BBC One this morning (2 October) re-broadcast a feature on flood preparedness featuring OFA streeing group member Adrian Porter. The story was first aired in July 2023 to raise awareness of flooding and the need for households and businesses to be prepared. This time the item focused on what it’s like to be flooded, using Adrian’s reflections from 2007, and then switched to someone being rescued from a flooded vehicle by Oxford Fire & Rescue.

After record levels of rain on 23 September the catchment has limited capacity to absorb more water, and it will take time to drain. Further storms could cause the Thames to rise more quickly than we’ve seen over the last week. As we head into winter we all need to be prepared.

The Environment Agency updated it’s flood alert for the Thames and tributaries in the Oxford area this morning. The update reads as follows:

Property flooding is not currently expected.

River levels are high on the River Thames as a result of heavy rainfall. Therefore, flooding of low lying land and roads is expected to continue today, Saturday. Today is expected to be dry. Sunday will start out dry followed by rain in the afternoon. We expect river levels to remain high over the next 24-48 hours as water moves downstream.

We are monitoring the situation. Our staff are managing weirs on the River Thames to reduce flood risk. Avoid using low lying footpaths near local watercourses. Go to the ‘River and Sea levels in England’ webpage for current river levels. This message will be updated tomorrow morning (29/09/2024), or as the situation changes.

The Thames and it’s tributaries upstream of Oxford have remained largely within their normal range and appear to be stabilising today, 25 September. Flow at Farmoor is just over 42 cumex, well below levels typically seen during flood events, and flow seems to be levelling off. The Environment Agency has said it expects rivers to stabilise during the day.

Various locations in Oxfordshire have experienced flooding, principally from surface water runoff, drainage systems being unable to cope with the sheer volume of water. The Cherwell, Ray and Thame rivers are also high and flood warnings are in place along stretches of these rivers, including near Banbury, Kidlington, and Abingdon. Flood alerts have been issued for some upstream sections of the Thames, but there are no alerts currently in Oxford city.

The Environment Agency is continuing to monitor the situation.

At 13.00 today, 23 September, the Osney rain gauge showed 67 mm of rainfall in the previous 24 hours, with heavy rain still falling. The average rainfall for September in Oxford is 54.38 mm.

Rainfall has been heavy across the catchment and clearly there will be a lot of water draining into the Thames over the coming days. Rivers are within their normal range currently, though rising in many places. Flood alerts have not yet been issued by the Environment Agency for Oxford but residents should monitor river levels and keep a watch on the situation.

Lots of reports of surface water flooding, school closures, traffic disruption appearing in the media.

We will post further information in due course.

Oxford Flood Alliance has responded to the consultation on the latest update to the Local Flood Risk Management Strategy for Oxfordshire. There is mush in the document which we agree with. We have made comments on four areas where we believe flood risk management practice could be strengthened:

1. The document recognises that flood risk management cannot be delivered without the engagement of local communities. But there is no central list of community flood groups and flood wardens across the county, no regular formal engagement with this community, and it can be difficult for members of the community to secure engagement from the various agencies. This needs to improve is we are to build a network of resilient communities in Oxfordshire.
2. Thames Water is assigned responsibilities under the strategy but based on past experience the likelihood of them failing to meet these obligations is, in our view, high. We do not believe the measures proposed in the strategy for securing Thames Water’s cooperation are strong enough.
3. Maintenance of existing waterways is important for flood risk management. With successive cuts to its budget the Environment Agency no longer has the resources it once had and is forced to prioritise where it intervenes. In the short term more transparent communication with members of the public about priorities would help. In the longer term maintenance needs more resources.
4. There are useful comments in the document about Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SuDS). We are urging the local flood risk management authorities to also think about additional techniques for reducing runoff, in particular use of water catchment and reuse systems of the kind currently being proposed for two large developments in the city.