Dudbridge Storm Recovery
Dudbridge Lower Storm Recovery
by: Frank L.
We knew before arriving at Western Depot today there had been over flooding into Dudbridge Lower lock, and other sections of towpath in the Ebley area.
Bob Ambury, and the construction crew (Duncan, Matthew, Andy, Maurice and Bobski) plus myself headed off early in the tipper armed with buckets, spades, kebs, ropes etc. On arrival at Dudbridge, we found Ian Moody, who seemed very happy to see a clean up crew arrive.
At the head of the lock between the stop planks and gates we found quite a few very newly cut sections of Scottish pine – dia 13″, each having been washed over the stop planks following Friday’s heavy rains. The usual problem is debris being washed down Painswick brook, clogging the grills on the bi-wash grating causing flooding over the bottom gates of the lock and along the towpath. This brings rubbish and silty mud to cover the tow path.
First job was to clear the grill, which this time has been damaged by rubbish and high water pressure. Another job for WD. This took an hour with 4 of us pulling a mixture of wood, logs, brambles, traffic cones etc out which adds to a future bonfire.
Next job was to recover the logs from the lock, two had filled the penstock entrance to the off side paddle. Not ideal,, and we wonder how many more logs are being washed down from the valley, especially with more heavy rain forecast. Due to the size/weight of these logs we called for a chain saw operator to reduce them to manageable lifting sizes. Dave Padgett was swiftly on site to help us out.
We followed this up with recovering fencing that had been washed off the edge of the lock, and also found the groundhog welfare had been inundated with water and mud. Not a pretty sight. Finally a shovel, fork and brush dealt with the remaining mess below the bridge before we headed back to base for a well earned cuppa. So ended the morning.
