A little damp in York. A friend was getting flooded so I brought my canoe downriver to lend to her. She has nearly 4ft of water through her house. Another friend has been evacuated from her flat.
Not nearly as bad as year 2k tho'. Despite the Meeja making a drama out of a crisis. No sailing on the Knavesmire, yet.
Actually, according to friend who is flooded, the water is higher (they marked a gatepost). There are also substantially more properties in York affected, including shops in city centre.
Isn't it partly that it's in different places? In 2k the Foss barrier remained in operation so this time there's areas under a lot of water that weren't affected in 2k, as I understand it.
That's probably the truth of the matter. It sounds like the pump failure at the BLue Bridge is to blame. Maybe.
I took loads of (film) pics in 2000 and none of the places in south York that were then flooded have any water on them right now.
From what I understand the Foss barrier is intended to prevent flooding from the Foss caused when the Ouse is high and flows back into the Foss. To do this the barrier closes like the Thames tidal barrage, but unlike a tidal barrage that only has to be closed for a short period before it can open again to let the held up river water behind it out the Foss barrier has to close for longer periods, therefore water from the Foss has to be pumped passed the barrier. The Foss barrier was not closed this time due to concerns for the pump station being able to operate as such the Ouse has flooded out of the Foss in a way that the 2000 flood didn't.
I have no indication of the issues with the pumps but that could be power supply, equipment failure (unlikely) or possibly that the Foss was flowing so fast that the pumps couldn't keep up and the Foss would flood the pump station. Have no doubt the decision not to close the Foss barrier will be studied and reviewed but there will have been a (perceived) good reason.