Disbelief, worry, and hope six months after canal collapse

"I cannot believe that nobody was injured."

Six months on from a massive canal breach in Whitchurch, Shropshire, boater Phil Johnson is still trying to make sense of events that happened three days before Christmas last year - events in which lives as well as boats were upended.

It was a section of the Llangollen Canal that collapsed in the early hours of 22 December. As the structure gave way, a huge volume of water rushed into a nearby field and the canal bed fell away, leaving a trench. Two boats went into the hole, with one left teetering over the chasm's edge. A major incident was declared.

"It's something that I never, ever thought I would experience," said Johnson, 57, who is originally from East Yorkshire, but found himself moored near the site on the day.

At the time, he had only had his boat - on which he was living - for about six months, and was awoken during the middle of the night.

"I just thought 'something's not right'. When the ropes start to get tighter on a boat, they crack and they creak... all I could hear was creaking and cracking."

Still in bed, he thought he felt himself rolling towards one side of the boat. And then the shouting came.

Stepping off the craft, Johnson saw water rushing past "like river rapids".

The shouts were from other people evacuating their own boats, trying to work out what was happening in the dark and cold.

Johnson ran to see whether some friends further along the canal had managed to escape. They had and they all ventured closer to the breach to see what was happening.

That was when they witnessed a boat - someone's home - teetering on the edge of the giant hole.

"You get that sickly feeling in your stomach because you think 'this is somebody's home' and we'd only been talking to the guy [a few days before]," Johnson said.

"There was nothing anybody could do, apart from basically watch."

Johnson soon realised he had originally planned to moor in the exact space where the canal collapsed.

He said: "If I'd moved over there, it would be this boat that would have been down that hole, and I was just thinking how lucky I was."

He said he believed the only thing that saved his boat from being dragged down into the breach was a chain securing it to the towpath.

The vessel, however, was not completely unscathed. It was left tipped to the side in the drained canal, leaving it totally stranded as Christmas loomed - and leaving Johnson in need of somewhere to stay.

He spent the holidays at another boater's house in the town before his boat was re-floated.

Johnson said that through the incident he had made friends for life.

"We've set up a WhatsApp group, Whitchurch Survivors... Every now and then you just do a little check-in - 'how is everybody doing, and are you all okay'?"

He is now back on his boat, which was largely undamaged in the chaos.

The three stricken craft have also been recovered. Each were occupied during the breach, with those on board managing to make similar exits in the nick of time as odd sounds from the waterway alerted them to danger.

With the canal stretch - or what remained - cleared of boats, repairs to it could begin.

But it is a major operation and has meant some people whose lives are linked to the scene - albeit in a dryer way - are counting the cost.

For Jane Beaumont who runs he Lockside Cafe at nearby Grindley Brook, the situation seems uncertain.

She has been operating the business for about 24 years, alongside her son and daughter. Away at the time of the breach, she rushed back home when she heard the news.

"Immediately, [the cafe] was very busy because people were coming to see the breach," she said.

"Then I started to get worried."

The canal, during repairs, yields fewer customers who previously would moor up, hop off and buy something. And the towpath running alongside it, which would bring in additional customers on foot, is shut.

"It has had a significant impact on my trade, I've lost all my tourism trade for the summer," she said.

"It's been very, very tough. Our [worst] fears have not been realised as yet but we've got to go through the summer and it's going to be a tough crawl."

In a bid to bring in trade, Lockside is hosting various events over the year, including a day of music, a doggy day, mini markets and fancy dress.

"It is very much [about taking] each day as it comes, really," Beaumont said.

"We're all trying our best to keep it going.

"I've had local people come in... I've also got people coming from afar, people from, I think, Glasgow was the furthest place... just to come and see the breach and support us."

So, what happens now?

Work by the Canal and River Trust - responsible for the maintenance of the waterway - is still ongoing.

Teams have rebuilt the collapsed embankment in layers and have reinforced its structural integrity.

The canal channel will be reconstructed in concrete, and wherever possible, material recovered from the site will be reused.

There are temporary dams in place to isolate the breach site, with a pumping system that is keeping water flowing. This means that boats downstream stay afloat.

That measure is vital because the Llangollen Canal plays a big role in moving fresh water for public supply.

More than 15 million litres of water drained into a nearby field in December, and has now been pumped into the local sewer system.

More than 1,000 fish were recovered from the field and were relocated into the canal.

"We are working hard towards our aim of reopening the canal by the end of the year," said Campbell Robb, chief executive at the trust.

"As investigation continues, we are ready to move into the next phase of work, which will allow us to rebuild the canal with greater resilience for the future."

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