During the last few weeks, I have noticed during the recent downpours, and
shortly afterwards, that the local brook has not been flooding as it has in
past years. Although the flow rate is up, the depth of water is pretty much
the same as during dry weather. This got me thinking. Is it possible that
the persistent heavy rain of the last couple of years has softened the
underlying ground, and that the water is now soaking back into the ground,
replenishing the water table, rather than flowing across and off the surface
as it has in other years? If this isn't the case, then where is all the
rainfall going, because it doesn't appear to be flowing down the brook in
the quantity I would have expected after such heavy rain? As far as I can
tell, nothing has changed in the brook, it is still spring fed a couple of
miles upstream, the parkland and farm fields are still there to drain into
it, and the downstream weirs and grills are still as blocked up as ever.

For anyone interested, it is the Billing Brook in Northampton, about a mile
from Overstone Park (its source) to the north of the town. Normal dry
conditions will be about 6" deep and 3-6 feet wide, and under flood
conditions, up to 4 feet deep and about 20 feet wide. This afternoon an hour
after a very heavy storm, and during the next downpour that soaked me and
the dog right through, it wasn't even a foot deep.

So, where is all that water going?

jim, Northampton