The day for Sheffield, a northern English city started as usual, wet and rainy, yes there have been forecasts for a wet June and possible flooding in Northern England, but Sheffielders felt safe in the knowledge that their hilly city is not prone to flooding.

Not even Sheffielders remember when the last big floods occurred. Digging back into history you would have to back over 150 years to 1864 when the Dale Dyke Dam burst.

SPAT-C situated at the SYAC Centre on the river bank felt the full force of the flooding as the following time-line and the news reporting illustrates:

1.30pm - The River Don that runs through the heart of the city was a raging torrent, but in the near 15 years we have been in our current premises, I have seen this many times before, many times.

A colleague suggests that the river is going to burst its banks, having only been with us for barely 2 years, he obviously was not party to my inside knowledge that it has never flooded in at least 15 years, nor have I known any serious flooding in Sheffield in the 40 years I have lived here. So I ask my colleague to put his money where his mouth is, a bet ! "I bet you £50 the river won't burst". But he won't take the bet !

About 10 min's later, 1.40pm with the waters rising, I venture out to take a closer look.

Read the Full Flood Time Line

1.40pm - The river is very high, now reaching the walkway path which implies that it is likely to overspill, still this would be a far cry from an actual flooding

1.50pm - The drainage appears to be failing in the car park. Which is alarming because if the drainage is failing then it does not matter of the river bursts its banks as we could still yet get flooding. So I decide to move my car to a little higher ground, out of the car park.

1.55pm - I am called to the reception to investigate flooding as water from the front of the building starts to enter the premises

1.57pm - Barely 2 minutes later the flooding at reception worsens with the waters rising very fast. With very little that can be done to prevent the inevitable.

2pm - Within 10 minutes the car park started to sustain serious flooding. Given the flooding in reception and the car park flooding, I decide to call it a day and instruct our personnel to go home.

2.02pm - The front of the building is already flooded, as the drainage system completely fails.

2.17pm - Not everyone has headed the advice, one of the remaining cars literally starts to drift in the car park.

2.21pm - The Reception area is flooded by 6 inches with at least another foot of water building up. The building at this point is closed.

3.30pm - The car park is completely flooded.

3.35pm - The front of the building is under at least 3 feet of water, which means the offices will have sustained serious flooding.

3.35pm - The Wicker is completely flooded and infact has turned into a fast flowing river, the shops are under at least 3 feet of water.

Throughout the late afternoon and evening, three RAF helicopters rescued hundreds of trapped people in neighboring buildings as the water levels continued to rise.

Not only is the Wicker flooded but so are the surrounding streets including Effingham Road, which has lead to traffic jams throughout the day.

THE DAY AFTER

With the flood levels having receded, the devestation caused to the surrounding area became apparent.

The Car park though now dry, is caked in at least a mud inch deep of mud, the clear up of groundfloor workshops has already begun.

The once flooded reception area is being stripped bare.

Outside in the Wicker at the front of the building the degree of damage becomes apparent, with

Shop fronts along the wicker show extensive damage with footpaths literally washed away revealing gaping holes.

The fire brigade are at hand to help pump flood waters out of the local shops

At the time of posting this article there were two confirmed deaths in the city, one of which was in the immediate vicinity of our building in the Wicker.

Serious questions need to be asked as to why the UK's fifth largest city has such an inadequate drainage system. Especially as the area is under going a construction boom with many developments near completion now damaged by flood waters.

As for SPAT-C, the agencies activities have been clearly greatly curtailed with a lot of cleaning up to be done in the training workshops, luckily our computer suite and offices are situated on the upper floor so much of our equipment has survived.

We hope to be fully operational by the start of next week, if not earlier

By Nadeem Walayat
(c) Nadeem Walayat - 2007. All rights reserved.