Liz Moreton remembers the floods when she was a schoolgirl.
It seemed like an adventure at the time.
By Liz Moreton (nee Howell)
When I was a child the River Exe and the Alphin Brook regularly flooded. During the 1950s and 60s I lived in Chudleigh Road, Alphington and went to school (both primary and secondary) in Exeter. Every day I would catch the number 1 bus (Exeter to Newton Abbot) into town. This was usually a double‑decker bus and most school children sat on the upper deck. From here we had a great view of the Alphin Brook and the River Exe as we passed them. If there had been a lot of rain and the river was a muddy brown colour, fast flowing and near the top of the wall, we knew that the next high tide would cause the river to burst its banks - this meant an early trip home from school as the buses would often be cancelled or rerouted.
On one occasion, I can remember walking around the corner from Alphington Road into Church Road (just beyond where the Sainsbury's store is today) and the road in front of me, just beyond Webb's garage, was flooded. The next thing I remember was sitting in a small boat being dragged by a tractor and feeling the bottom of the boat occasionally scraping and bumping on the surface of the road under the water. (I have no idea how old I was, but it seemed like a great adventure at the time.)