Flood update: no longer funny

Okay, the first day it was all a bit of a hoot, all that wading and joking about sewage - but 24 hrs later, two of my workmates didn't make it in, or went home early, because their houses were about to be flooded, and several other mates moved all their gear to upstairs floors because their backyards have become swamps.

They said at first it was the biggest flood since 1947 (what joy they must've been amid the post-war rebuilding going on). By the end of the week it was the worst in 200 years.

Oxfordshire and Warwickshire (where we live and Ants works) have been two of the worst hit areas, although not a patch on Gloucestershire, where 350,000 people have no drinkable water and thousands have no power after a substation flooded.

Our home is fine - on a big hill - although this first pic shows how badly the Cherwell has bust its banks, just a mile from home. The actual riverbed is about 200 metres out of shot to your right...

Ants couldn't get to work the first Monday - Oxford train station had been closed since Friday. Banbury (half way between here and Warwick ) was under 2-3 feet of water, and there was no rail-line or road open between Oxford and Birmingham. Parts of Oxford around the station are flooded, and buses to Eynsham, the village where I work (4 miles from Oxford), were diverted a good 5 miles around the wet mess.

Far worse off though is Witney, about 5 miles out from Eynsham, and home to a lot of the lads and lasses from work, which has been partly under water for 2 days. Their high street finally reopened today, but might go under again overnight, as the river Windrush may rise again as more water moves down from upstream.

Eynsham has a severe flood warning in place because the Thames runs right past it and there's a danger of roads being cut. As it is, the Thames, normally 10-15 metres wide, is more a lake than a river these days... (I took these pix out the bus window on the way to work).
The two lines of trees in this last pic show where the Thames usually runs.

It’s all a little freaky but we're keeping ourselves safe and dry. And thank the gods, all our mates are okay.

Flood story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6911226.stm

Oxford Pix: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/6911497.stm

Oxford story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/oxfordshire/6911321.stm

Back home, 'Aunty' has picked it up too: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/07/23/1986116.htm