Water levels in Oxford are continuing to rise after days of heavy rainfall.
Flooding has occured across several areas of the city overnight and this morning, with Christ Church Meadow, and Magdalen’s Water Meadow now under water. Wolfson’s punt harbour is similarly submerged.
Flood warnings were put in place late on Monday evening for the River Cherwell and its tributaries in Oxford. As of 1pm on Tuesday, the Environment Agency has declared 23 flood warnings and 53 flood alerts in force, including the River Cherwell for the Oxford area.
In a press release, the Environment Agency stated, “Rainfall is now dropping off across the South East and is forecast to remain low for the next few days, however rivers are still responding to the heavy rain of the past week.
“Although the rain has eased off, and stopped in some parts of the South East, the risk of flooding is still real. After several days of heavy rain the ground is saturated and flood water from small watercourses is flowing into larger rivers like the Thames. River levels will continue to rise in the foreseeable future before they start to go down.
“Levels remain high on the river Cherwell in the Oxford area and the Environment Agency is warning residents in Reading and Oxford to be prepared over the coming days. Demountable defences have been deployed to protect properties in parts of Oxford including Abingdon Road, East Street, Vicarage Lane (Grandpont) and at Osney Island. The defenses at Osney protect up to 75 properties and 30 properties at Vicarage Lane.”
Magdalen student Aileen Brennan commented, ‘The floods arent affecting us too badly – its just our grounds and sports pitches that are underwater. ‘Water meadow’ is finally living up to its name. Most of us are quite happy – we now have a deer park AND a lake. Beat that Worcester’.
The Abingdon Road has been closed from Folly Bridge, and as a result Oxfordshire County Council has suspended its ban of private traffic through Oxford’s high street in to accomodate the closure. The front page of Tuesday’s Oxford Mail claimed that 10,000 homes in Oxfordshire are now at risk of flooding, and homes in West Oxford have been evacuated this morning.
Officers from the County Council and the Fire and Rescue Services spent the night working to help residents affected by the flooding. Pumps are being used to try and remove the water, and an emergency centre has been set up in Blackbird Leyes.
The flooding follows days of increasing river levels. The forecast is for more heavy rain in Oxford on Tuesday afternoon, although with a drier day on Wednesday.
The Council are advising people to keep checking the Environment Agency’s flood warning pages. Their website states, “It is possible that some householders will be advised to leave in the next 24 hours. If this happens, you will be advised by members of the emergency services or council staff who will visit homes door to door”.
In an email to the JCR, Hertford’s Bursar Dr Andrew Beaumont said, ‘At this time, there is no immediate cause for concern: and as the long-term weather forecast is for several days of dry weather… hopefully this will allow for the present flooding to subside’ but noted the college would ‘endeavour wherever possible to assist [students’] departure at the end of term.’
However, for students, the greatest impact has been on rowing. Boathouse Island was closed on Saturday until further notice, and Christ Church Meadow is now largely underwater.
In urgent telephone calls to captains, OURCs advised boat clubs to prepare boathouses for flooding, and to move all equipment well above ground level. They warned students not to “try and rescue boats while putting your own life in danger!”.
The advice follows the cancellation of Christ Church regatta and the Isis Winter League. Last week, a Somerville novice crew crashed and a non-rowing boat was overturned at Osney Lock in dangerous stream conditions.
This is the culmination of a difficult term for rowers. There have been weeks of river closures, and students have expressed concern that rowing beginners will be deterred from the sport.
Whitney Wells, a visiting Stanford student, was disappointed but determined to keep rowing: “The regatta being cancelled was definitely sad for all the novices. We’d worked hard to train together as a team leading up to the regatta, especially trying to make up for lost river time from the red flags all term.
“I’ve been really appreciative of how our captains have stayed enthusiastic despite the stress of having to cancel outings all term. It has definitely been frustrating, but hopefully next term the river will be calm enough for outings”.
Some took an even more positive line. David Fidgett, men’s captain at Corpus Christi, commented, “I think it’s good for rowing. The river’s increased in size making it accessible to more people. At Corpus, you can practically row to and from breakfast now”.
