Kingkraft’s Home town of Sheffield was in the news this week. Without any warning a stationary low pressure system positioned itself above the industrial quarter of the city and prepared to deposit millions of gallons of rain water over a period of several hours in a concentrated area.
The scenes were as far as we know unprecedented. The lower Don Valley became a flood plain and many factory workers had an unusual ride home in a rescue helicopter. Tales of extraordinary care and concern for one’s neighbours were numerous as Sheffielders battled to help those in trouble.
Huge numbers of people were stranded in their work places overnight without power and for those lucky enough as ourselves to be on slightly higher ground, getting out of the city by road meant a journey of several hours.
The rain of course eventually stopped but the drama continued as an old dam to the South East of the city began to fail under the weight of the excess water. The M1 motorway, which passes near the dam, was closed for several days as a safety precaution and an exclusion zone set up around the area due to the risk of a breach. Travel to and from work remained difficult but compared to those in the worst affected areas it was a minor inconvenience.
As to the company’s operations, these were more indirectly affected. Little or no post has got through due to the central sorting office being under water and today there is a national post strike! Deliveries into and out of our factories has been disrupted and staff have had difficult travel to and from work but overall we have been very fortunate. More rain is forecast so we are waiting in trepidation.
The city had to rebuild itself after the war, after the industrial decline and now after the floods. It is an extraordinary place.
This entry was posted
on Monday, July 2nd, 2007 at 1:08 pm and is filed under News