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just e-mail to - darrington.pc@tiscali.co.uk
20th September 2006
Do you remember the torrential rain we had on a Saturday evening in July 2006. Peter Brook
capture the intensity of the flooding with this vivid description and picture of Escourt
Road by the Spread Eagle Pub, a rare event fortunately.
Peter Brook writes:
In a freak rain storm lasting only 1 hour, the main street in Darrington Village, Estcourt
Road, was alarmingly transformed into "The River Dar" on Saturday
afternoon(23rd July), as flash flooding occured around 4pm.
The enormous amount of surface water which built up at the top end of the road was simply
too much for the road drains to cope with, and by the time it had reached the centre of
the village, it had become a flowing river almost a foot deep at its peak.
"It was actually quite frightening, and the power of the water even started to move
my daughter's car down the street. I immediately jumped in it and managed to park it off
the main road just in time, as the force of the water increased still further.
By this time the water was also spilling sideways into the passageway beside our house and
proceeded to flood the entire back courtyard, to the point where it was about to come into
the house. Nothing we could do could stop the water from rising, and the sound of the
'river' in the main street was bizarre."
Several houses were affected by the depth of water, and the cellar of The Spread Eagle
soon flooded too. At the bottom of the village, where the water had accumulated
even greater depth, one or two properties suffered badly. A car parked
outside one, could clearly be seen to have water even above its window
level, which is almost 3' deep.
Many properties fronting the main street in Darrington are very old and have a low
threshold height in the first place. They certainly weren't built with with a flood in
mind; after all we are many metres above river level and the nearest water is the
Aire and Calder navigation at Ferrybridge! So this was a really freak and alarming
event which caught everyone by complete surprise.
"I am indebted to WMDC Rapid Response Unit, who immediately sent crews with sandbags,
and within 20 minutes of calling them, came with both help and morale support. Their
prompt action helped us to keep the water at bay and luckily our house remained dry
inside.
Our rain measuring vessel in the garden showed that just over 2" of rain had fallen
in the space of that hour. It's obviously been the talk of the village over the last few
days, and it appears that no-one in living memory (almost 80 years for some residents) has
ever seen anything like it.
Maybe we should prepare for the next one though as it appears that Global warming and the
changing seasons could have more to surprise us in the future."
Peter and Kate Brook
Church Farm Cottage
Estcourt Road
Darrington
I
26th July 2006
It has being confirmed by the Post Office that the new Village Post office will open on
the 17th August 2006 in the Reading Rooms, Phillips Lane.
27th June 2006
I must say what a pleasure it was to see the parish council represented at this years
feast and fair, at last we have one organisation attempting to integrate with others. My
regret has always been that the various groups acting for the good of this village, rarely
work together; perhaps in future years we may see the Vicar, landlord and shopkeeper. The
village is full of business owners but none of us were represented. I imply no criticism
of the feast and fair which was well organised as usual. I just wish more people would
show support.
P.S. having just read your letter from march concerning fly tipping,
it is always a good idea to inform the police however there is a fly tipping hot line
0800 807060. Anyone with a mobile telephone with a camera, would find the people at the
hot line centre delighted to have photographic evidence. Digital images are now admissible
as evidence under oath.
Michael Britton: M.B.S. Ltd.(Security & Incident management): Darrington
Resident.
Fly Tipping
We seem to suffering from
a spate of flytipping at the moment, it seems to be just one person tipping at various
locations around the Village. We are determined to catch the person responsible and steps
are in hand to resolve this problem. The areas that are been affected are Havercroft
Lane, Valley Road where the footpath goes to the Leys and Marlpit Lane, the rubbish
consists of old wheels and tyre, bottles and cans. If you see a lorry or van that you are
suspicious about please take the number and pass it on to the Parish Council or the
Police.
27th March2006 Councillor
Roger Farrell
Accidents on the exit slip of the A1 South into the Village.
Villagers will be aware that there have been several accidents at the roundabout at the
end of the A1 south slip road, caused by car drivers failing to adjust their speed when
leaving the A1. As a result they have been going straight on over the roundabout and even
into the field, demolishing road signs,flower boxes and the farmers fence. It is apparent
from the number of accidents that the warning signs are inadequate, the Parish Council has
contact the relevant authority and asked them to urgently address this matter. If any
resident want to contact the Highways Department the e-mail and the contact details are
below, WMDC can be contacted via the link from this page
Contact Information
