This was the scene at around noon on Friday (Jan 3), during an unusually high Itchen tide and following days of rain. The river breached its banks at Riverside Park, above, as well as next to The Hard in St Denys.
One Priory Road resident at The Junction pub end said it was the fifth time nearby gardens have been flooded this week. There was also flooding beneath the railway bridge on Priory Road, passable with care.
Woodmill also remained passable (although the park footpath beyond Woodmill was completely flooded - see picture below) but by about 12.30pm the tide had turned. Local Environment Agency staff monitoring water levels at Woodmill said they thought it was possible there could be a similar situation on Sunday, however. So far we don't have reports of nearby properties being flooded, but do contact us with any flood updates.
A man negotiates the park 'footpath' beyond Woodmill
River threatens to flood Priory Road gardens - taken from The Hard near The Junction
Just as we returned from photographing Riverside Park, a massive gust of wind during a downpour was strong enough to blow Il Picchio's heavy outdoor chairs across the pavement at The Triangle.
Tide breaches the river bank next to The Hard and Quay 2000 off Priory Road Pic: L Weedy
@niffirgal on Twitter reported that "It's worse down Mansbridge end" - any more info please let us know.
Ian Turner pointed out on our Facebook page at around 12.40pm: "Tide receding now - going to be some impressive currents in the river later as between about 3pm and 5.45pm it has to go from 4.7m ish to 0m!!!! Thats a lot of water to run through!"
Woodmill: passable by car
'Cycling' at Riverside
Pic under CC2 by Tim O'Riordan
Just look at the angle of the jetty in the background, during high tide at Riverside Park!
Pic under CC2 by Tim O'Riordan
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