The Bristol Evening Post: http://tinyurl.com/czssu
STORMS STRIKE BUT DAVID TOUGHS IT OUT
BY KATHARINE BARKER
11:00 - 29 June 2005
Thunder, lightning and heavy rain caused flooding in the region, stretching Avon Fire and Rescue service to the limit and causing chaos on the railways. The storms, which began at around 9pm, resulted in flash floods throughout the city and North Somerset.
Trains from Bristol Temple Meads to Weston-super-Mare and Cardiff were delayed when the rail line flooded between Stapleton Road and Filton Abbey Wood at 10.40pm.
Services were expected to be disrupted for up to two hours as engineers worked to clear the line and diversions were being put in place.
Signal failures at Swindon delayed services from Bristol to London, while trains to Exeter were delayed by up to an hour after signals near Bridgwater failed shortly before 9pm.
Avon Fire and Rescue spokeswoman Helen Shrimpton said the service was inundated with calls when the storms struck.
She said: "Our busiest time was between 9.15pm and 10pm and we had to call in retained crews to cope with the demand.
"We had a lot of minor incidents and lots of false alarms where fire alarms were being set off by the lightning, but fortunately there were no life-threatening incidents."
Miss Shrimpton said one of the biggest floods caused by the storms was in the basements of a row of shops in Alexandra Road in Clevedon.
Two crews from Clevedon attended the scene and used pumps to clear out the water.
Firefighters from Weston-super-Mare were called in to a garden flat which had flooded in Clyde Road, Redland, as Bristol crews struggled to cope with demand.
Miss Shrimpton said: "There was a lot of localised flooding and even our own car park at our head quarters in Temple Back was flooded."
The storm also put traffic lights out of action on Whiteladies Road and flooded the road outside the HTV studios in Brislington.
One person who braved the downpour was David Billingham, who was preparing to camp through the night outside the Hippodrome to get a ticket for Saturday's Live8 concert in Hyde Park.
The committed 34-year-old from Portishead arrived outside the theatre at 3.30pm and was prepared to wait almost 24 hours before the free tickets were due to be handed out at 3pm today.
Mr Billingham said he was not put off by the weather.
He said: "It's only water and that is, after all, what Live8 is all about.
"I've got blankets, some food and my radio and am ready to see the night through."