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You may also find the current flag status of the river useful. This page tracks the level of the Isis at Friar's Wharf; Geraint Jones informs me that 15" to 20" above normal there seems to be a good match for a flooded path.
The Environment Agency has an automated level meter at the Southern end of Mesopotamia with two readings available: upstream and downstream. Once calibrated against the flooding of the path these should provide a useful warning mechanism.
Monday 22 January 2001 16:27
: Caroline Pearson (caroline.pearson@some.ox.ac.uk) said:
The flag status has gone from none to blue to amber during the day,
for those that don't keep an eye on the flag-status lists - previous
experience suggest that water rising this fast will hit red flag
within the next day or two, and more flooding may be likely. The water
level on the field is currently perhaps 10cm below that of the path (and frozenlooking), but my cynical opinion is that we're in for more flooding.
Saturday 20 January 2001 22:33
: Alan Iwi (iwi@atm.ox.ac.uk) said:
Given rejs' comment about the hound, dated 8th January, I shall share my
experience of cycling through ~0.5m of flooding (in Kennington, during December)
with my wellies only just keeping me dry, when a large van was driven towards me
not very slowly, making huge waves, with predictable consequences. The van
subsequently stalled in mid-water and didn't want to start again. Perish the
thought that I should gloat or anything...
Tuesday 9 January 2001 10:12
: Robin Stevens (rejs@cynic.org.uk) said:
Clear. Hurrah!
Water level now c. 10cm below path level. Let's hope that's the last flood
this winter.
Monday 8 January 2001 19:26
: Andy Saunders (andy@ermine) said:
The water level has dropped so that a central ridge of path is now visible. Passable by both cyclist and pedestrian.
Monday 8 January 2001 10:02
: Robin Stevens (rejs@cynic.org.uk) said:
It's now gone down a lot further. The water level no longer poses a problem,
at least to cyclists. However I nearly had to stop completely when some stupid
hound ran across my path, which would have led to a wet foot...
Sunday 7 January 2001 16:42
: Ganesh Sittampalam (ganesh-psychopathpage@earth.li) said:
The path is still pretty much impassable without wellies or getting very wet legs; judging by debris marks it has gone down a bit from its peak, though.
Friday 5 January 2001 11:40
: ben (booth@atm.ox.ac.uk) said:
As of 11 oclock last night the water level has risen to above the level of the bike crankshaft making the path impassable to cyclists in normal footware. There are torential rain warnings for later today so the water level is unlikely to drop to a crossable level in the near future.
Perhaps try stilts?
Thursday 4 January 2001 13:21
: Ben (booth@atm.ox.ac.uk) said:
The river has risen to a level (again this morning) of just below the crank shaft of my bike. It was possible to ride through slowly using only 60 degrees of the pedal's motion to maintain motion. The waters have continued to rise though so the state of the river may be too deep by this evening.
Thursday 4 January 2001 12:51
: Robin Stevens (rejs@cynic.org.uk) said:
I cycled across this morning and got one foot very wet, the other mildly damp.
I think leaky walking boots may be to blame for the differential inundation.
Thursday 4 January 2001 11:29
: Ganesh Sittampalam (ganesh-psychopathpage@earth.li) said:
The path is flooded, probably to about 3-6 inches at the deepest point
“ An A-road walks into a bar and asks for a pint. The barman serves him, but he looks really tough and the barman worries that there'll be trouble.
“ Then a dual carriage way walks in and buys a pint. The barman again notes that he looks tough and says, ‘Look, I don't want any trouble, so could you sit in that corner away from the A-road?’ So the dual carriage way does.
“ Soon afterwards, in walks a motorway and gets a pint, who looks extremely tough, so the barman makes him sit in another corner away from the other two roads.
“ A bit later, a really small road walks in and buys a diet coke. The A-road, dual carriage way and motorway all look at him aghast and run out of the pub. The barman grabs the motorway on the way past and asks, ‘Why are you running out? He's a really tiny road.’
“ The motorway replies, ‘He's no road, he's a cycle path!’ ”
(supplied by Ændr)