‘Super Flood’ report

Living next to the River Severn in the Ironbridge Gorge, Shropshire, I am more than used to the annual floods when it bursts its banks causing misery for those living within the flood plain. However for many, many years the fact that it could rise so high as to cover the road in front of our house was only an anecdote supplemented with a small, grainy, black and white photograph taken by my Grandmother in 1947.

1947 floods at The Lloyds in the Ironbridge Gorge. The chain fence is at the side of the pavement of the road.

It wasn’t until the year 2000 when I actually saw it for myself and remember gingerly driving my car through the deepening water to try and get it back onto our drive after finishing work.

Year 2000 floods taken with a very early digital camera.

But then it happened again in 2020, again in 2021 and now again in 2022. The indications are that these ‘super floods’ are occurring more often. Global warming? Building on flood plains? Natural weather cycles? Who knows – and I suspect it will take a few more years to be truly certain whether this is the new ‘norm’.

Anyway, here are a few photographs from the February 2022 ‘super flood’ in the Ironbridge Gorge. The first outdoor shots with my medium format camera.