Church of St Thomas a Becket, Pensford, Somerset, UK. 12th January 2023. / Pictured: An elderly resident who remembers the floods of 1968
Church of St Thomas a Becket, Pensford, Somerset, UK. 12th January 2023. / Pictured: An elderly resident who remembers the floods of 1968 looks at the River Chew. / A swollen River Chew gushes past the Church of St Thomas a Becket in Pensford, North Somerset. Although the river is several feet above normal for the time of year, it is nowhere near the level reached back in the late '60s. On July 10th 1968 over five inches of rain fell on the region in less than 24 hours in what was the worst storm in over 50 years. The intensity of the downpour increased as the day wore on, with persistent thunder and lightning illuminating the dark skies. The village of Pensford was literally cut in two when the main A37 road bridge - a major route for holiday traffic - was swept away by the swollen waters of the Chew. The front of the 15th-century listed Bridge House building was torn off and many locals lost their homes and belongings. The Met Office has issued weather warnings for heavy and persistent rain with hours of downpours forecast for Somerset, Wiltshire and the south west of England.
Size: 5568px × 3712px
Location: Pensford, Somerset
Photo credit: © Lee Thomas / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: 1968, agency, alert, england, environment, flood, flooding, met, office, pensford, rain, roads, somerset, south, uk, warning, weather, west, wiltshire, wind, yellow
