The striking thing about the flooding of the past few days is the speed at which river levels rose following several hours of torrential rain on the evening of Friday 31 March. This resulted in some flood events not previously seen in the county.

Tescos Extra in Abingdon was closed for two days due to a flooded car park, and Oxfordshire Wildlife Rescue suspend its operations after its centre near Didcot flooded on the Friday night. We have had reports of flooding at Sunningwell, north-west of Abingdon, and of flash flooding in Hurst Rise Rd and Hutchcombe Rd in west Oxford. The Eynsham Rd near the junction with the A420 was closed for a while due to flooding.

Botley Park. and the allotments to the east of the park, went from being completely dry on the Saturday afternoon to being flooded 24hrs later. Plot holders were taken by surprise at the speed at which their allotments flooded. At Seacourt P&R, the extension was fully flooded within 24 hrs.

Fortunately the amount of rainfall on Friday was not enough to cause more widespread disruption, but the speed at which rivers rose after just a few hours of heavy rain illustrate how vulnerable we would be in the event of a much bigger storm, and not just those areas known to be at risk from floods.

River levels have now stabilized in Oxford and Abingdon. Further up the Thames levels are either stable or falling.