No-one had an inkling of what was about to happen, the disaster that was to engulf the peaceful thriving town of Westwood. Within 50 years it had grown from a small community around a fertile bowl of low lying land close to the east river, to a well loved and prosperous community of 50,000 citizens.
Just to the north of the village was an area of luxuriant woodland and the timber trade grew quickly. It was soon to be joined by an area of high land on the southern end of the small peninsula that produced excellent timber. To the north was second low lying area of fertile land which was rapidly put into cultivation to feed the growing population.
To the west of the original village grew the financial district, fuelled by the agricultural and timber trades. Far out to the west ore was discovered later and heavy industry expanded rapidly, gravitating away from the small area around the towns main motorway artery, out to the dark, noisy and polluted ore fields. With the heavy polluting industry far away the town blossomed with a university and even a science centre. The new commercial and hi-tech development to the north east of the town grew at a pace. All this powered by modern advances in both wind turbine and solar power technology.
It was a bright sunny summers day when it all started. Adjacent to the freight terminal on the east river that served the nearby timber trade, the new 4 lane road that had been built only 2 years earlier was starting to flood. The road had been controversial from the start due to its close proximity to the rivers high water mark. Experts immediately filled the media with possible explanations for the rising water levels, but all agreed, it would soon top-out and the river would return to normal once more.
But that didn’t happen. The rising waters quickly swamped the harbour front and the adjacent sewage plants, flowing across the towns central motorway, towards the fertile lowland
Within a few hours the water was filling up the heart of the old town and everyone looked on, helplessly
Then just to the south, the east river engulfed the coastal railway and flowed into the suburbs, heading for the financial district in the west.
It was chaos, events unfolded so fast that vehicles were trapped on the streets, unaware of what was happening.
The whole of the east side was soon awash, it wouldn’t be long before it would flow over into the bay to the west
The water surge was unstoppable, within a short time most of the peninsular was covered, only the forestry area to the south managed to avoid the onslaught.
The old centre and financial district we now deep underwater, citizens watched as the levels rose round their beloved statue that stood as a monument at the gateway of their proud financial district.
There seemed little anyone could do but flee to the higher ground.
With much of the south under water it continued its destructive path northwards, cutting a swathe through the panicking town, washing away the old industrial district and heading to the newer suburbs, threatening the towns breadbasket and the newly created high rise residences that housed the recent influx of workers.
Aerial photos began to show the devastation that had been wrought in such a short time. The old town was awash and now the the remainder of the town was under threat.
Where would it all end? The town was now divided into two.
Surely Westwood was finished?
No town could recover from this
Could it?
to be continued....
Just to the north of the village was an area of luxuriant woodland and the timber trade grew quickly. It was soon to be joined by an area of high land on the southern end of the small peninsula that produced excellent timber. To the north was second low lying area of fertile land which was rapidly put into cultivation to feed the growing population.
To the west of the original village grew the financial district, fuelled by the agricultural and timber trades. Far out to the west ore was discovered later and heavy industry expanded rapidly, gravitating away from the small area around the towns main motorway artery, out to the dark, noisy and polluted ore fields. With the heavy polluting industry far away the town blossomed with a university and even a science centre. The new commercial and hi-tech development to the north east of the town grew at a pace. All this powered by modern advances in both wind turbine and solar power technology.
It was a bright sunny summers day when it all started. Adjacent to the freight terminal on the east river that served the nearby timber trade, the new 4 lane road that had been built only 2 years earlier was starting to flood. The road had been controversial from the start due to its close proximity to the rivers high water mark. Experts immediately filled the media with possible explanations for the rising water levels, but all agreed, it would soon top-out and the river would return to normal once more.
But that didn’t happen. The rising waters quickly swamped the harbour front and the adjacent sewage plants, flowing across the towns central motorway, towards the fertile lowland
Within a few hours the water was filling up the heart of the old town and everyone looked on, helplessly
Then just to the south, the east river engulfed the coastal railway and flowed into the suburbs, heading for the financial district in the west.
It was chaos, events unfolded so fast that vehicles were trapped on the streets, unaware of what was happening.
The whole of the east side was soon awash, it wouldn’t be long before it would flow over into the bay to the west
The water surge was unstoppable, within a short time most of the peninsular was covered, only the forestry area to the south managed to avoid the onslaught.
The old centre and financial district we now deep underwater, citizens watched as the levels rose round their beloved statue that stood as a monument at the gateway of their proud financial district.
There seemed little anyone could do but flee to the higher ground.
With much of the south under water it continued its destructive path northwards, cutting a swathe through the panicking town, washing away the old industrial district and heading to the newer suburbs, threatening the towns breadbasket and the newly created high rise residences that housed the recent influx of workers.
Aerial photos began to show the devastation that had been wrought in such a short time. The old town was awash and now the the remainder of the town was under threat.
Where would it all end? The town was now divided into two.
Surely Westwood was finished?
No town could recover from this
Could it?
to be continued....
