Spate rivers

[Tigger]

Even in relative terms the river I fish wouldn’t rise that quickly due to rain, I have seen variations of 6 inches or so (a lot for the Kennet) at one venue but that was caused by sluices being managed directly upstream, still quite a surprise if you’re mid river at the time.

 

This is me wading the Eden in Cumbria when I travelled up to see Ian a couple of years ago, it was as far as I felt comfortable with the water just below waist height and I had to cross a couple of deeper troughs to get there. 5 metres in 10 hours works out to about 6 inches in 20 minutes in old money and I’m a long way from the bank, very easy to get caught out particularly if it’s not raining in your location.

 

 

 

Chris, that river can fly up and often goes right over the banking to the right in your pic and floods the fields leaving large pools which get surrounded by herons etc, no doubt feeding on the unfortunate fish left behind.

[Tigger]

Don't think it will be a good year for fry survival. A number of the tributaries (River Calder, Darwen and Douglas) and the tidal Ribble have all now made new record water level highs on that EA site.

 

ps. I think it might just have stopped raining.

 

 

Brian, are you sure they've reached new high water levels ? I can see they shot up but the highest recent is still below the highest ever recorded....in'it ?

 

I think a lot of the fry will just hide away in the vegatation rather than get washed out to sea.

[lutra]

Brian, are you sure they've reached new high water levels ? I can see they shot up but the highest recent is still below the highest ever recorded....in'it ?

 

I think a lot of the fry will just hide away in the vegatation rather than get washed out to sea.

Sorry Douglas didn't quite.

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homea...?stationId=5106

 

But the rest yes.

Tidal Ribble.

Calder.

Darwen.

[robtherake]

I've not been on there for a while, but I've seen the Swale rise four feet in the space of a couple of hours. The scariest thing was that it wasn't actually raining in the area local to where I was fishing, but unknown to me had really tipped it down several miles upstream, much closer to the source.

[PeterNE1]

I've not been on there for a while, but I've seen the Swale rise four feet in the space of a couple of hours. The scariest thing was that it wasn't actually raining in the area local to where I was fishing, but unknown to me had really tipped it down several miles upstream, much closer to the source.

 

Yeah - the Swale can be particularly naughty like that ... found out the hard way many years ago when I was fishing a big match on there (when they still had them!) ... was pegged at the base of a vertical 15-foot bank at the time, with an upstream / downstream trek of less than maybe 100 yards before you could get away from the waters edge - we all started shifting as soon as we became aware of the water creeping up, but anyone in wellies still got wet feet, even with an immediate evacuation!

 

 

Just out of interest, can someone explain to me what the height in metres on these charts refers to? The thing that is confusing me is that at one point on the local river they are talking about a 1.5 - 4m range, yet just a little further downstream they are quoting figures in excess of 20m! ... I'm confused!

[Tigger]

The mountain of water is on it's way out......

 

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homea...?stationId=5119

 

It's wierd to see it on a graph, it just shows how brief a flood can be. A bit like a storm really, it rages through and leaves destruction in it's wake.

[crumpercatcher]

We had the police preparing to evacuate the street at 2AM Sunday morning as it looked like the tide would push the Ribble over the flood defences.