The Good Friday Floods in Leamington Spa

LEAMINGTON UNDER WATER GOOD FRIDAY, 1998
Leamington Spa floods - the Parade

In the early hours of Good Friday, April 10th, 1998, the River Leam burst its banks and flooded the centre of Leamington Spa, effectively cutting the town in half. This picture shows The Parade, Leamington's main street, with the river flowing right across it. The current was so fast that one woman who attempted to wade through the floods was swept off her feet and saved herself by grabbing a lamppost. She was marooned clinging to the lamppost for some time because the torrent was raging too fast for rescue boats.

Leamington Spa floods - Jephson Gardens

Leamington's beautiful gardens disappeared under the swirling muddy water. In the Jephson Gardens, seen on the left, the ornamental lakes and the river merged into one mass of water which covered the lawns, paths and flower beds, and flowed across the Parade into the Pump Room Gardens, seen on the right, leaving the famous bandstand marooned. Miraculously the flowers were not washed from their beds, and were soon blooming again. Within days it was difficult to imagine that the flowers had spent a day on the bed of the river.

Leamington Spa floods - All Saints' Church

Leamington Spa floods - St. Peter's Church

The town's two largest churches had mixed fortunes. The Anglican Parish Church of All Saints, on the left, is built on a small rise in the ground. Although it was surrounded by water, the crypt was flooded, and the water covered most of the steps up to the West Door, it stopped six inches short of the interior floor level. There was no damage to the Church, and the water drained naturally from the crypt without needing to be pumped out. All the Good Friday services were cancelled, but the intrepid bellringers managed to wade in and ring the traditional mourning peal of muffled bells at 3.00pm, the hour at which Christ died on the Cross. St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church, seen on the right, did not fare so well. It stands in Dormer Place, at a lower level than All Saints, and the flood water entered the Church. There are photographs of the flooding at St. Peter's on their website. Flooding at St. Peter's

Leamington Spa floods- bowling green

Leamington Spa floods - children's play area

Leamington's bowling greens, the venue for national and international tournaments, had a lucky escape, but in the children's playground, the swings and roundabouts rose forlornly out of the water.

These two pictures give some idea of the speed and depth of the water. The coloured blobs in the water in front of the Law Courts in the photo on the right are the roofs of cars parked in front of the building.

Leamington Spa floods - Euston Place

This picture of Euston Place shows how short a distance it was from the edge of the flood water to sufficient depth to half sumberge a car.

Leamington Spa floods - under the bridges

Leamington Spa floods - under the bridges

This picture shows the point where The Parade, coming in from the left at the traffic lights, joins the main routes out of the town to the south. On the day before, this junction had been the focus of a huge evening rush hour traffic jam, because although this was many hours before the Leam burst its banks, flood water was blocking the two major roads to the south. The only road in that direction still operating was the one under the bridge, on which the group of people beside the wall in the centre of this picture are standing. It is a residential road with traffic calming humps, which is not intended to be a through road. The congestion at this junction, as traffic from three directions tried to get away through this one road, caused tailbacks which gridlocked the whole town. No-one anticipated that this would be the scene next morning.

Leamington Spa floods - sandbagged doorways

Many homes were damaged, and sandbags gave little protection against the water which rose so quickly. Many people were forced to leave their homes, and for some, where the water caused structural damage, it may be weeks before they can return. Older Victorian properties, converted into flats, often have basement flats, and people who lived in those have lost everything. One of the saddest sights on Easter Day was of people bringing their ruined possessions out of flats and houses, and putting them in skips to be taken to the rubbish tip. Insurance can never compensate for the family mementos and photographs - all the things which hold memories and have sentimental value - which have been lost.

The floods receded almost as fast as they came up. In the late afternoon the water started to return to the river, and by evening the roads were open again and mopping up began. Pumps were in action getting the water out of homes and offices as quickly as possible, to minimize the damage to buildings.

Leamington Spa floods - pumping water out

Leamington had seen nothing like this since 1929. Floods were widespread all over the Midlands on that Good Friday, and The Times reported that 'Warwickshire is a lake'. Millions of pounds worth of damage was done, some lives were lost, and the cost in misery to the people driven out of their homes, who lost so much of what was precious in their lives, is incalculable.

The photographs on this page were taken by Malcolm Field.

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