True stories: Oliver Surman: July 2007 flood in Worcester

Periodically the UK lies in the path of ferocious storms that can result in floods across the country. When this happens many farmers in the UK have to struggle to keep their farms operating and their animals safe. Here are some real life stories that inspired the current Archers storyline behind these extraordinary weather events.

Fridays are typically quite quiet days spent completing unfinished tasks from the preceding week and making sure everything is set up for the weekend. The Friday of ‘the flood’ started in a similar fashion but it was pretty unpleasant weather for July – heavy rain.

By about 10.00 in the morning the rain was not letting up and the gutters from the farm buildings and drains taking the water away were at capacity and beginning to overflow.

By middle day the rain was still coming down and it became apparent that things were getting pretty serious. The geographical location of the farm - at the bottom of a bowl - meant that all of the rain falling on the, now saturated and waterlogged, fields behind the farm was beginning to flood in to the yard. The water was flowing inches deep through the yard and rapidly filling our pond.

We were now in a position where the sheer volume of water flowing in to the yard meant that the pond would flood the farm buildings, so we set up water pumps to pump the water away to try to manage the water levels.

Through the afternoon and evening although still incredibly wet we were at least handling the water and were able to carry out the important tasks of milking the cows and feeding the livestock.

Having spent 12 hours fending off water that was flowing through the yard from higher ground behind the farm buildings, our next challenge was the rapidly rising level of the river Severn. It quickly became obvious that the initial flood bank would be breached so we hurriedly moved grazing suckler cows and calves to higher ground – through knee deep, and rising, water.

The sheer volume of water meant that the secondary flood defence would, at the projected rate of flood, be breached too. We worked through the night trying to reinforce and raise this flood bund using sandbags and any means possible. However the speed, power and sheer volume of water meant that we were fighting a losing battle.

The yard was completely inundated and by 3.00am on the Saturday morning it became increasingly serious as water levels were now threatening key equipment and buildings – there was a real danger that the milking parlour would be flooded. A catastrophic scenario as it would leave us with no means to milk our 200 cows.

The height of the water was such that all of the drains that normally carried water away from the parlour to the pond were actually working in reverse and the flood water was flowing back in to the milking parlour pit. If this went unchecked it would damage electrical equipment and pumps vital in the milking process. We had all available water pumps working and could barely control the situation.

Getting increasingly desperate, our milker, who had come into work early to try to help, had inspiration. He lifted the manhole cover that gave access to the drains that were back flowing. If we could block this drain we could safeguard the milking parlour. The only problem was it was 6 feet deep and pitch black.

We lowered Waldek down, holding on to his feet, as he worked to place a small football in the drain pipe stopping the flow of water thus saving the day. Having been retrieved from the drain Waldek took himself off for a well-earned sit down and cigarette!

The immediate panic and struggles of the flood were receding and thanks to the efforts of our team we had managed to maintain a working milking parlour and continue the day to day workings of the farm without compromising animal welfare.

In fact by the Sunday afternoon the rain had stopped, and the sun came out and we were able to enjoy sitting in our garden that was now beautifully appointed on the shores of a 250 acre lake and reflect on the ‘one in a hundred year flood’ that we had just witnessed.

Oliver Surman: July 2007 Flood: Ryalls Court Farm, Upton on Severn, Worcester