Recent Hemyock Floods - Connecting the Culm Project скачать в хорошем качестве

Recent Hemyock Floods - Connecting the Culm Project

Video created for the "Connecting the Culm" project. The rivers and streams of Devon's Culm Valley are usually tranquil, but are subject to flash floods when they become swollen by water from the Blackdown Hills & fields. Flooding usually recedes within a few hours, but sometimes blocks roads for several days as well as causing significant damage. Modern farming & water management practices seem to have made these events more frequent. Recent house building near streams, particularly on former flood plains, concentrates & channels the floodwater, leading to more damage and danger. In spite of the obvious problems and dangers, there have been repeated attempts to build more houses near the streams and on the flood plains. Also, many properties have replaced lawns etc. with impermeable surfaces, increasing the problems with surface water. St Margaret's Brook is a tributary of the River Culm. It rises in the hills to the south of Hemyock, in Devon's Blackdown Hills AONB. It flows past Hemyock Castle & St Mary's Church, then down to the River Culm. Over the centuries, it has been harnessed for irrigation, an important water supply, as a source of power, for waste disposal... and to fill Hemyock Castle's moat. Hemyock Castle's moat now acts as an important water catchment to reduce flooding by storing excess surface water. It is also a vibrant natural habitat for a wide variety of wildlife. St Margaret's Brook's current course was largely set during the late 17th Century, when the Lord of the Manor of Hemyock, John Every, channelled & diverted it to improve Hemyock's water supply. He also had a leat constructed to bring water from Shuttleton Common. St Margaret's Brook is probably typical of the Culm's tributaries; and also of the way that water sources which, until recently, were carefully maintained and managed, but are now unmanaged so are more likely to cause dangerous and damaging flooding. Usually docile, St Margaret's Brook is also subject to flash flooding, when surface water rushes down from neighbouring fields. Approaching Hemyock, this water is constricted into the ever narrower spaces between the dense new buildings. The flood water often rushes down the roads, probably following the river's original course, but over the modern impermeable surfaces and driveways. It floods adjacent houses and buildings. This flood water then rushes down to the River Culm, flooding fields along the flood plain, but also blocking the main roads. The flood water causes more problems as it flows down the lower Culm. Video created for the "Connecting the Culm" project. See also: Video:    • St Margaret's Brook Hemyock - Video - Conn...   Slideshow:    • St Margaret's Brook Hemyock - Photo Slides...   Created & Edited by: R Sheppard, Hemyock Castle Photos & Video by: M Sheppard & R Sheppard Thanks to Clare Buckley for the 2012 Churchyard Flood photo Editing Software: Serif Movieplus X6 Website: https://www.hemyockcastle.uk/