Island Flooding

With heavy rainfall throughout most of today the island just couldn't cope any more. The ground was already at saturation point after almost continuous rain and wind for the last month. I left my home at 1.45pm to drive south to a dentist appointment 20 miles away in Port Erin and then on to Douglas on the east side of the island. Flooding at that point was bad so I turned back to use another road which happened to be impassable so had to risk the previous roads flooding.

In Douglas I shopped at a major supermarket for 50 minutes and left the shop to find my car sitting in 8 inches of water in the car park which I had to wade to. The river that runs alongside had burst it's banks and was rising quickly, ironically the road that the supermarket sits on is called Lake Road. Having left there it was a case of going in increasing circles to get home with most roads seriously flooded and my car by this point starting to overheat from sitting in nose to tail traffic. I honestly thought I'd be spending the night in my car somewhere. We've had major flooding here before but never this bad where it has pretty much shut down the island. It took me three hours to cover what is normally a 25 minute drive and I arrived home at 7.50pm six hours later.

There's also been a landslide on the Mountain Road which has closed that until further notice.

This morning there was also a report of a light plane missing, it had left the island for Blackpool in bad weather and not arrived, it is believed to have gone down in the sea. We're waiting to here more news of it's whereabouts.

Below are a handful of pictures.

Ramsey, with up to 3ft of water in places.


Laxey, a bridge collapsed. Luckily there were no injuries to anyone on the bus.


Douglas , after the river burst it's banks.


A sports hall in Douglas.


The rain started to ease around 5pm and has since stopped. Tomorrow and Saturday just to cap all this, we have another severe gale on the way.

 

OMG. I wish I could do something to help!

Are YOU okay?

Very upset to see this!

 

Hi Sheal,
Sorry you're all having to go through this. Hope everything gets back to normal soon for all of you and your lovely island can get back to normal.

Take care and only go out if its absolutely necessary.

 

Thank you @CanadianLori, I'm fine, but there's nothing anyone can do when nature takes over. I was worried about my small car stalling when driving through the deeper water, it was quite a tense time. The island is only 35 x 13 miles in size, so our five major roads here would be considered country lanes elsewhere as they have no dual carriageways/motorways. Four and a half of those roads were closed today.

Isle of Man


Thanks John and Anthony, more often than not the UK is not aware of what's happening here on the island.

 

No sheal,ive not seen anything reported,glad you managed to get home ok and no casualties elsewhere..but any news on the plane to blackpool yet?? xx

 

Thanks Joolz. No, nothing more about the plane, the search was scaled down just before dark early this evening. If there's any more news about it I will let you know.

 

Oh My Goodness, what terrible conditions and I agree.... nothing on the news in the UK or radio.

So glad that you got home safely and that there are no casualties.

We haven't even heard a peep about the missing plane.

Is your home ok and out of reach of any flooding?

 

It's looks horrific and as others have said, nothing has been reported here. I'm glad you're ok...stay safe.

 

Oh God Sheal, things are not looking good on your island. It's not as tho things are due to improve either as the forecast is dreadful over the weekend. I have experienced being very badly flooded in a previous house and it's a ghastly thing to cope with and took us 2 years to get back to any sense of normality. I do hope your home is ok and not at risk.
We've got water (about 5 inches) in our very deep basement atm. Am I personally bothered, not really after being dramatically flooded by a river. It's the water table which is ridiculously high which is responsible for our "pond". The 1st time it happened (been happening on and off since the house was built in Georgian times) we started to bail it out. After an hours heavy work we stopped for a coffee. Upon return to the task we discovered the level had gone back up ie a complete waste of time and energy. Nowadays we just accept the problem and close the door to the basement to let it get on with it. Funnily enough despite the pond it doesn't affect the house at all damp wise, you'd never even know what was going on!
Take care and keep us up to date. Thinking of you.

 

Thank you everyone for your kind words. I and other half are safe and so is our home, being in a coastal position on the west side of the island. The land here is sandy and free draining, thankfully.

First some news about the plane. It was a light, single propellor plane based here on the island but registered elsewhere. The only person on board, as far as is known, was the pilot/owner. He is a businessman, his name not having been revealed as yet. The plane disappeared from radar three miles from Lancashire over the sea, it was heading for Blackpool. The search has revealed fuel and some debris but there's been no further news.

The island has made little recovery today with many areas still under water, particularly around Douglas. We are now battening down the hatches for the severe gale that's brewing this evening and will continue through tomorrow. The wind may reach gusts of up to 80mph tomorrow and that won't help our tidal and river flooding situation.

More pictures......

Colby Village.....the place I was expecting to pass through yesterday after abandoning the only other road out of Port Erin to travel East. I turned back and tackled the other road instead.


Douglas power station and the river flooding.


Douglas Fire Station


Our National Sports Centre taken from McDonalds with the burst river in between. The Fire Station is in the same area.




The supermarket car park I waded through yesterday. The road is just beyond the cars to the right and the river is between that and the distant building you can see.


One of the islands Glens.


The landslide on the Mountain Road which is part of the TT course. Not as bad as it could have been but enough to shut the road from Douglas to Ramsey.


And finally.......sense of humour maintained!

 

Thanks Armandii. The Steampacket won't be sailing tomorrow, I bet the Ark does though!

 

@Sheal , so sorry to see the terrible flooding on your beautiful island . I hope it was reported on the NW Granada news .
I was driving last night along the East Lancashire A580 and up the M6 , the weather was absolutely bloomin' awful , with the rain coming down in sheets . From the driest October I can remember it has never stopped raining from November 1 ! My Autumn gardening jobs are in chaos . I must get my Canna tubers up this weekend a full month late .