Rotherham is a town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Don, close to its confluence with the River Rother, between Sheffield and Doncaster. Rotherham, at 6 miles (10 km) from Sheffield City Centre, is surrounded by several smaller settlements, which together form the wider Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham. According to the 2001 Census the population of the Borough of Rotherham is 248,175, and that of the Rotherham urban sub-area 117,262.
Beyond the town centre and away from the Don Valley, the Rotherham district is largely rural, containing a mixture of farming and mining communities as well as the large Wentworth Woodhouse estate, where the last surviving kiln of the Rockingham Pottery may still be seen.
A large part of Rotherham was hit by the floods in the summer of 2007. The floods brought huge disruption to the town, closing many of the roads, local schools, and the local transport system, as well as damaging personal and commercial property. Rotherham's neighbours Barnsley, Doncaster, and Sheffield were also badly flooded. Rotherham's Parkgate shopping centre was badly damaged, with most of the shops suffering damage, and some losing a large amount of stock to the flood water. The Meadowhall shopping centre on the border of Rotherham and Sheffield was also affected.
The nearby Ulley reservoir caused major concern for the town as the front centre section of the dam collapsed, threatening to break and release the water into nearby areas of Canklow, Catcliffe, Treeton, and Whiston, as well as a major electrical sub-station serving the city of Sheffield. The local radio station, Rother FM, also had to evacuate from their studios based in the danger area leaving the local area without a source of information. Therefore, its sister station, Trax FM, was broadcast on the Rother FM frequency (96.1 FM) along with the usual Trax FM frequencies providing information for the Rotherham area as well as Bassetlaw (107.9 FM) and Doncaster (107.1 FM), the normal target areas. Rotherham's fire brigade worked for hours with thirteen high-powered pumps to remove some of the water and lessen the pressure on the dam wall. Eventually they were able to lower the water level by several feet and reduce the immediate danger. The dam, however, remains damaged, and even with more rainfall in the following weeks the dam held, thanks to the efforts of the South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue service. By the summer of 2008, much of the reservoir and the surrounding country park were once again open for the public to enjoy. |
