The Great Flood of '68 .. recollections?

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[url=http://weldgen.tripod.com/the-great-flood-1968/index.html]Click for story [/url] said:
.....Wednesday 10th July . Disaster Day. A date that lives vividly in the memories of those who experienced the Great Flood of '68.
Heavy rain had been falling for most of the day and by mid-evening, accompanied by thunder and lightning had reached torrential proportions in Bristol and North Somerset.
It was in fact, the worst rainstorm to hit the area in over half a century with more than five inches of rain falling in several districts in less than 24 hrs.
This enormous storm started as a heavy downpour over Brittany France, reached its peak over Bristol and South West England and finally drenched Holland on Thursday afternoon.
· Rainfall figures were exceptional, the following levels were recorded during the storm: Bath 6.29 inches, Nempnett Thrubwell 6.8 inches, Chew Stoke 68 inches (in 6% hours): compare with an average of less than 1.5 inches during the whole of July the previous year. -
At the bottom of Harptree Hill, underground pressure caused by the volume of water rushing down from the Mendips forced holes through the road and caused waterspouts over six feet high.

· The Chew Valley Lake absorbed an extra 471 million gallons from its 14,000 catchment acres as a result of the storm. A Bristol Waterworks spokesman said that despite this and the resultant rise in level of 1 foot 7 inches the lake was still capable of absorbing a further 350 to 400 million gallons before reaching its capacity of 4,500 million gallons.

· One inch of rainfall is equivalent to approx' 100 tons of water per acre. With parts of the west country receiving between five and seven inches overnight it is not hard to visualise the sheer weight of water tearing down the valleys.

I was driving through part of this ..... A very frightening experience, I drove the trusty 'S' out of one deep pool on the starter in 1st gear .. Moral of that? never buy a cheapo battery the recently purchased 'heavy duty' Exide saved the car, if not it's occupants... the foot deep pool, later became engulfed in a 12 foot torrent .. Was I glad to hit high ground that night.
;)
 
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I recall the september 68 floods...cos my birthday party had to be cancelled!

And I also have a vague recollection of my parent trying to help my grandfather out of his flooded house, and all he kept saying was that he had 'just seen his slippers floating off down the road'...
 
I don't remember this but it might come to me later, I was in the navy at the time so probably wouldnt notice a bit more water :D however the point I was so keen to make was. If it happened today they would say that it was due to global warming, which is what i could do with a bit of at the moment :LOL:
 
Certainly made news across the pond...
MR BRIAN DAVIES, who left on a four month Youth Training Visit to America on June 28th, was in Washington DC when the floods occurred- "I had just returned to my lodgings and was feeling somewhat out of place after my first week in America. I switched on the television to see the evening news and keep abreast of world events when, to my utter astonishment, RADSTOCK and KEYNSHAM were mentioned as having been hit by severe floods. It must have been the first time that Keynsham made International News".
;)
 
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Can anyone remember the person that used to advertise on Radio Luxembourg some kind of 'get rich quick' scheme on the pools that lived at Keynsham? Department 1 if I recall correctly.

joe
 
Horace Batchelor of K-E-Y-N-S-H-A-M. and his footy pools 'Infra draw method', advertised on 'Radio Luxembourg' in the '50's and '60's
Read about HB :-
http://weldgen.tripod.com/horace-batchelor/

Hear old HB here... :D :D :D :D Memories of the 'top 20' on Sunday nights !
http://www.whirligig-tv.co.uk/tv/memories/snippets/snippets16.htm

Another rich site :- http://www.whirligig-tv.co.uk/radio/siteindex/

My God !! June Whitfield in 'Take it from here' radio show .. 'The Glums' etc ... '48 til '58 ... what a career for her !!
http://www.whirligig-tv.co.uk/radio/tifh.htm
Written by ... Denis Norden and the late Frank Muir..
;)
 
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