Dorset hit by torrential downpour

This live event has finished

Latest

  • Motorists faced flooded roads across Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch this morning
  • Conditions have settled but a yellow "be aware" warning for rain remains in place until 4pm on Monday
  • Warnings have also been issued for Tuesday and Wednesday for heavy and prolonged showers, accompanied by gusty winds
  • A woman became stranded in high water in Sandbanks Road and was helped to safety by staff from Dorset Property Maintenance.
  • Please send your weather photos to newsdesk@bournemouthecho.co.uk or text them to 80360 starting your message with BE

12:40pm

11:26am

Alex Savu sent us in this picture of cars making their way through the floods near Bournemouth Town Hall

Alex Savu

11:24am

But Charlie Powell, forecaster at the Met Office, said there is still a chance of rain on the coast.

He said the Bournemouth and Poole area had seen the heaviest rain in the county over the last two days.

11:14am

10:43am

Dr Richard Wild of WeatherNet in Bournemouth has said that the rain is petering out and we may see sunny spells later.

He said we have had two inches of rain over the last two days, the heaviest rain since June.

10:29am

It looks like the flooding at Sandbanks Road in Poole is easing off.

10:25am

The Met Office has Dorset under a severe weather warning of yellow, advising people to be aware.

10:10am

Things seem to be easing off for the time being.

10:07am

A sewage cover has also blown up in the gardens, but it is just a small amount of sewage which has come out.

The water is expected to go down within the hour.

10:06am

Our reporter Caitlin has just been speaking Robin Garrett, Head Gardener at Bournemouth Council, who said: “We start work at 7am and the stream has been overflowing since then as we have had quite heavy downpour this morning.

“It’s not un-common in Bournemouth, as I think we had something like this in August, and of course last year.

“The water comes up very quickly but it also goes down very quickly, so you just have to wait for it to go away.

“We have closed part of the gardens, but it should drain away within the hour.

“It is fairly safe to use, although we will leave that up to people to judge for themselves if they still wish to walk here, although they will get very wet.

9:56am

Cars take it slow through the water at Braidley Road. Picture: Richard Crease.

Cars

9:54am

If you have pictures of the flooding you can text them to 80360, sarting your message with BE. You can also email them to us at newsdesk@bournemouthecho.co.uk

9:53am

A cyclist battles through the flooded Central Gardens in Bournemouth. Picture by Richard Crease.

Rain. Richard Crease

9:40am

Here's a picture of Bournemouth gardens this morning taken by Echo photographer Jon Beal.

Bournemouth Gardens

9:34am

Other parts of Dorset have been hit by the heavy rain too.
Max Gate roundabout near Dorchester was flooded during rush hour and the nearby junction of the A35 and Wareham Road also had a lot of surface water.
Police said the A352 at Whitcombe was flooded East of Broadmayne.

 

9:32am

9:21am

There have been police reports of flooding at various roads across Poole, Bournemouth and Christchurch.

Poole Lane in Bournemouth was flooded with three quarters of the road covered in water.

Lower Gardens and Central Gardens were both affected with the War Memorial surrounded in water after the Bourne Stream burst its banks.

The junction of Bourne Valley Road and Coy Pond Road was affected too.

There was "severe" flooding on Sandbanks Road Close to Wedgewood Drive in Poole, where drivers have already been affected by the temporary traffic lights.

There were also reports of the road up to Avon Beach cafe being flooded.

9:18am

Picture of Poole near Whitecliff this morning sent in by reader Chris Cesarz

Picture of Poole near Whitecliff this morning sent in by reader Chris Cesarz

9:17am

9:17am

9:17am

9:16am

Dorset was hit by a torrential downpour overnight and early on Monday morning.

Drivers are being urged to take extra care on the roads because of the large amount of standing water.

Traffic has been moving more slowly than usual through Bournemouth and Poole due to the conditions and drivers are advised to allow longer for journeys.

There were reports of flooding at Whitecliff in Poole.

A woman whose car became stranded in high water in Sandbanks Road was helped to safety by staff from Dorset Property Maintenance.

Towns from Christchurch to Weymouth are covered by the Environment Agency's general early notification of possible flooding and are under their flood alert category.

Comments(24)

Sovietobserver says...
9:26am Mon 24 Sep 12

Hosepipe ban on the way then.

BournemouthMum says...
9:54am Mon 24 Sep 12

Gosh this is exciting news! It's raining and it's autumn - wow!

uvox44 says...
10:09am Mon 24 Sep 12

surely that cyclist should have insurance cycling along a busy flooded path like that- what if he runs over some fish innocently swimming along minding their own business-and i bet he doesn't pay road tax which doesn't exist anymore but that's no the point-these lycra louts eh-now where's my copy of the Daily Mail gone....

Jim_Springbourne says...
10:58am Mon 24 Sep 12

BournemouthMum wrote:
Gosh this is exciting news! It's raining and it's autumn - wow!
Don't mock! Nearly 2 inches of rain in just over 24 hours is unusual at any time of year and is likely to cause problems.

The Liberal says...
10:58am Mon 24 Sep 12

uvox44 wrote:
surely that cyclist should have insurance cycling along a busy flooded path like that- what if he runs over some fish innocently swimming along minding their own business-and i bet he doesn't pay road tax which doesn't exist anymore but that's no the point-these lycra louts eh-now where's my copy of the Daily Mail gone....
Yes, these cyclists really are despicable… Come on, where are the anti-cycling brigade? Surely they've got some way of blaming cyclists for the bad weather? Perhaps a cyclist collided with a cloud, put a dent in it and then rode off?

Lightsabre says...
11:09am Mon 24 Sep 12

"10:07am

A sewage cover has also blown up in the gardens, but it is just a small amount of sewage which has come out."

Condom? Sanitary towel? Come on Echo, where are the details?

BarrHumbug says...
11:36am Mon 24 Sep 12

Lightsabre wrote:
"10:07am

A sewage cover has also blown up in the gardens, but it is just a small amount of sewage which has come out."

Condom? Sanitary towel? Come on Echo, where are the details?
I shouldn't get too concerned, theirs usually a lot more flowing down from the direction of the Town Hall :-D

derek_acorah says...
12:00pm Mon 24 Sep 12

Lightsabre wrote:
"10:07am

A sewage cover has also blown up in the gardens, but it is just a small amount of sewage which has come out."

Condom? Sanitary towel? Come on Echo, where are the details?
Tip : Switch on the 'update every 30 seconds' option at the top of this story. The 'its raining in Dorset....no wait, it's stopped' story really does merit the kind of 'rolling news' immediacy of 9/11, 7/7 or the death of Diana etc.

bornINpoole69 says...
12:10pm Mon 24 Sep 12

12.07pm Surf reef flooded

fifty shades of brown envelopes says...
12:33pm Mon 24 Sep 12

I have never seen so much water in poole park
the Canadian Gooses are all wearing Hunter wellie gogs

bornINpoole69 says...
12:50pm Mon 24 Sep 12

12.47pm Surf reef still flooded

bornINpoole69 says...
12:52pm Mon 24 Sep 12

50 shades of grey water in Bournemouth Gardens

derek_acorah says...
1:09pm Mon 24 Sep 12

Apparently the 'live event has now finished'. It died long before its time, there is still a possibility of an occasional shower this afternoon, we have a right to updates every 30 seconds on it. The sun is currently out as I type this. I had to look out of the bloody window to learn that! The window! I need the echo to tell me this kind of 'news', not having to actually look slightly to my right!

fifty shades of brown envelopes says...
1:42pm Mon 24 Sep 12

The weather forecast said we will have some sun today,
on the other hand it could rain
so I will wear only one water proof glove
when I go out.

Lord Spring says...
2:10pm Mon 24 Sep 12

Oh Noah.

bornINpoole69 says...
3:19pm Mon 24 Sep 12

15.15 Surf reef still flooded.
These updates now stopped.
probably be the same later anyway.

muscliffman says...
4:00pm Mon 24 Sep 12

BournemouthMum wrote:
Gosh this is exciting news! It's raining and it's autumn - wow!
The Echo is aimed at readers mostly in Dorset who may, may, just have noticed it is........ raining in Dorset.
Tommorow we may well have daylight - please do let us know with a 'live' feed.

Gastines2 says...
6:53pm Mon 24 Sep 12

Possibility of a swimming pool in the outdoor plaza after all it seems!!

spooki says...
9:03pm Mon 24 Sep 12

I got soaked all right - walking a whole one mile along Woodbury Avenue with stupid bumpy unmaitained paths meaning huge puddles, trying to push a large pushchair along sideways-sloping pathways and avoiding overgrown bushes (and brambles) that people leave to merrily throttle passers by. Only three months to Christmas. Ho. Ho. Ho.

spooki says...
9:10pm Mon 24 Sep 12

"A sewage cover has also blown up in the gardens, but it is just a small amount of sewage" oh, that's ok then...umm...didn't this happen last year? When they forecast heavy rain? Like the Echo weather forecast had warned us about for the past week?
PS. I drove by the Town Hall at 10ish this morning and it was fine (had to fight for a disabled parking space against THREE delivery drivers but that's another story.).

mumble says...
9:44pm Mon 24 Sep 12

Why didn't the cyclist pictured ride along the road? Just to the left of him and a good six feet above the water level?

rollingpinboy says...
11:07pm Mon 24 Sep 12

Don't forget there is still a shortage of water in the UK according to Water Companies and this is a precious resource.(for water company commercial gain and profiteering i might add for the fat cats) With none or very little storage reservoirs in Hampshire or Dorset, the Environment Agency will run it all off to the sea as quickly as possible and put the UK into a drought/no water scenario yet again. Suits the water companies perfectly as they will then bump up the prices like petrol, electricity, gas, etc.

rollingpinboy says...
11:21pm Mon 24 Sep 12

...when the river water has receded again, the water companies will then drain the rivers and water table dry killing fish, wildfowl, macro inverebrates (riverine insects) wildlife and virtually destroying the natural riverine food chain and natural habitat, and plead to the public to stop using it and conserve! Commercial interests and private customers/companys however, will have little or no restrictions imposed on how much they use in bulk supplies, as this brings in more massive income for the fat cats.

chrspeters says...
7:16pm Wed 26 Sep 12

Correct me if I am wrong, but is it not an offence to ride a bicycle in the lower gardens?

Where was the blue flashing lights and sirens from a police boat following behind him?

“You are travelling in illegal waters, please stop and let our officers board you!”

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