Navigations on the Trent, Soar, Witham, Weaver, Severn, Warwickshire Avon, Aire & Calder, Calder & Hebble, Yorkshire Ouse and Sheffield & South Yorkshire were completely closed for considerable periods and boating disrupted.

Although the canal network was mostly unaffected, on the Trent & Mersey Canal boats were held up for 10 days at Alrewas, where the Trent flows across, and there were high water levels in the nearby Fradley area.

Shardlow Lock was also closed and the Environment Agency (EA) closed adjacent flood gates. There were a few problems with trees falling across canals when their roots were loosened in the wet ground.

The exceptional summer levels on the Severn and Avon navigations closed all the locks and stopped boat movement on these well-used holiday routes, keeping other visiting boats on the canal links. A hire boat got into trouble after the crew failed to alert the lock keeper of their arrival at Gloucester’s Llanthony Lock and was caught in the flow as the lock was being emptied.

The strong current swept the boat towards the nearby weir and four people had to be rescued by the Fire Service.

The very popular Cotswold Canals Trust’s 11th Saul Canal Festival had to be cancelled when a tributary of the River Severn, the River Frome, burst its banks and fields normally used for camping and car parks were flooded to a depth of 4ft. Provisional dates for next year’s festival are July 4, 5 and 6 2008.

Levels on the River Severn reached 16ft above normal level at Upton and boats were confined in Upton Marina for several weeks. Russ Dew of Walton Marine Sales, based at the marina, told us that because of the floating pontoon system, specially designed to cope with the Severn’s height fluctuations, they had no problems and the floods did not deter the hardier visitors looking to buy boats.

British Waterways (BW) didn’t officially reopen this navigation until July 11, with the river at Upton still some 4ft above normal.

National publicity
There was much national publicity about the severity of flooding of residential property in parts of Yorkshire. On the Yorkshire River Ouse network, Simon Taylor, owner of Acaster Boat Sales - with Marinas at Acaster Malbis, York, and Boroughbridge on the River Ure - told us they were severely affected for about three weeks. He said that river levels fluctuated daily, but generally remained at a flood level that prevented access to both boats and yard facilities.

Moorers were stuck in the marinas, where boats were quite safe, but although people came to look, it definitely affected boat sales. He said it was the worst since 2000, although that year’s floods came mainly in winter.

BW staff spent a night erecting sandbag dams to prevent the canal from flooding out the marina at Lemonroyd Lock, Castleford, into the nearby new housing estate. Using similar methods they prevented flooding of houses and a caravan park by Rodley Marina on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal.

Further north on BW waters, the 7th National Jet Ski Championships at the Tees Barrage, which attracts competitors from as far afield as Belgium, had to be cancelled, with the Tees running at unprecedented levels for the time of year.

What of the effect on the holiday hire boat industry? Edward Helps, chief executive of the ABC Leisure Group – one of the biggest multi-based operators – told us that they were fortunate in that all their 11 bases are on the canals and were not in themselves affected.

However, many holidaymakers were using routes taking in the rivers Severn and Avon and, during the first two weeks of the floods, boats were stuck at various locations.

He said it was initially a nightmare of rescheduling holiday cruising routes, turning boats around at other sites and eventually getting them back to their bases. Also fielding many phone calls about existing bookings, as the national publicity gave the impression that all the waterway network was closed, whereas alternative routes were available.

Helps also said that – unless we have a period of late good weather (as the public soon forgets) it could affect late bookings and have a knock-on effect on next year’s lettings.

Pictures below, left to right:
Leeds Lock on the Aire & Calder was underwater and BW staff had problems vacating their adjacent Fearn’s Wharf office

The three pictures on the right were taken in the centre of Banbury on Friday July 20