Leicestershire Flooding - Summer 2007

Up to the point of writing this article (22nd July 2007), the previous 10 weeks have been exceptionally wet. With 10 days of July remaining, England and Wales has seen its wettest May-June-July period for over 250 years. This weather station has also recorded some exceptional rainfall. May recorded 93.6mm of rain against the average of just 51mm, June recorded 132mm against the average of 62mm and July has already recorded 152.4mm against the average of 48mm. These conditions have been caused by the path of the jet stream in the upper atmosphere. It has been persistently travelling above the UK, aiding the generation of depressions and encouraging deep instability, also thanks to the heat and moisture across the near continent through the period. A full break down of the rainfall in Coalville through the period can be found in the weather station archive.

Nearly a third of July's rain to date fell in around 24 hours on the 20th and 21st July. Some areas of the W Midlands received considerably more than here, but this was still enough to put the rivers in to spate.

Following the large 24 hour rainfall total of 44.2mm, I surveyed the local area for flooding. On the 20th July many of the local streams were out of their banks already, with run off from the saturated fields pouring across many roads and created hazordous driving conditions.

After another night of rainfall, I visited Sence Valley Forest Park in Ibstock to assess the level of the river Sence. It was reportedly as high as the rangers there had ever seen it (though this park has only been in existance for less than a decade).

This bridge over the river Sence was being inundated, similar to many others:

River Sence in flood:

River Sence flooding a path, the trees on the left normally border the lake here:

River Sence fully in spate, almost overwhelming bridge:

River Sence flooding Horseshoe lake in Sence Valley Forest Park:

Sence Valley Forest Park flooded:

Later on the 21st July I visited parts of the River Soar to the N of Leicester. Water levels had dropped from their highest levels by this point, tough only by a couple of inches. The following 2 images were taken at Anstey where some houses were inundated and many more had sandbags in place. Suffice to say, this pylon is normally in a field. You can see the grass is flattened where the water had been pouring across the road behind where the photo was taken from:

Further downstream near Cossington you could get a better feel for the River Soar spreading across the flood plain. This involved a drive through flooded roads in Rothley:

The Grand Union Canal was also in flood, with water pouring over the top of lochs into the River Soar:

Not only were the fields flooded here, but also the road from Mountsorrel to Cossington. It was passable with care easily enough in a 4x4, but I wouldn't have wanted to take my car through it!:

Larger copies of all images can be found in the Gallery under "9. Weather", "Flooding", "Leicestershire - 21-07-2007".