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Storm strikes county after heatwave

From the Abingdon Herald, first published Thursday 27th Jul 2006.

BAKED, grilled and swamped the people of Oxfordshire sweltered through one of the craziest weather periods in the county's history last week.

Temperatures rocketed to 34.2C (94F) on the hottest day of the year on Wednesday and were even recorded at 100F at Wantage Primary School.

The school's 460 pupils were told to stay at home for the day.

Another 260 Berinsfield Primary School pupils were sent home in the afternoon.

Carswell Primary School, Abingdon, however, employed a novel way of keeping the sun off its 270 pupils a £5,000 Australian sail to provide shade in the playground.

Headteacher Sue Gore said: "The sail is made of a specially knitted cloth which allows the light through, but keeps out 99 per cent of the sun's harmful UV rays.

"It also reduces the heat beneath the shade and will cover a large area of the playground. I think we are the first school in Oxfordshire to invest in one of these sails."

Parents and children desperate for relief from the heat splashed into swimming pools and paddling pools in the area.

As the sizzling heat threatened to melt roads, county council gritters sprayed granite dust and sand to hold the surfaces together.

Sticky conditions were reported on more than 30 roads, including ones near Blewbury and Wantage, and the A329 near Thame.

It was the first time the gritters had been out since they countered icy conditions in April.

Yet, just 72 hours later, Oxfordshire was hit by a torrential rainstorm which caused chaos.

A month's worth of rain 40.8mm fell in just under two hours, with flash-flooding and lightning strikes, as the county suffered the worst of the storms which hit Britain last Saturday.

Homes and shops were flooded, summer events were washed out and roads were submerged.

Firefighters took 160 calls in three hours and had to prioritise, responding only to emergencies where lives or property were in danger.

The storm swept sideways across the middle of Oxfordshire in the early afternoon.

It mirrored the flash flooding and lightning strikes which hit the county on July 6, bringing a month's rain in just over two hours.

Met Office spokesman Andy Bodenham said Oxfordshire suffered the worst storm in the UK.

He said: "Once again, Oxfordshire got more than a month's rainfall in a couple of hours and there seems to be a pattern emerging, with long periods of dry sunny weather and above-average temperatures followed by thunderstorms."

A tree was brought down at Wantage and many other trees shed branches in the wind.

In Oxford, Botley Road was closed in both directions from about 4pm after the section under the railway bridge flooded, and vehicles on the Osney Mead industrial estate were stranded after parts of Ferry Hinksey Road were submerged.

The flooding beneath the railway bridge caused tailbacks throughout the city centre. Firefighters had to pump it out.

It was a similar story when a flashflood saw a lake more than two feet deep form under the Blackbird Leys Road/Barns Road bridge over the Eastern Bypass.

Traffic stacked up in both directions and cars had to mount the kerb on the central reservation to get through the water.

Shoppers in the city centre were forced to run for cover, but some still did not manage to escape in the Clarendon Centre, which partially flooded.

Lingerie store Bravissimo, in Broad Street, was forced to close after water seeped in.

At Boots the Chemist, in Cornmarket Street, shoppers were evacuated because of thunder and lightning. Clothes store Republic and a neighbouring pasty shop also closed.

Visitors to the gym at Ferry Sports Centre in Summertown were turned away because of flooding.

Ian Simpson, 61, of Beechey Avenue, Old Marston, said his road was severely waterlogged at the junction with Oxford Road. "It's the worst flooding I have seen in 30 years," he said.

Homes off Botley Road were flooded. Maggie Roman, 79, of Old Botley, behind McDonald's in Botley Road, was flooded out for the fourth time in 40 years, and lost carpets, electrical goods, books and photo albums.

She said: "It all happened so quickly and now I'm making a list for the insurers. Thankfully, the neighbours have been wonderful helping me to clear up, so I'm putting a brave face on it."

Thunder, lightning, and torrential rain also hit the Woodstock area and caused chaos within 30 minutes.

Roads rapidly became flooded, especially under bridges and in laybys. The A34 was awash, and visibility was reduced to a few feet.

At Kidlington, there was flooding and power was lost for 90 minutes. The Kidlington Gala was rained off.

There were also reports of flooding at Bicester.

Peter Cleary, Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service's risk reduction manager, said two houses and five trees were reported hit by lightning.

"The weather actually swept across the county sideways," he said. "It really affected Oxford, Eynsham and Bicester, but not the south. We pulled fire engines in from around the county and had to prioritise life-threatening emergency calls and property protection calls."

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