Stories of Bradford flooding

by Ted Maskell, former Leading Fireman

Picture: City centre floods 1947

During the winter of 1947, very heavy snow fell on Bradford. The vast amount of snow cleared from the city centre streets was moved using horse and carts, and tipped through open manholes into the Beck flowing under the city. Later in spring when the snow on the hills melted the Beck which had been so useful to get rid of the snow earlier, now overflowed and flooded the city.

2 July 1968: once again the city was flooded, following a violent storm which broke mid morning on what had earlier been blue cloudless skies. No doubt the beck was in flood after the storm but due to the vast amount of water cascading down the drains from upper levels it was impossible to know where the water, which flooded the city, was originating. The scene at Forster Square that morning was of 18 inches of water across the roads and the subways flooded. It was thought someone was trapped in the subway shop or toilets, and frogmen were sent down, but later all persons were accounted for.

The amount of water flowing out of the ramps at the Canal Road side of the subways was such that a 4 foot wave formed against the old station wall at the end of Valley Road, now the Post Office car park. It looked as though the rivers Aire and Wharfe had been diverted along Canal Road.

Early one evening in 1975 or 1976 a violet thunder storm broke over the Thornton area. The Shearbridge area of the city was hit by very heavy rain. Three teenage girls took shelter in the entrance to a tunnel through which the beck was quietly flowing. A sudden flood of water down the valley swept the girls away. Their bodies were subsequently found in the beck at the lower end of Thornton Road. (More detail probably available in T&A archives)

In more recent times, where the beck passes through Shipley at Low Well before draining into the river Aire, a range of old mill buildings was demolished to make way for the construction of a McDonald’s and Aldi store. The wall of the old mill, which was demolished almost to water level, formed a solid barrier to contain the beck in times of flood. A new wall was built much higher than planned when it was realized that the beck in flood would not be confined by the originally planned decorative feature.