So the story's come to an end. What happened after?
To start with us. We have been back in our house two years now. We used the flood as an opportunity to get everything downstairs as we wanted it and Sandra got such a taste for it we continued upstairs with a new kitchen. We figured it might be a while before we moved so we got the house as we wanted it and have created a very nice space. We are not planning to stay here permanently but it's a good location while we are both working and handy for the airport too.
A new government backed insurance scheme has been set up to help households who live in flood areas to find affordable home insurance so hopefully, when we are ready to move, prospective buyers won't be put off by not being able to get insurance.
I won a small victory in our road with support from our local councillor. They still won't help with the drainage issues in our private part of the road but we got them to recognise that the run off from the council's stretch of the road contributes to the problem and they have built a shallow channel across the top of the triangle that runs into newly built
Soakaways. It hasn't wholly sorted the problem. Short, sharp downpours still catch us out but things are a lot better.
Eton End School has repaired its bund and the gap under the railway culvert has been plugged.
A new Jubilee River extension is planned as part of the Lower Thames Flood Relief Strategy that will extend the scheme 17k (20 miles) to Shepperton. Resilience measures for homes and communities are also planned.
The Gov.UK website says, "The River Thames between Datchet and Teddington has the largest area of developed floodplain in England without flood defences. Over 15,000 homes and businesses within the area are at risk from flooding (35,000 after predicted climate change).Major flooding in this area would cause severe disruption to the local and regional road network. It would suspend several major drinking water abstractions supplying the South East and threaten up to 20 local electricity sub-stations.The Environment Agency has calculated that damages from a major flood could exceed £850 million (£2billion by 2055 taking into account climate change)."
£476m has been committed for design and construction of the scheme. The business case will go to the Treasury in 2017/18. Work would start in 2020/21 and the scheme would be ready for service in 2024/25. So let's hope the weather will be kind till then.
THANK YOU AGAIN FOR FOLLOWING.
BE GOOD TO TURN MY FLOOD HEAD OFF AND WRITE ABOUT SOMETHING ELSE.
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Flooded - A JustWriteIt TrueStory
Non-FictionFor a few weeks in February 2014 our village was the centre of media attention. The Thames burst its banks and flowed through the Main Street. Life took on a surreal quality. The media descended on us, the army and the fire brigade pitched in and ev...
