What's more current than the weather?

[Carruthers]

Originally Posted by fargon

Go dance naked in the back yard!!!

The weather gods were in a bad enough mood as it was.
That would have caused hell, fire and brimstone to be added to the mix.





Not to mention a plague of frogs and seven days of darkness lying over the face of the land.

[fargon]

Prolly better to hide and watch.

[Gravdigr]

Like sex w/Bill Cosby, then?

[Carruthers]

Predicting the path and time of arrival of thunderstorms is more of an art than a science so I am not criticizing the Met Office.
The available information on Saturday evening suggested that we would be on the northern fringes of the storms forecast for the early hours of Sunday and they might even miss us completely.
Instead of being on the fringes we were right in the middle of it.
To put it in scientific terms, we had a right royal hammering at about 0200.
The mighty conifer in the back garden avoided moving on to a second career as a telegraph pole but one day it will succumb.
Heaven knows how we'd get it out if it suddenly went horizontal.
Sunday evening's storms were marginally less powerful but bad enough.

Just to finish off, this was the scene at/over Portsmouth Harbour on the south coast of England on Sunday night.

[Clodfobble]

Well, you've got to admit, it was pretty.

[glatt]

Poor Ellicott City, Maryland. They got nailed by some freak flash flooding two years ago, and then again this weekend, just after rebuilding.

This historic town has stood in this location for centuries, but these floods are something new.

[tw]

Originally Posted by glatt

Poor Ellicott City, Maryland.

I assumed flooding was in the creek that passed through low part of that town. I never assumed a flood would be down that hill that runs through the main business district. How did so much water get concentrated down that steep main street? Those pictures give a whole new perspective to 8 inches of rain and where floods can exist.

You have to see those steep hills to appreciate why one would never expect that kind of flooding.

[Happy Monkey]

I was in Baltimore that day. Nothing like Ellicott City, but there was one intersection that was at least a foot deep.

[Clodfobble]

Flooding also gets worse as the surrounding areas are developed, unless there are very strict laws about the percentage of "impervious cover" (i.e. non-rain-absorbing concrete) that's allowed to be built over a given space of land. 8 inches of rain 20 years ago might not have had the same effect as 8 inches of rain today.

[xoxoxoBruce]

I north New Jersey I ran into road after road with roadblocks because of flooding. Interesting that most flooding was at intersections.

[Happy Monkey]

I would guess that they try to put the sewer inlets at intersections, so they can drain both streets. Then they grade slightly down towards the intersection, so it flows to the sewer. Then, if it gets inundated, or blocked, you get a pond.

[xoxoxoBruce]

That makes sense in an urban grid system but much of this was rural and suburban roads with intersections sometimes miles apart. I suppose where you have the intersection of two roads which are invariably higher than the adjacent terrain it blocks the normal flow of water adjacent to those roads. I don't know.

[tw]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

That makes sense in an urban grid system but much of this was rural and suburban roads with intersections sometimes miles apart.

Which towns?

[xoxoxoBruce]

From Trenton to Sparta.

[Carruthers]

Tis the same the whole world over...

Heavy thunderstorms spark calls for improved drain cleaning after rainwater floods streets

Numerous heavy thunderstorms over the weekend have sparked calls for drains to be cleared across the country after rainwater flooded Buckinghamshire streets.

The bank holiday weekend saw stunning lighting storms batter the county – however it appeared the drain systems were unable to cope with the heavy rain.

Bucks county councillor (BCC) for Great Missenden, Peter Martin, claimed storm gullies in Great Missenden have not been cleared in his seven-and-a-half years as councillor and called for action to be taken.

Speaking at a meeting of the environment, transport and communities select committee on Tuesday (May 29) he said:

“We have got a number of gullies and I have lived in Missenden for seven-and-a-half years and they have not been touched in that time.

“Contractors were employed last year but apparently there was a problem with them and they cleared off and the problem was not completed.

“We have got a number of steep hills when it rains heavily the water cascades down them and just makes a bigger problem elsewhere.”

BCC’s cabinet member for transport, Mark Shaw, admitted drain systems across the county struggle to cope with excess water during heavy storms, however he assured councillors the issue is being addressed.

He said: “I have to say we had the gully cleaner out in Chesham last week, especially in Waterside, and after the rains on Saturday it was flooded again and it just can’t cope with the amount of water when rain is as heavy as it was.

“But yes, we are out there literally every day clearing blocked gullies and we will continue to do that and we will make sure Great Missenden has its fair share of that.”

In February BCC councillors agreed to set aside £125,000 to clean gullies which is set to be invested this year, according to head of highways at BCC Mark Averill.

Bucks Free Press

The tanker which cleared out the surface water drains was a frequent sight during my childhood.
The driver would lift the grating at the edge of the road, pump out the mud and other detritus, then flush the drain with clean water and move on to the next one.
Come to think of it, it provided free entertainment for us kids and could be added to the 'No electricity needed' thread.
I can't remember the last time I saw this essential maintenance take place and this morning had to navigate around a flood at a road junction on my way into town.
Eventually someone will come along and give the drain a desultory prod with a stick, I suppose.