St James floods of 1998

The Easter floods in 1998 hit Northamptonshire hard, especially St James End which was submerged in water.

On April 10th, 1998, Good Friday, the River Nene’s banks burst after suffering a month’s worth of rainfall in just one day on the 9th April 1998. This meant there was too much water in the Nene for the bank to hold.

Due to the burst, it caused the water to flow into nearing villages, this included but was not limited to St James End.

Two people died because of the floods, one of them being Frances Fisher, an 82-year-old resident living in St James End.

Houses and the streets flooded with dirty water from the River Nene which damaged a lot of properties.

Overall, there was £75 million worth in damages.

An investigation was done into why this happened and it was found that many of the storm drains in the areas were blocked by rubbish. This meant there was no place for the water to disperse into.

It was not predicted that St James would be one of the worst areas for the flooding. There had been no major flooding incidents since 1939 and flood defences were considered to be adequate.

The spring season of that year was very wet, this saw up to 3.2 times the average total of monthly rainfall over a lot of England and Wales.

This in itself was a concern due to Northampton being a medium risk zone for flooding from rivers. This means that each year the county has a chance of flooding.

What could this mean for the future? Could St James be at risk for flooding again?

At Christmastime in 2020, St James was hit with floods once again.

More than 1,000 people were evacuated from their homes just before Christmas day including multiple homes being submerged in water.

This came after the area experienced torrential rain and was reported that at the junction near the Thomas Beckett Pub, the water rose to a foot in depth.

This caused for public figures to call for the Environment Agency to re-examine the district to prevent this happening again.

Rufia Ashraf, the ward councillor told the Chronical and Echo: “It shouldn’t have happened in the first place.”

Graham Croucher, Chair of the St James Residents Association, told the Chronical and Echo: “There were some very concerned residents that morning who thought it would be like 1998 again.” Which shows how catastrophic this could have been.

Councillor James Hill posted a video of the 2020 floods in St James showing what it looked like from where he was.

There are possibilities that this may happen again, but the risk can be reduced by making sure drains are unblocked so the water has somewhere to run into.

Though it isn’t always an issue with just the drains, if the River Nene was to overflow again like it did in 1998, it becomes harder to prevent.

If you experienced or know someone who experienced the floods in St James in 1998 or 2020, leave us a comment below or get in touch via email: stjamesendquirer@gmail.com