It is the time to worry

Published: Friday, 15 December 2017

WE REALLY are worried about being turfed off our boat at Sawley should the water level reach the jetties, but cannot see the point of it.

We have been resident some years now, have experience the floods that you wrote about, but not the major one where they let all the water out of that reservoir on the Derwent, but I must correct you, for it was not the Derwent Dam, which is the middle of the three but the bottom one, the Lady Bower, that had a 'upright' wall under its bank that they were afraid would burst, so let out gallons and gallons of water that meeting that of the Trent caused the severe flood.

Flood roadJust put their wellies on

But I digress.  The last few floods all resulted in water over the jetties, but boaters just put on their wellies and went out to see the entertainment of the vehicles attempting to get through the flood as it came over the road from the Trent, with some not making it and having to be rescued.

After a couple of days the water went down off the jetties and all was well, and there certainly was no need for any mass evacuation, and to suddenly bring that in none of us could understand, but ask where is Sawley going to put all the families? In an hotel?  Pigs might fly.  We would have nowhere to go and have to leave all our possessions and all for no real reason.

Making other arrangements

There is no way we are going to be thrown off our boat should the water reach the jetty, as it likely will before the winter is out, so we are making other arrangements and leaving. Let those that stay suffer the consequences.

[We know and have met the writer of this article, who being worried about repercussions has asked us not to include the name, to which we have acceded.  But please note we only do this if the person is known to us and there is a good reason.]