FARM UPDATE 193 VISIT FLOODED FARMS IN LINCOLNSHIRE

If you are new to the channel, welcome. 😊Please watch the updates below for a tour of the farm, looking at the machinery, grain stores, workshop and yard.

Farm tours links:

Update 64:
FARM UPDATE 64 FARM TOUR PART 1 of 3, DETAILS OUR HEATHLAND FARM WHERE I LIVE, GRAIN STORAGE & CROPS

Update 65:
FARM UPDATE 65 FARM TOUR PART 2 of 3 LOOKING AT THE MAIN FARM LAYOUT & SOME MACHINERY HISTORY

Update 66:
FARM UPDATE 66 FARM TOUR PART 3 of 3 LOOKING AT THE CONTRACT FARMING SIDE OF THE BUSINESS

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Hello everybody and welcome to a special flooding edition of the W’s waffle you can see a great expanse of water behind me I’m on the edge of bney and here I’ve got David Armstrong friend of mine and also Farms this area yes not not good we have got potatoes underneath here and

This normally doesn’t flood what happened David please here uh yeah well when we had all our rain on Friday over at um stainfield Bridge is a length of embanked um embankment on the start of the snake hes rain and uh it just okay flooding over when the water came down

Off basically the catch that catchment s goes up around R be sort of land which is a bit higher than here and um just in inundated us where we’re a bit sort of flatter and slower moving water course this doesn’t hasn’t flooded before it has flooded before

2007 oh that year it was a couple foot lower then um but it’s amazing to have an extra twoot of depth how much further it goes and then you wonder about while there’s going to be food shortages possibly where why Foods is so expensive potatoes go up in price there’s potatoes

Underneath this water that will not now get harvested that’s right luckily we majority of our crop we have harvested but um this is one that definitely isn’t going to yeah we’re going to have a look around where it’s come over and just see the one of the river banks just in the

Distance there but probably about nearly up to a meter deep in the middle there stations at stainfield the pumping station got inundated so this is the pumping station and it came with a a foot of not working or being flooded out the water level was to B where that

Cross M on that fence down there yeah so it has dropped then it’s dropped 6 in yeah which is um surprised me how quickly the pump seems to be cuz you can see the infected it’s coming there what’s happening where’s it going so so it’s pumping from over

There Ronda don’t walk around that corner cuz that is water not not grass yeah you you’re dropping 8 m I’m not sure you set up for swimming [Laughter] today right and then that green sticking out the water there just saying that’s a small pump but that’s not working

Obviously at the minute no so this River we’ve got here is not the with them it’s a sort of a a Spur out from the withm or it used to be the old withm yeah it’s called the old withm Loop right yeah so that just the other side of this Bank

In front of us where those bushes are that expans water that’s Bron island is it that’s yeah yeah and those Caravans in the distance there there’s a pub there called the turret arms and that short furry that was flooded battle in 2019 you maybe just hear this pump going

At the minute so where’s this water been pumped now we not been pumped back into here where you can see back there where it’s bu there yeah so it’s been pumped into there there and then that’s running here but I mean that’s nearly full it is just flowing but but that then flows

Eventually this just heads out to Boston yeah it joins up with the with them over where that bridge is yes that bridge in the distance and then but the fall between here and Boston is is hardly anything is it from what led to believe yeah yeah very flat and that there is

Bney beat Factory this is the local drainage board here just cleaning out this this D here help the water move you see there’s a knife on the bottom of the bucket there that starts moving to cut the reads right all right there you go you can see there reciprocating knife that’s

What cuts through the roath that’s it stop hydraulically operated you can see from that Ram there and the motor there brilliant thanks perfect okay just looking here David just explain you’ve got this here is seeping underneath this bank is it they’ve opened it up to here but they

Put this in without asking you yeah yeah and this was done when 2019 or no we think about 2009 n to the 2007 floods yeah yeah so that water then is it’s coming underneath here they’ve opened this up there I there just got to one of the pumping

Stations here yeah sorry David this would be this would be keeping up easily and that would be another couple meters down yeah so it just shows how much water’s coming in here yeah trou is it’s not helped by that water coming from the

E valve up there no no cuz if you if you want to just look over here um this is the flow coming down from from where that is so you can see the majority of it is coming from that direction not not actually pumping the catchment but rate

Prayers pay for yes yeah just going up here to have a look at the water the river because that water there it’s sing through the bank this is where it’s pumping from there up here into the river go so that is heading that way which is to

Boston and how many feet above sea level as this David not many well we think the banks around about five 5 met above SE what here where we are here yeah K so Dave was just saying here we’ve got one issue with one of these pumps not working what’s been happening yeah over

The last couple of days since uh since the rainfall event the one of the pumps keeps tripping out on its thermal overload yeah um and when the when the pump stops the waterers because the head height so high the river been back filling back in back from the river into

The internal drain so as much as one pump’s taking it into the river the other one sien it back again so that is not dropping no that’s right and the envirment agency keep piling water in at your end other end as well it’s just yeah yeah as you can see

It’s so high everywhere has just been pumped into here but because it’s so flat out to sea at Boston it’s not emptying very quickly actually um also all these these internal waterways here they’re controlled by the idbs not the environment agency and it’s the idb regions they all know what they’re doing

And do a lot better job and work with Farmers Dave is Chairman of his local idb region here whereas the EA just don’t want to know and uh it’s ludicrous really that the environment agen is so backward um and just won’t really talk to Farmers or or work with with us this

Is the problem we’ve got right David we’ve just got back to the yard and uh see all the water and lack of EA movement and um I suppose action from them thoughts on the environment agency we’ve only got we we don’t want two hours cuz we could easily go on for

That yeah um well first thing is it would be very interesting um to uh always know what they’re doing yeah um their communication is so poor they just go off doing their own thing we talk about collaboration and working with people um to do it between flood events

And and then between times they they just do their own thing and I remember from 2019 we couldn’t get hold of them and then they said that that was one thing a criticism of and us that all know we’re going to be more proactive and more contactable are they it

No one word no um but if we use an example the the internal drainage boards if you need to get any of the individuals you’ve got mobile phone numbers if you if you problem where pump you can contact the pump man you for any members of the public if there’s an

Issue it’s all on the website contact these the environment agency you’ll go through an 0800 number uh and I can remember back in 2007 saying my land’s flooded I’ve got 250 Acres underwater and the the land said well you’ll be insured won’t you do I know for most people agriculturally um growing crops

We cannot get insured for growing crops for flooding we’re going to go around and see someone else now Henry Morton around not far away 5 miles away and and then my godson Henry and just see cuz it flooding is just as bad thanks baby for your time thank you I’ve just come now

With Ronda to another Farm five miles away from uh Davis and Henry Henry Morton and just going to flick the camera around here and it’s just Devastation on the same level then we’ll have a chat with with Henry I’ve got Henry stood Simon here’s Henry right Henry just explain what was there that

First field got through there that first field out there we’ve got five hectares of direct drill winter wheat we’ve got uh two 12 meter strips of stewardship side of that dke yeah then we’ve got 18 hectares here of winter race just for for um viewer stewardships Countryside

Stewardship scheme where we paid to put things into environmental features to help Wildlife which will all be drowned with this yeah we’ve got a 6 meter strip sorry 12 meter strip all around this field here yes mid tier yeah and this field of rape it was all looking at this

Here fantastic crpp of rape the effort that goes into getting all sied rape to this stage and the cost is Colossal yeah and you’ll be seriously miffed with this yeah so and it goes all the way around and to to insult injury you got swans swimming on it which really just does

Make it worse so yeah just come around here Henry so we’ve got all this is R around here what’s the depth of this water 4 feet at the moment 4 feet in the Cy Acres we’re looking at did we say 150 was it yeah yeah and then you’ve got

Your chicken sheds can’t quite in the distance it hasn’t got to those no it’s 30 foot off the back of those right C Henry what happened to the ward how did it get here it came over the top of the bank through the bank yeah we have we’ve

Got a major major D across the back of the farm which is called duckpool yeah which takes the water from minting it also takes the water from sort of the top end of The Far Side which is horsington way yeah uh it’s runs at the

Same level as the river Witham so if the wm’s high that’s high but obviously the Witham got to the point where it couldn’t take any more water from that so over topped in two places one down over by bnes which is on the Bary Road

And the other one over at the back of that Valley there which is the Woodle Road yep so it came from two different directions and and then it met in the middle so we’re looking at a few hundred million liters of water and have you been flooded before here last time was

2012 right we’ve never had it like this no and you’ve got the withm the river withm is just behind us at the top end of this water you got a pumping station just through there no I mean those pumps down there can’t handle this amount of

Water designed for these D and these and that’s it and you were saying as well a minute ago to me about the uh pumps about the pumps haven’t been working in the other direction and you asked the EA you said you’ll go and manage the pumps that’s an internal that’s internal

Drainage board pumps at sticks W they’ve got no one to man them so we’ve offered to go man them but we’re not insured to do that so we can’t so you can’t put them on no and they’re 90 cube a minute they will be horren be they made a big

Difference so 90 cube a minute that’s 990,000 lers a minute of water which is a huge amount Colossal yeah and we can’t run them because we’re not trained because you’re not trained to do it yeah so they couldn’t even spare anyone to show us how to do it or do it would say

We’ll go do we’ll go do a buddy for somebody else get some of them I haven’t got the staff must be heartbreaking when you see the effort going into all this putting these crops like this looking after environment looking after Wildlife everything that we all do and then you

You’ve got this it’s a kick in the guts it is and a slap in the face yeah in financial penalty here will be colossal no insurance no don’t get it like me driving into their house taking out half the house of the Lorry backing up and going carrying and driving off

Yeah they don’t care about us will on one voice if it was a Housing State down here they’d be screaming about it yeah there’s one voice and they don’t care no but and this is the annoying thing that that uh we’re meant to be doing things for the environment for nature Wildlife

Water quality air quality and everything yet the wildlife destroyed here in this flood will be colossal and you said I’ve already seen vs washed up yeah there’s vs washed up we’ve got two dead badges down there it’s it’s a mess I mean it really is it’s just it’s just a slap in

The face for all we do yeah it really is yeah this is and have the EA been to see you have had a phone call not a thing nothing see this is the problem that they don’t seem accountable to anybody do they they they’re just they’re law to

Themselves they are they are and all they want to do is is prosecute Farmers as much as they can for minor minor things or even try and find they have no knowledge of how the Farms work or the drainage board works no and they won’t work with farmers that’s the problem

That’s the problem no matter what they say they mean nothing no their words are empty let us do it let us take control we can run the job better because we can’t do any worse but when I hear they say we this this is unprecedented yes it

Is but they weren’t ahead of the game they didn’t lower the water levels they had the chance to do it and they didn’t no they aren’t being proactive they just sit back and wait till things to happen and it’s just the rain last Friday was forecast for a week 10 days before that

Wasn’t it long while before that so they had plenty of time to get plans in place and start to get ready for it yeah and nothing no one thing we haven’t touched on Henry is is cleaning the rivers out dredging desilting call it what you like

When is the last time you saw anything like that done around this area I’ve been here 25 years and I’ve never seen it happen yet you see this is the problem and I just make you wonder all this flooding is now getting more and more and it’s started intensely since

They’ve started to follow the ecoar Warriors route of of of not cleaning out rivers and they’re saying what’s the What’s the phrase stem the flow hold it back I’m doing a good job no I’m going to say you’re doing a good job not getting paid and but you know as far

They’re getting paid aren’t they yeah yeah exactly but as far as we always taught that to get rid of water you need to get rid of it don’t hold it back get rid of it yeah and get it out to sea yeah but apparently that’s not the use

Of a river yeah so that’s just seen Henry Morton now got some more floods behind me which these are well-known floods cuz in 2019 these are all over the news on Country F and everything it’s my godson Henry’s Farm you can just see there behind me and and we’re going

To drive through the middle here now which we couldn’t in 2019 we’re going to see Henry and have a look at the problems here because the EA have not learned the lessons in 2019 so I’m now in the middle of it stood on the road that in 2019 was under

Water I think that yellow notice on that sign was where the water level was in 2019 this now is an overlay of that this is the scale of the water and we got across here in a boat to the farm this is Henry’s Farm just see the volume of water

Colossal so this is the pub that was uh very famous in 2019 a lot of people keep coming here cuz the amount of water here and quite ironic that is an environment agency office and storage equipment area there is a river here to the left of that bank is an area

That should not be flooded and the same over there shouldn’t be flood the water’s not too deep as you’ve just seen us go through it go slow you’re all right I’ve got Henry here Deja Vu yeah Deja Vu only four years on and we’re we’re back here we’re back here again

Yeah terrible um not quite as deep as before but no so it hasn’t actually breached yet but we’re just walking up here to this low spot yeah and um that’s where it was over topping it started washing the back of the bank out and I think it’s a matter of time before the

Bank goes goes again so have you spoken to the environment AG have they been out to see you I haven’t bothered to be honest what I don’t you know what are they going to do yeah no I haven’t heard anything so the cause of this was over topping across there or yeah over

Topping again and it was over topping where exactly where the breach happened last time and that was so last time this is an overlay of that there was a a big barge floating barge brought in pontoon they they piled it put metal piles in didn’t they they did and uh and then

We’re saying that that wasn’t brought up level and it’s come over the top there yeah it’s come over the top there and then we’re just here at another low spot coming to in a minute which we’ll have a look at and honestly I’m not very hopeful I think

This is probably going to go I hope it doesn’t it’s bad enough now but if this goes the water will be level top with this bang right across and we w’t be able to get to because this here is the river well part of this is the river

That’s Henry’s land so that’s why this goes for Miles up there and in the distance so we’ll just turn the camera on Henry and just show us what’s happening here so this is the area where it’s it’s low as well you can see now it’s seeping through and you can

Actually hear the water running coming through the bank oh this is a I just be careful but you can see where it’s running through the bank and the good thing you can say it’s a good thing is it’s running clear water yes if it was running dirty water we’d

Be running because it’d be about to go about to go yeah yeah yeah but you can see that’s started to go and collapse there with a huge amount of pressure behind it it was over topping all the way on that corner I don’t if you can

Zoom in if you can see it’s done exactly the same here all the way around on that just wake just see above the water above the bank there yeah you can just see those dark spots dark spots and that’s what it’s just like this basically yeah

Yeah and there’s sways of land the other side hundreds and hundreds of Acres underwater the other side all the way through fison towards Lincoln and um to be honest it’s it’s the water level’s still coming up at the minute yeah that’s what we were saying and of course

The um the pub there the turet there they’ve got fishing lakes at the back they’ve got Caravans mobile homes and um it’s there under waterer now so as Henry said the water levels still Rising the things you see when out staring Henry 2019 how long were you under water for

Uh we flooded on the 9th of November and we still had water trapped in fields in February um we managed to get down to the yard uh New Year’s Day I did manage to get down to the yard in a tractor but it’s just all the fields still like this

In in December so months and months and if this Bank goes it’ll be the same again so it will yeah yeah so we’ve been all day taking stuff out the yard that um you know we could possibly need everything’s moved out the way that tried to Solage stuff if it does flood

And gets wet in the yard so we’ve done all we can just a case now of hoping the bank doesn’t give way um but it’s a mess if it doesn’t anyway Hest it is it is but and then any compensation from anybody oh no all and to be honest I’m

Worse off this time than 2019 because everything that’s under water this time is drilled 2019 I haded so I’ve had all that expense uh prms seed seed um we even applied fur to some of it we got the best the only piece of good rape I’ve got on the whole Farm anywhere was

Down here is now dead underwater uh so yeah it’s pretty heartbreaking and just to have it 4 years after after the first time it’s just yeah you just wonder where to go with this block of land going forward what not just your land here what do you think needs doing

National environment agency what needs to happen in my humble opinion is something like that’s happen on the somerset levels and it’s proven case that works they’ve set up a su Somerset Rivers Authority yeah they dredge the rivers and it’s a very similar landscape to this cuz we’re flat from from Lincoln

To Boston there’s no fault it’s absolutely flat so you’ve got to keep the water moving down here because if you look this river is absolutely full we need this empty as fast as we can we’re going to get this rain again tomorrow and so you need room to this W

Need to get out to sea as fast as we can to take the next load of rain because that’s what I’m worried about is the next slot of bloody rain the the bank will go yeah so you’re better off having not a lot of wildlife in a river that’s

Properly maintained to keep wild life in the fields and keep them keep them free of water can yeah absolutely spot on but if you want to look at Henry over social media Henry Ward my godson yeah unfortunately I think don’t look like each other I don’t think there’s any of

My jeans quite in Henry but we’ll see yeah great now back at the pub end and you can see there those mobile homes pumping out there that bush and all that debris in the river there is still there from 2019 blocking the channel the EA said they were going to

Clear it out and remove them but they haven’t done and the same back here so that’s it that’s the end of award is Waffle flood special oh dear I don’t know what to say really we very sad for the two Henry’s and David that we seen in this update

The flood water the crops ruined and the sheer costs that it’s had to them luckily um they’re all right but it’s just going to be a huge financial catastrophe and also the damage to Wildlife as well we need to get to grips with this and anyway I’ll not major too

Much now at the end um thanks for watching and um yeah sad sad update this one we’ll see you next time