Severe Weather

Flooding on Bridge Road

We saw several severe floods in Bridge Rd, caused by severe weather, with people using boats to get around. On one occasion a small bridge was built to get commuters out of the Chessington North Station entrance as the water immediately outside was too deep to wade through.

From 1981 massive road works took up the middle of Bridge Road to install a flood relief system, and the problems seem to have been resolved.

It took many years and the insertion of additional air bricks to get rid of the smell of floodwater under our floorboards

Gales

In 1990 a severe gale hit Chessington and Tolworth - I rang Ellingham School to ask if I could take my daughter home but was told she was far safer in the school.

Minutes later the roof of the playgroup blew off and crashed into the wall of the classroom she was in.

The staff in the playgroup building had realised the severity of the situation and led the children from the portacabin minutes before the full blast of the gale hit it, so no-one was hurt.

When I finally collected her, our car was lifted off the ground momentarily at Parbury Rise as it was hit by the strong winds whistling up Bridge Road

The wrecked playgroup portacabin after the 1990 gale

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