kennington, from the Environment Agency (looks like we’re just on the right side of the road not to be included in the “flood warning area”).
  • “Live” upstream and downstream water level measurements at nearby Iffley Lock (there’s a beautiful moment in the graphs for yesterday morning when they clearly started using the lock itself to “dump” water downstream, occasionally bringing the level to within the typical range.
  • Video of evacuations from Botley
  • Jack FM’s Traffic Reports have an up-to-date list of roads closed as a result of flooding
× × × × × × ×

6 comments

  1. Katie Katie says:

    If it weren’t for photos and videos, I’d be in disbelief about the flooding. Manchester is bright, sunny and dry.

    1. Dan Q Dan Q says:

      Yeah! It’s pretty crazy!

      There have been disruptions to the trains, and they’re down to one line running between here and Didcot (with the result that trains sharing the line have to sound their horns every time they pass through, which means that it’s quite a noisy place to live, right now), but hopefully that shouldn’t impact on your visit this weekend (as you’ll presumably be coming from the opposite direction). What route we have to take to pick you up from the station, though, I don’t know!

      1. Katie Katie says:

        I’ll be on the Bournemouth train, which doesn’t go through Didcot itself but will likely be delayed by all the other mess-ups.

        Vague plan of action so far seems to be: I arrive 14:14, Matt picks me up, I hang out at Earth for the afternoon, JTA and Ruth do first aid stuff in Witney til 9pm or so, then JTA whisks me off to the pub so you and Ruth can spend some time together.

        (And this is probably where you tell me that I know more about it than you do ;)

        1. Dan Q Dan Q says:

          Yes, you do!

          I only discovered that I was doing things with Ruth a couple of hours ago, and I didn’t have a clue that it was Matt who was picking you up from the station. So yeah, I’m about the least well-informed person in the universe!

          1. Katie Katie says:

            Ahhh, JTA and I have been plotting by email today :)

  2. For once it didn’t flood up here in the north ^_^

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