I took this photograph in January 2014 in a local village.
This winter much of this Lancashire village suffered severe flooding from the Rivers Yarrow and Douglas.
I don’t know if this particular property was affected but, judging by its proximity to the river, I suspect it may have been. We know people who live in the village and they report that things are just about getting back to normal now that their houses have dried out, though the local TV news tonight showed the Cumbrian town of Kendal where some homes will not be fully habitable for perhaps another year. One poor man has been living upstairs in a bedroom as the ground floor of his house is still totally wrecked.
Another Backyard ©HelenBushe
4 Comments
Marga Demmers · 26 May 2016 at 08:41
I love the lines in your photo as well as the reflection of the daylight (sunlight?) on the stones. The plant pots are a nice highlight.
On the news we have seen images of the floods, but it gave us only an impression of the situation. However, it is easy to imagine what it must be like for the inhabitants, even more so if you know that to some people this happened twice. It must be terrible to have your house flooded like this; it should be a safe haven and then this. I feel sorry for the poor man, maybe there are many more people like him.
HMB · 26 May 2016 at 08:47
Thanks Marga . Yes, I must admit I had forgotten about these floods until tonight’s TV news story. Some people won’t be back in their homes properly until 2017. Many are at breaking point. I feel so sorry for them.
Marga Demmers · 26 May 2016 at 08:54
Yes, it is the powerlessness that can break you. And nobody guarantees that it will not happen again. Like the sword of Damocles hanging over your head. Over here a flood a couple of years ago gave rise to a series of heightening of the dykes and a project called ‘Room for the River’. In this project agricultural land is converted into wetland, so that in case the water level in the river is high, the water can flow into this new land and avoid floods. An additional advantage: it created splendid areas for water birds, and nature lovers.
Helen Bushe · 26 May 2016 at 09:14
Room for the River is a good name for the project. In England there are so many houses being built on floodplains which seems to ignore the fact that water has to go somewhere.