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A Special Service to Remember!
Chichester January 1993
T
owards the end of
1993
the county experienced rain fall well above average and the fire brigade dealt with several area's of flooding, the heavy rains continued into January causing severe flooding in Chichester.
The river Lavant rises
in the downs behind Goodwood & meanders down to the eastern side of Chichester before passing through the city and out to the sea at Fishbourne.
Often the watercourse is dry from one year to the other and at its peak flow is usually no more than that of a stream, however, on the 4th January 1993 this changed dramatically, the cause of the flooding in Chichester that the river, now several feet above it's normal level, had over topped at a derelict site in the Hornet.
The situation in the Hornet was contained, but the water flowing to the old
A27
began to affect the roundabout severely disrupting traffic flow, despite all the efforts with pumping and sandbagging the overall position was deteriorating and water levels remained high.
The Deputy County Fire Officer
therefore called a meeting of the co-ordinating group to be held early in the morning of the 6th January.
The meeting considered the situation and in particular where the water should be pumped to, for several reasons the use of the Chichester canal had to be discounted and it was decided that the only option was to lay a three mile pipeline and pump the water into the sea at Fishbourne.
Ten "Green Goddess" fire appliances and
1,200
lengths of rigid piping were ordered from the Home Office and personnel were despatched that evening to
Staffordshire
to collect the appliances and equipment.
At midday on the 6th January
information was received that water was coming up into the basements in the Hornet and a couple of hours later the river Lavant burst it's banks behind Rowe's garage.
Flooding in the Hornet now became severe and ten pumping appliances were operating without success to reduce the water level.
The weather deteriorated further and a severe snowstorm now hampered operations and the arrival of relief crews, that evening members of the public were evacuated to an emergency rest centre at the West Gate centre.
Pumping continued throughout the night and the water level appeared to have stabilized, albeit at a very high level, but further rain was forecast.
Due to the continuing high water levels a further ten Green Goddesses and
1,200
lengths of piping were ordered on Friday morning, with the arrival of the first Home Office appliances and pipes at midday on Friday the relay to Fishbourne was started, but took longer than estimated, it was mid evening on the 8th January before the pipeline was in situ and the pumping could start to the sea at Fishbourne.
It was intended to lay a second rigid pipeline along the same route, but information was received that the situation with the canal had changed.
Plans were therefore made to lay a relay to discharge into the canal basin.
By Monday evening two lines of 6 inch pipes were discharging into the canal, although the flow of water at the rear of Rowe's continued to increase.
It is estimated that at the height of the pumping operation about
10,000,000 gallons
of water a day was being pumped from the river at the Hornet.
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