High Tidings

The difference between average low and high tide levels in the River Humber is best appreciated on those stretches of the shore which are unprotected by hammered in steel shuttering, wire baskets some two cubic metres in size carefully packed with graded rocks and stones or the more formal wharfeage and walling. On a low tide in summer there can be a difference of many vertical metres from the quiet lapping, muddy waters in the shallows leading to the sun lightened sandbanks and the first areas of vegetation on the north Humber bank.

Running westwards from the Humber Bridge through to Brough, away from the main urban and suburban areas which warrant flood defences (but for how much longer on economic and insurance criteria),  the shoreline has not changed much potentially since inhabited in pre-history and certainly not since records were maintained in the period from the Roman occupation. Brough was an important river crossing linking the major military road of Ermine Street with York and territories beyond and was also a harbour for its Northern fleet in recognition of the strategic importance of the area.

The river does drain around one fifth of England mainly through being fed by the major rivers of the Trent and Ouse and their many tributaries. As such the equivalent of a Roman motorway network of inland navigational possibilities. This fact alone illustrates the importance and power of such a watercourse and the potential threat of inundation.

A couple of years ago the Environment Agency posted out a detailed information bulletin to households along the floodplain . This may have been immediately discarded by residents as junk mail or viewed as an attempt for that Governmental organisation to justify its own existence and vast budget. The title of the publication was quite chilling and should have resulted in mass hysteria and panic amongst those it was intended for. Residents may have been in denial but surely "Planning for the rising tides" can only have been construed as an ominous warning.

The Environment Agency are beyond criticism on the matter of coastal and tidal river flooding. They have stated definitively that it will occur in the next 25 years and beyond as a consequence of climate change.

Their main problem is to convey this message to a public who cannot visualise the impact of a rise in sea levels and how it will undoubtedly affect their homes, workplaces and livelihoods. There is a strategy in place under current budgetary and feasibility constraints which has been reported as committing protection measures to 99 per cent of those living around the Humber Estuary. The commitment is qualified as providing a good standard of protection but no guarantees.

The last major inundation from a tidal surge was in 1953 with resultant loss of life and significant breaches in defences  to much of the East Coast of England . In the interim the population centres have expanded as has industry and commerce within improved defences but a one in one hundred event in flood terms would be catastrophic.

Around 90,000 hectares of land are at risk and a population of around 400,000 although this number mostly reside in the main regional centres of Hull and Grimsby.

Flood storage areas are already in place. These are large tracts on agricultural land that have been purchased by the Environment Agency. In effect they form a secondary line of defence behind existing measures. In the circumstances of high tides the storage areas are opened up to relieve pressure along the course of the main river. In relation to the stretch of river between North Ferriby and Brough it has been admitted that it may be difficult to provide protection and existing defences may fail. In places there is no real bank or protective difference to restrain the river.

Me and The Boy, on our mountain bikes, left the comparative luxury of the loose dressed potholed and rubbish strewn lane and dropped down gently onto the shoreline. We would be able to appreciate the river and its pressing issues at first hand.

A heavy muddy strip is exposed on low tide. The dense clay adheres to the feet and bicycle tyres to such an extent that no forward motion is possible without difficulty. Upon meeting the warm summer sun the clay quickly starts to set as solid as concrete and frantic efforts have to be made to chip it away using bits of driftwood or stranded plastics found around our encrusted shoes.

There is a slight feeling of panic as we ourselves begin to sink into the mud.

We are reassured by other wheel tracks ahead in that someone else has attempted to negotiate what is designated on the map as part of the Trans Pennine Route. They do however stop abruptly. We have visions of being progressively immersed in the fetid mess if this fate befell those before us.

Our bikes are immobile now. We use our own limited scope of movement to lift up and carry the bikes but they have doubled in weight from the gloopy conglomerate now speckled with loose stones, vegetation and litter. It is with some relief that we reach actual land and spend a good twenty minutes cleaning the brakes, chainsets and gears as best we can. We resume our ride but gone is the mechanical whirr of efficient machines and replaced with a squeaking, grating and mineral based sound .

With The Boy taking the lead I have to dodge the occasional explosive release of hard set nodules of mud and rocks from the rotational action of his rear wheel.

Gradually we leave behind the primitive shoreline and find great comfort in a more defined levee. This becomes a substantial parapet topped brick wall which must be at least two miles long and intended to protect the British Aerospace Factory from the natural threat of tidal flood.

There are large areas of newly built housing close by but surely the residents cannot be oblivious to the potential for the rise in tides. A low cloud of smoke from many a barbecue suggests that evacuation and abandonment of their homes is not at the top of their list of things to do. Not today anyway.