If I may be permitted to make a non-genealogy post for once, I was very saddened to see on last night's TV news bulletins the awful scenes of flooded homes and businesses in the Calder Valley - yet again. The worst hit places were Todmorden, Hebden Bridge, Mytholmroyd and Sowerby Bridge, with scores of homes flooded out and people's belongings destroyed. I say "yet again" because the River Calder has been notorious for bursting its banks and flooding the towns and villages through which it passes for many years. However, this latest episode appears to be the worst this century. If you wish to read about the full devastation, just enter "Calder Valley floods" into Google and you will find numerous news stories from the Halifax Courier, Todmorden Today and other news outlets. To gauge some idea of how bad it is, see the photo of Market Street, Hebden Bridge, under water at: http://www.todmordennews.co.uk/news/local/community-spirit-shines-through-after-calder-val ley-flooding-1-4674751 Last night's TV scenes brought back memories for me of similar floods some 60 years ago back in the early 1950s when my folks had a pub, the former Royal Oak, at Mytholmroyd. On that occasion the Calder burst its banks after torrential rain fell and there was an incident that made national headlines (long before the days of the Internet) when a coach party of holidaymakers on their way to Blackpool got stranded in the middle of Mytholmroyd when the driver tried to get through the floods and the coach broke down. They all had to be rescued and carried through the flood waters to our pub, which was fortunately part way up a short hill and so escaped the worst of it. The coach party ended up drying off in the pub and being given food and drink by my parents! One thing people who don't know the Calder Valley may not realise is that a great many homes alongside the river have cellars and/or basement rooms, so these inevitably were completely under water and it will presumably take some time for them to be pumped out and made habitable again. From what I saw on the news, many people were angry that the authorities and powers-that-be seem to have done little either to warn of the impending disaster or to prevent it. Predictably, they made the usual excuses. I hope we can forget genealogy just for a moment to sympathise with those hundreds of people who have suffered severe damage to their homes and businesses and loss of belongings. -- Roy Stockdill Genealogical researcher, writer & lecturer Newbies' Guide to Genealogy & Family History: www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.html "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." OSCAR WILDE
The Environment Agency was issuing flood alerts and warnings all day which were all over the news and had staff out working on trying to clear rivers of debris to try and keep the water moving. Calderdale Council had information on its website and also has issued a leaflet advising residents what to do in the event of a flood. We had a month's worth of rain fall in 24 hours on already sodden ground - no drainage system is going to cope with that however well maintained (and I suspect it probably isn't as good as it could be because of government spending cuts.) People are very quick to condemn 'the authorities' yet they are the ones who were issuing warnings and trying to help people and when disaster struck were out there working through the night to get people to safe, warm, dry locations. -----Original Message----- From: roy.stockdill@btinternet.com Sent: Sunday, June 24, 2012 7:27 AM To: YORKSGEN-L@rootsweb.com Cc: ENG-YORKSHIRE-L@rootsweb.com ; WEST-RIDING-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [YORKSGEN] Non-gen - floods devastate Calder Valley again If I may be permitted to make a non-genealogy post for once, I was very saddened to see on last night's TV news bulletins the awful scenes of flooded homes and businesses in the Calder Valley - yet again. The worst hit places were Todmorden, Hebden Bridge, Mytholmroyd and Sowerby Bridge, with scores of homes flooded out and people's belongings destroyed. I say "yet again" because the River Calder has been notorious for bursting its banks and flooding the towns and villages through which it passes for many years. However, this latest episode appears to be the worst this century. If you wish to read about the full devastation, just enter "Calder Valley floods" into Google and you will find numerous news stories from the Halifax Courier, Todmorden Today and other news outlets. To gauge some idea of how bad it is, see the photo of Market Street, Hebden Bridge, under water at: http://www.todmordennews.co.uk/news/local/community-spirit-shines-through-after-calder-val ley-flooding-1-4674751 Last night's TV scenes brought back memories for me of similar floods some 60 years ago back in the early 1950s when my folks had a pub, the former Royal Oak, at Mytholmroyd. On that occasion the Calder burst its banks after torrential rain fell and there was an incident that made national headlines (long before the days of the Internet) when a coach party of holidaymakers on their way to Blackpool got stranded in the middle of Mytholmroyd when the driver tried to get through the floods and the coach broke down. They all had to be rescued and carried through the flood waters to our pub, which was fortunately part way up a short hill and so escaped the worst of it. The coach party ended up drying off in the pub and being given food and drink by my parents! One thing people who don't know the Calder Valley may not realise is that a great many homes alongside the river have cellars and/or basement rooms, so these inevitably were completely under water and it will presumably take some time for them to be pumped out and made habitable again. From what I saw on the news, many people were angry that the authorities and powers-that-be seem to have done little either to warn of the impending disaster or to prevent it. Predictably, they made the usual excuses. I hope we can forget genealogy just for a moment to sympathise with those hundreds of people who have suffered severe damage to their homes and businesses and loss of belongings. -- Roy Stockdill Genealogical researcher, writer & lecturer Newbies' Guide to Genealogy & Family History: www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.html "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." OSCAR WILDE ..... Ancestors in Yorkshire? http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/index.html; www.ryedalefamilyhistory.org; www.wharfedalefhg.org.uk; www.yorkshireparishregisters.com; www.yorkshireroots.org.uk; ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to YORKSGEN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message
Hi The general view yesterday in Mytholmroyd was it might have been the worst since 1947 (when the church was flooded). Yesterday it swept around the church and flooded the graveyard but the interior was spared; just as well as there was a wedding (featured last night on "Look North"). I'm told the gigantic underground flood tank excavated about 2 years ago held the situation for some hours but after midnight it was full... Karl ----- Original Message ----- From: <roy.stockdill@btinternet.com> To: <YORKSGEN-L@rootsweb.com> Cc: <ENG-YORKSHIRE-L@rootsweb.com>; <WEST-RIDING-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, June 24, 2012 7:27 AM Subject: [YORKSGEN] Non-gen - floods devastate Calder Valley again > If I may be permitted to make a non-genealogy post for once, I was very > saddened to see on > last night's TV news bulletins the awful scenes of flooded homes and > businesses in the > Calder Valley - yet again. The worst hit places were Todmorden, Hebden > Bridge, > Mytholmroyd and Sowerby Bridge, with scores of homes flooded out and > people's belongings > destroyed. > > I say "yet again" because the River Calder has been notorious for bursting > its banks and > flooding the towns and villages through which it passes for many years. > However, this latest > episode appears to be the worst this century. If you wish to read about > the full devastation, > just enter "Calder Valley floods" into Google and you will find numerous > news stories from the > Halifax Courier, Todmorden Today and other news outlets. To gauge some > idea of how bad > it is, see the photo of Market Street, Hebden Bridge, under water at: > > http://www.todmordennews.co.uk/news/local/community-spirit-shines-through-after-calder-val > ley-flooding-1-4674751 > > Last night's TV scenes brought back memories for me of similar floods some > 60 years ago > back in the early 1950s when my folks had a pub, the former Royal Oak, at > Mytholmroyd. On > that occasion the Calder burst its banks after torrential rain fell and > there was an incident that > made national headlines (long before the days of the Internet) when a > coach party of > holidaymakers on their way to Blackpool got stranded in the middle of > Mytholmroyd when the > driver tried to get through the floods and the coach broke down. They all > had to be rescued > and carried through the flood waters to our pub, which was fortunately > part way up a short hill > and so escaped the worst of it. The coach party ended up drying off in the > pub and being > given food and drink by my parents! > > One thing people who don't know the Calder Valley may not realise is that > a great many > homes alongside the river have cellars and/or basement rooms, so these > inevitably were > completely under water and it will presumably take some time for them to > be pumped out and > made habitable again. From what I saw on the news, many people were angry > that the > authorities and powers-that-be seem to have done little either to warn of > the impending > disaster or to prevent it. Predictably, they made the usual excuses. > > I hope we can forget genealogy just for a moment to sympathise with those > hundreds of > people who have suffered severe damage to their homes and businesses and > loss of > belongings. > > -- > Roy Stockdill > Genealogical researcher, writer & lecturer > Newbies' Guide to Genealogy & Family History: > www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.html > > "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, > and that is not being talked about." > OSCAR WILDE > > > > > ..... > Ancestors in Yorkshire? http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/index.html; > www.ryedalefamilyhistory.org; www.wharfedalefhg.org.uk; > www.yorkshireparishregisters.com; www.yorkshireroots.org.uk; > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > YORKSGEN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message
From: "Karl Grave" <karl@virosidum.demon.co.uk> > Hi > The general view yesterday in Mytholmroyd was it might have been the worst > since 1947 (when the church was flooded). Yesterday it swept around > the church and flooded the graveyard but the interior was spared; just > as well as there was a wedding (featured last night on "Look North"). > I'm told the gigantic underground flood tank excavated about 2 years > ago held the situation for some hours but after midnight it was > full... > Karl> Do you actually live in Mytholmroyd, Karl? If so, whereabouts? I gather that the Dusty Miller was flooded but if you know the village you will know that our old pub, the Royal Oak (long ago shut down and now apartments) was slightly raised a bit up Pismire Hill on Burnley Road and therefore somewhat safer. I wonder if the White Lion which I believe is still open and opposite where the Royal Oak was was flooded as well? -- Roy Stockdill Genealogical researcher, writer & lecturer Newbies' Guide to Genealogy & Family History: www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.html "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." OSCAR WILDE