This site is to serve simply as my on-line fishing and casting development diary, which will remember the things I forget and hopefully help teach me a lesson or two in the future.
It didn’t take long…..!
An avid fisherman who has rivers or sea shores on his doorstep can naturally be drawn to them in times of extreme weather, at least that’s how I feel at such times..
I remember the afternoon of November 19th 2009 when I was working a back shift, the whole of Sellafield sites day and staff workers got sent home early due to a months worth of rainfall in less than 24 hours, traffic chaos followed all over Cumbria due to flood water hazards with rivers bursting their banks and bridges collapsing. That afternoon after working three hours into a nine-hour shift, although we are classed as essential workers and were told to remain on site, we were also given a green light to make our way home whilst we still could, as things had gotten that bad.
River Irt at Holmrook around 4 pm Nov 19th 2009
River Irt at Santon Bridge at 4.30pm Nov 19th 2009
I managed to get home safely and whilst eating a bonus meal in the comfort of my own home, I couldn’t get the thoughts out of my head as to just how much fresh water I witnessed as I passed by “and through” the Rivers Irt, Mite and Esk to get home. The River Irt at Holmrook was already seeping through areas of the stone wall and spilling onto the A595, that was at 4pm.
How full would Ravenglass estuary be at low water “predicted for 18.55pm” was something that was fascinating me as this amount of rainfall is a very rare event, however taking a decision to go and see for myself how full the estuary was would be was one which carried with it a commitment then to stay out all night. To get back up to Ravenglass from Millom meant crossing the already flooded road which neighboured the River Esk before the climb up to Muncaster. This river, like the others was rising through the afternoon, and once I would be north of it and the tide started to run I knew there would be no way back until it receded. A second purpose/justification for going back up the coast would also be to ensure that my friends who lived in Holmrook on the banks of the Irt would have some small assistance in defending their home if needed. The river outside their house was already coming through the defensive wall and I know that a typical spring tide will reach up river to a point 200 metres downstream of their house when there is very little water on. It was a kind coincidence that the Irt rose that afternoon at a similar rate that the previous tide emptied but when the next tide comes in and meets this monumental amount of water coming down, those houses, one of which is my mates, could be in serious trouble, worse still this was going to happen during the night around 2-3am.
Upon safely getting my car through the flooded road adjoining the River Esk south of Muncaster and then heading on over into Ravenglass, I turned on my video camera and as I emerged onto the shoreline, what I saw almost made me drop the camera. Ravenglass estuary should have shrunken back to the thin channels that it typically becomes during spring tide week at low water, however in these current conditions by my approximation, it looked like it does when there is still two hours of water left to run off before low water! and this was actually at low water!! It wouldn’t be long before the tide reversed and came in, impeding the flow from upstream, causing it to find somewhere else to go.
After making my way north to Holmrook village and parking my car in a safe high place, a meager amount of sandbags were eventually dropped off by the council for the houses alongside the river. I worked with my mate and a few other residents present as we attempted to shore up the leaking wall banking the river. In the back of my mind was the image of an already swollen Ravenglass and the tide that was to come within the next few hours. At approximately 2am and the inevitable happened, the torrent of water which was deafening at the time went silent as the tide finally reached the back of the garage below the bridge, the wall was no match for the weight of water behind it and I retreated as the wall collapsed. My job now as I stood alone in my waders was working to replace the wall with the bags that were scattered and submerged. On the northern side of the village there was a fire engine present which had a team of firemen trying to pump water out of the reading room and surrounding houses, every now and then two firemen would make their way round to assist me in rebuilding the dam that I struggled to maintain.
At 5am I returned cold and exhausted to my car and made my way home.
The following day was a trip back to Holmrook to see the flood again in the cold light of day and then onto Wastwater to see a lake that had risen by at least 5 ft, approximated by the island at the south-western end being completely submerged and a lake outflow that was once 10ft wide, looking more like the River Thames…!
This week on Friday 22nd June a similar situation arose. Rain fall totalling 3.5″ in a 24 hour period happened, again during the tail end of spring tides week. I was due to travel to Stafford this weekend to attend the British Fly Fair but my wife was hearing of problems around the Duddon Bridge area from her friends that had written on Facebook upon returning home from their visits to Barrow-in-Furness. The waders are always in the car, so it was time to go pay the River Duddon a visit to check that I could get through in the morning. As I drove eastward I was reminded of the adrenaline that flowed during that november night three years ago.
Upon reaching the River Duddon it was very clear to see that people do not take enough care in times of flood conditions, some cars had tried to speed through the flood water and as a result, some made it, however some had water sucked into the air intake, not good for fine tolerance engines. A polish lad who came down the bottom of Corney fell whilst driving too fast had hit the river flowing across the road and then found his car rendered useless. He was speaking in broken english as he tried in vain to restart his car. After great difficulty in convincing him that his car would end up in the field by the morning if the river continues to rise and he doesn’t get it out of the way, the two of us pushed the Ford Mondeo up the road to higher ground and left it at the side of the road.
After taking some photos on my phone of the current height of the river, I quickly crossed the bridge over to the southernmost bank and waded into the cold water which was flowing down the Ulpha road to take an image of two stranded vehicles, one of which was nearly completely submerged. These vehicles were in water which I would never have guessed would have taken this pathway down the valley. I was reminded of what I saw in 2009 and that the power of flood water is to run the pathway of least resistance and to mow down anything in its way..
One final note to finish off, the image I took of the stranded vehicles whilst wading chest deep in cold water was foolishly uploaded to Twitter when I got home and has to my surprise made its way into a Sunday newspaper! probably selected at ease at the time by some skinny, winkle picker shoe wearing office dweller who sports a complicated waxed haircut whilst he was using his internet access device in a trendy southern wine bar, a million miles away from the extreme conditions which was lashing our county at the time…!
Hey, Ok it was only a picture!
and with nature behaving like it is, maybe life is too short…………..
Lee Cummings Fly Casting and Fishing 
