Tonbridge, Kent, UK 24 December 2013. The River Medway flooding a local street Credit: patrick nairne/Alamy Live News
The wettest December in over 100 years led to saturated ground and very responsive rivers in this area of Kent and elsewhere. Between 19 and 25 December ,the Medway catchment received over 110 millimetres of rainfall. At 5:00am on Tuesday 24 December, the Leigh FSA was empty and the River Medway was flowing unrestricted in its normal channel. It was from this time that the Environment Agency started to store water to reduce river flows downstream. By 8:00pm, the FSA was storing water within 10 millimetres of its maximum limit of million cubic metres of water. Without the Leigh FSA, it has been calculated that a peak flow of 300 cubic metres of water per second would have passed through Tonbridge and other downstream communities. But by operating it, the Environment Agency could halve the amount of flow downstream.
Size: 4057px × 2699px
Location: Barden Road, Tonbridge, UK
Photo credit: © patrick nairne / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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