Laxey flooding

[WTF]

14 hours ago, Boris Johnson said:

I would guess the glass wall is being put in to appease the new owners of the pub who are turning the place into a Boutique hotel/ pub, it will make it insurable.

Now't wrong with that to my way of thinking, its private investment. That gov are supporting as they should.

well yes,  hard for government  to not support a private business trying to protect itself from damage when the government or its agencies have done fuck all about maintaining the river banks etc which contributed greatly to the flooding in the first place.

[Happier diner]

1 hour ago, WTF said:

well yes,  hard for government  to not support a private business trying to protect itself from damage when the government or its agencies have done fuck all about maintaining the river banks etc which contributed greatly to the flooding in the first place.

In your learned opinion. I thought it was the torrential rain. How does maintaining river banks stop flooding? 

[Andy Onchan]

29 minutes ago, Happier diner said:

In your learned opinion. I thought it was the torrential rain. How does maintaining river banks stop flooding? 

You're more intelligent than that.

[paswt]

On 12/6/2021 at 4:55 PM, Roxanne said:

 

 

And in the forlorn hope that people might eventually forget about the unsecured hole in the wall and the digger left in the river.

Its easier to pay than to say sorry, apparently. 

The 'digger' was placed on ton bags of ballast , raising the bed by about a metre , and there was a yellow flood warning that evening , so entirely predictable . Just saying

[Happier diner]

46 minutes ago, Andy Onchan said:

You're more intelligent than that.

It's wasn't the river banks that had not been maintained, it was debris in the river causing an obstruction up stream. 

[Non-Believer]

22 minutes ago, Happier diner said:

It's wasn't the river banks that had not been maintained, it was debris in the river causing an obstruction up stream. 

Apart from the digger left in the stream, the debris in the river came from the banks further upstream though?

[doc.fixit]

I'd say the hole in the wall didn't help!

[Happier diner]

23 minutes ago, Non-Believer said:

Apart from the digger left in the stream, the debris in the river came from the banks further upstream though?

Agteed. You could never stop that though without having hundreds of staff working. You could do inspections and clear debris that has accumulated though and as I understand it, that had stopped some years ago.

[The Phantom]

31 minutes ago, Happier diner said:

Agteed. You could never stop that though without having hundreds of staff working. You could do inspections and clear debris that has accumulated though and as I understand it, that had stopped some years ago.

Correct.  I walked up the Glen Roy valley a few months before the flood and noticed the crazy amount of fallen trees in the river.  Used to spend a lot of time around there when I was a kid and don't recall it ever being like that and it must have been maintained in some shape or form previously. 

That and of course the big hole in the wall at the time of a heavy rain warning. 

[Non-Believer]

5 minutes ago, The Phantom said:

Correct.  I walked up the Glen Roy valley a few months before the flood and noticed the crazy amount of fallen trees in the river.

It's a phenomenon that's everywhere, including "managed" areas like the plantations. We've just stopped doing maintenance like it became unfashionable. We used to have work gangs for rivers, waterways and bridges, with chest waders and chainsaws, all gone now and replaced in part by desk jockeys.

[WTF]

2 hours ago, Happier diner said:

In your learned opinion. I thought it was the torrential rain. How does maintaining river banks stop flooding? 

some of the bigger branches and tree bits came from the un kept trees on the river banks and caused the dam effect at the bridge that got washed out,  if the banks with the trees on them had been kept as they should with routine maintenance then there wouldn't have been the flooding in the first place. that bridge had lasted a long time until the river banks became neglected.

[Two-lane]

2 minutes ago, Non-Believer said:

It's a phenomenon that's everywhere, including "managed" areas like the plantations. We've just stopped doing maintenance like it became unfashionable.

I recall reading, probably on this forum, that the reason was not fashion but because it would cost money and anyway no manager could be bothered.

At the Pavilion meeting after the flood, Allinson made an extensive speech in which he said only two things: that he was sorry, and that he would ensure trees were removed from the river.

[Two-lane]

6 minutes ago, WTF said:

that bridge had lasted a long time until the river banks became neglected.

Anyone who wanders around a bit will have seen debris being carried down the river during floods. It was an obvious problem, but not the only reason the bridge collapsed:

https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/failure-to-act-on-warnings-led-to-isle-of-man-bridge-collapse-21-10-2020/

[Two-lane]

19 hours ago, Boris Johnson said:

I would guess the glass wall is being put in to appease the new owners of the pub who are turning the place into a Boutique hotel/ pub, it will make it insurable.

Insurance companies will probably take note of the Arup report which states that over-topping of the bank was not significant and that the properties were flooded by water coming down the road.
If the proposed 4 feet high wall was in place during the last flood, there would have been no difference in the result. None. Zero. Completely bugger all.

Perhaps the insurance companies might think that the DoI knows a thing or two, and seriously thinks that flood water could be four feet above the bank. In which case there will be an awful lot of water coming down in places other than in the river, which would probably make all properties in Lower Laxey uninsurable.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-isle-of-man-61009666
The photo in the above link shows the problem - the bank is at the same level as the bridge. The wall may stop water overflowing into the car park, but the flood water will then simply hit the bridge - and go somewhere else.

Also in the photo you might notice the new pipe exiting into the river. This is part of the scheme to handle flood water coming down Minorca Hill. I wonder why they did not locate the outlet downstream of the bridge.

The plate-glass proposal is just another DoI art installation. The Ramsey flood prevention proposal also featured plate-glass - the new DoI fad - and was more about ensuring people have "a sense of place" rather than being an engineering solution

[Andy Onchan]

Better late than never: https://www.gov.im/media/1376022/portal-watercourse-vegetation-maintenance-web-advert-final.pdf