October 2000 flooding in South West London

[MarkW]

From 1995-2003 I lived in South West London. I was living in 2000 , in New Malden and worked in Roehampton. One event of October 2000, sticks with me. There was torrential rain in the early hours, which led to gridlock and a lot of flooding on the A3 between Raynes Park and Putney Vale. I think it was widespread across the South East ?

[A Face like Thunder]

29th to 31st October, according to Philip Eden, who noted 60-90mm of rain over most parts of southern E & W. I was living in Cheshire by then, but I understand the normally-underground River Bourne came to the surface in my former home area in S London / Surrey with disastrous results.

[Summer8906]

 A Face like Thunder Presumably this was the same system that produced the notable gales overnight 29th/30th as well as exceptionally early (non-settling) snow in its wake. One of the most severe storms of my lifetime, in the same league as the St Jude storm of 2013 or Valentine storm of 2014. Only three storms I remember being worse (Oct 1987, Jan 1990 and Eunice).

This was then followed by many other lows right across the south, hence flooding becoming a major issue. Another followed a week later on the first Sunday in Nov, which also had heavy rain and notably strong winds. We'd have racked up probably around 10 named storms just in autumn that year!

Edited November 10, 2024 by Summer8906

[Metwatch]

Very potent deep cyclone which somehow also brought a little bit of snow to northern England in the morning despite not very cold 850s. The very low thickness associated such a deep low likely helped to bring the colder air down much more easily.

30 October 2000 northern England snow.pdf

[Weather-history]

 MarkW

I wonder if it was 11th October 2000?

 

[MarkW]

 Weather-history It could have been. I cannot recall the exact day or date. I recall, that I was 2 hours late for work. The water on the A3 was higher than the bus platform. 

[Harry's House]

Some distance from London - I was living in Shinfield near Reading and drove to work in Bracknell about 12 miles at the time, crossing the River Loddon. On Tuesday 31st October however, it became impassable over the river because it had overflowed because of earlier rain, so had to turn back and go on quite a long detour. I can't remember how late for work I was then. The road over the Loddon was still impassable when I drove home that afternoon.

During the late evening of Saturday 28th, there was a sudden strong gust of wind. I don't know if it was a small tornado or whirlwind, but our then cat was nearly hit by a brick.