Resurrection of a CFEI 100 KVA Induction Furnace

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vtsteam:
Andrew, but that can't be happening every time you get an inch of rain? It must be from already saturated or frozen soil. An inch of rain is a lot in 8 hours, but surely not a once in 13 year full flood event under normal circumstances?

awemawson:
We are at the bottom of a shallow valley (the River Brede) where it comes close to us the banks haven’t been cleared for years. The Environment Agency have the responsibility but recently have put in all sorts of stupid rules. Only one bank can be done each year to keeps the green lobby happy. The workers aren’t allowed to use diggers closer than a certain (fairly long) distance from the banks to keep the safety lobby happy. Result: there is about a mile of choked river that can’t take the flow. Quick growing willow roots block it. Today the A21, one of only two trunk roads in East Sussex, was closed due to the water pouring into our fields Its just office based official nonsense.

And to add to the problem yesterday we had had several days of heavy rain saturating the Brede catchment basin.

Oh and it happens most years to a greater or lesser extent. It’s actually the second time this year! Last time was only 4th December so three weeks ago. It all drains away very quickly, tomorrow there will be very little sign left.

vtsteam:
That's a difficult situation. I guess the problem is that what would normally drain your land becomes the source of the water on the land. So there's no solution until the river drops.

Here, as a result of much study after the Irene hurricane flooding they are also recommending not to clear riverbanks where possible and let deadfalls lay, but not for environmentalist concerns, but because the worst flooding damage occurred as a result of stream flow rates having increased so much because of channel straightening and bank clearing. The high speed flash floods wiped out major roadways throughout the state, cutting them up with steep ravines, and displacing millions of tons of substrate.

I guess there's no ideal way to reduce flood damage. What helps one situation hurts another, depending on the severity of the downpour. Of course a hurricane of tbat magnitude up here is a once in a century occurrence.

awemawson:
Well Steve these things go in cycles. When the Romans were here (AD43 onwards) the end of our field was a Harbour exporting iron !

Even in Victorian times the Brede was navigable up to Sedlescombe Bridge about 100 yards from the end of our field, but now you might just get your canoe up it.

Muzzerboy:
Near us, Preston used to be a major sea port, about 10 miles inland. Now the Ribble is` pretty much a muddy ditch and you'd lucky to get anything bigger than a canoe up there. Most of the docks have long gone, leaving one basin that is laughably called the "marina", with about 20 boats. There can only be a few days a year when it's possible to make the journey, assuming you have a day to waste, so I can't imagine why anyone would keep a leisure boat there.

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