Guildford Flood 2013 – Town Centre Gallery

Published on: 24 Dec, 2013
Updated on: 26 Dec, 2013

The following pictures were taken in the late afternoon/early evening of Christmas Eve as the flood waters were approaching their peak…

Entrance to council offices at Millmead. the gate house contains the lockers for the police officers. Oh dear! Just after this photo was taken a group of officers were seen rolling up there trousers to wade in and rescue what they could.

Entrance to council offices at Millmead. The gate house, on the left, contains the lockers for the police officers. Oh dear! Just after this photo was taken a group of officers were seen rolling up their trousers to wade in and rescue what they could.

Beyond the gate cars immersed up to windscreen level. Once the water started to rise it rose quickly and caught several on the hop.

Beyond the gate cars in Millmead car park immersed up to windscreen level. Rumours that over- zealous parking attendants were seen with sub-aqua kit proved unfounded.

Matthew Boulton wades away from The George Abbott pub where he is the head chef. He said: "The water started to enter at about 1pm and within an hour it was two feet deep. We were hoping to have our Christmas dinner in the pub. Do you know if Domino's is open?

Matthew Boulton wades away from The George Abbot pub where he is the head chef. The closed Town Bridge just behind. Matthew said: “The water started to enter at about 1pm and within an hour it was two feet deep. We were hoping to have our Christmas dinner in the pub. Do you know if Domino’s Pizza will be open?”

More like Venice than Guildford…

…as is this view from Onslow Bridge, looking down stream…

... and Farnham Road car park could be a perfect place for gondolas.

… and Farnham Road car park could be a perfect place for a gondola rank.

But life continues on our beautiful High Street where, despite the floods the Christmas mood was evident.

But life continued on our beautiful High Street where, despite the floods, on Christmas Eve the festive mood was evident.

Thank goodness our forebears had the sense to build the Guildhall well out of reach of the river.

Responses to Guildford Flood 2013 – Town Centre Gallery

Jim Allen Reply

December 25, 2013 at 9:19 pm

Notwithstanding wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and festive cheer, this flood, which has effectively levelled the weir upstream of Bowers Lock, is teaching us a timely lesson.

I suggest that everyone who has photos of the floods send them to Guildford Borough Council and Surrey County Council. The idea that we build on the flood plain at Slyfield, including the proposed “Stoke Road – Clay Lane link road” is plain wrong. It would dam the flood plain (which, at the time of writing, seems to be trying to imitate the River Amazon) and should be stripped from the agenda.

Mother Nature has just proven she likes to breath heavy some times. She busts her corsets no matter how hard man tries to contain her. We need our flood plain left as is, so that it slows the flow further down stream and can take up the excess from up stream.

By the way, I would like to thank the Wey navigation team for their hard work maintaining the sluices which at present are overwhelmed at Stoke and Bowers Locks. The water level is some four inches over the tops of the locks.

Your thanks to the navigation team is well said Jim. We should not forget their sterling efforts to minimise the flood damage, often when the rest of us our safe in our homes. Ed
Karen Fredborg Reply

December 25, 2013 at 11:22 pm

Thank you for your coverage of the floods. We are following you from our native Denmark where we are staying for Christmas.

We will be coming back to our Guildford home soon.
Pauline Surrey Reply

December 30, 2013 at 9:58 am

Thanks Dragon and friends for all these reports, which we followed from our Christmas abroad. Friends from Germany were emailing to see if we were ok, as Guildford had made their TV news!
- Martin Giles Reply
  
  December 30, 2013 at 10:55 am
  
  Thanks Pauline. Good to hear. Ed.
Bernard Parke Reply

December 30, 2013 at 11:14 am

Also from Australia !

I suggested that they logged on to The Guildford Dragon to see it in picture form.