2 days ago
Remembering the floods in Newport in 1960
Water has been in the news lately – either there's not been enough or there's been too much.
There was too much in Newport one Saturday morning in October 1960 when most of the lower High Street area disappeared under several feet of water for a few hours.
The previous night there had been a freak cloudburst in the small hours and by daybreak an estimated 500 million gallons of rainwater was making its way from surrounding hills down into Newport.
Unfortunately, when it got there it met a high spring tide that was coming up the Medina from the opposite direction.
The two bodies of water met in the harbour and in a matter of minutes the water level rose nearly three feet causing the streets from Sea Street to Coppins Bridge to disappear underwater.
The CP reorted: 'At Shide, where the river flow was usually six cubic feet a second, the recording equipment showed a flow of over 150 cubic feet. Shortly after, the equipment was overwhelmed and the needle ran off the chart.'
The flood was short lived. With the turn of the tide the water levels quickly fell and by 2pm the flood had completely receded.
Narrow bridges and culverts, inadequate sluice gates, and disused mill wheels on both the Medina and the Lukely were blamed by some but it was generally agreed that the flood had not been preventable.
To avoid a repeat the council and water board decided that the river should be 'canalised', an ugly word for what some would say was an ugly end result.
For hundreds of years the Medina had made its unspoilt way through the town centre but the canalisation brought all that to an end.
The pretty grass slopes leading to the water's edge were replaced by stark, concrete riverbanks, still with us today.
The end result is that apart from the excellent Town Gate Pond redevelopment, a pretty river that could be a major feature for Newport, passes through the town largely hidden from view.
Many of these photos (more at were taken by Reg Davies, a lovely man, who was a conductor on Southern Vectis.
Reg took a camera everywhere with him and has left behind him a wonderful collection of local interest photos.
