Greenfield Bob
Established Member
I hope everyone is OK.
Is the flooding over?
Bob
Is the flooding over?
Bob
Flooding
- Thread starter Greenfield Bob
- Start date
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RogerS
Established Member
Hi Bob. We appreciate you thinking of us.
Short answer...no. Much of Herefordshire/Worcestershire/Gloucestershire/Oxfordshire still under water. I'm not too sure what the situation is like in the North of the country. They were flooded badly a few weeks ago. The tabloid press are calling this the Year of the Floods which isn't too far off the mark. The country has had more rain so far this year then sometime in the 1700's according to the radio. Tenbury Wells was flooded three times in two weeks!
Last weeks' epic rain of truly Biblical proportions dumped over 5 inches in one day across a large part of the country. You can see many, many pictures here.
Some towns such as Upton-on-Severn and Tewkesbury were/are completely cut off. The problem that large parts of Gloucestershire have now is a lack of drinking water as some water treatment plants are under water. Cheltenham, although unaffected by the floods per se AFAIK, is like a ghost town as without water many shops are shut as Health and Safety Regs specify mandatory number of working urinals for staff etc etc. Some shops pragmatically give two fingers to this given the circumstances.
A herculean effort managed to defend a major electricity substation that feeds 500,000 people from being inundated. The flood water came within 2 inches of the makeshift barriers.
Listening to the news over the last few days, I was reminded of various science fiction stories where a plague/catastrophic event was slowly taking over the planet for as the flood waters moved downstream so did the focus of the news coverage! Four of the major rivers in my area were flooded...the Wye, Severn, Avon and Thames. We've learned a lot about these over the last few days. F'instance, did you know that the Severn, as it flows down to the sea, gathers speed? But the Thames slows down.
Many tales of 'heroes'. For example, Upton-on-Severn organised an imprompu breakfast party one morning to lift everyones' mood and then another party on the bridge when it was re-opened!
Our emergency services did a magnificent job in rescuing people and, from what I can gather, all the training in co-ordination between the various services seemed to work exceptionally well. They even called out the Clergy Emergency Response Team this time! Virtually no fatalities, which given the potential life-threatening situation, is a credit to the Emergency Services.
Sadly also tales of human scum such as looting and urinating in the water bowsers put out on the streets for those communities without water.
Speaking personally, compared with many others I was only mildly inconvenienced by not being able to get home Friday evening and we lost water for about a day. But there are huge numbers of people who won't be able to get back into their homes for over six months, they say.
And more water on the way, they say. Meanwhile, over in Greece and central Europe they are having the opposite with temperatures in excess of 40 degrees C. Funny old world.
Short answer...no. Much of Herefordshire/Worcestershire/Gloucestershire/Oxfordshire still under water. I'm not too sure what the situation is like in the North of the country. They were flooded badly a few weeks ago. The tabloid press are calling this the Year of the Floods which isn't too far off the mark. The country has had more rain so far this year then sometime in the 1700's according to the radio. Tenbury Wells was flooded three times in two weeks!
Last weeks' epic rain of truly Biblical proportions dumped over 5 inches in one day across a large part of the country. You can see many, many pictures here.
Some towns such as Upton-on-Severn and Tewkesbury were/are completely cut off. The problem that large parts of Gloucestershire have now is a lack of drinking water as some water treatment plants are under water. Cheltenham, although unaffected by the floods per se AFAIK, is like a ghost town as without water many shops are shut as Health and Safety Regs specify mandatory number of working urinals for staff etc etc. Some shops pragmatically give two fingers to this given the circumstances.
A herculean effort managed to defend a major electricity substation that feeds 500,000 people from being inundated. The flood water came within 2 inches of the makeshift barriers.
Listening to the news over the last few days, I was reminded of various science fiction stories where a plague/catastrophic event was slowly taking over the planet for as the flood waters moved downstream so did the focus of the news coverage! Four of the major rivers in my area were flooded...the Wye, Severn, Avon and Thames. We've learned a lot about these over the last few days. F'instance, did you know that the Severn, as it flows down to the sea, gathers speed? But the Thames slows down.
Many tales of 'heroes'. For example, Upton-on-Severn organised an imprompu breakfast party one morning to lift everyones' mood and then another party on the bridge when it was re-opened!
Our emergency services did a magnificent job in rescuing people and, from what I can gather, all the training in co-ordination between the various services seemed to work exceptionally well. They even called out the Clergy Emergency Response Team this time! Virtually no fatalities, which given the potential life-threatening situation, is a credit to the Emergency Services.
Sadly also tales of human scum such as looting and urinating in the water bowsers put out on the streets for those communities without water.
Speaking personally, compared with many others I was only mildly inconvenienced by not being able to get home Friday evening and we lost water for about a day. But there are huge numbers of people who won't be able to get back into their homes for over six months, they say.
And more water on the way, they say. Meanwhile, over in Greece and central Europe they are having the opposite with temperatures in excess of 40 degrees C. Funny old world.
Benchwayze
Established Member
I am fortunate in living some 550 feet above sea level.
So far no personal problems at all, but we are keenly aware of the misery inflicted on folk elsewhere. Parts of Birmingham too have been hard hit, because the artesian wells are no longer being used by firms such as HP and the many brewers we had in the area. The rainfall has only added to their problems. So we are pulling together to do what we can.
I just wish there were enough Military personnel left in the UK to put two men to each bowser, to 'discourage' the scum who are deliberately sabotaging the taps and polluting precious drinking water. I just don't think the Police can cope at the moment.
Wishing you all well and a speedy end to the misery
John
So far no personal problems at all, but we are keenly aware of the misery inflicted on folk elsewhere. Parts of Birmingham too have been hard hit, because the artesian wells are no longer being used by firms such as HP and the many brewers we had in the area. The rainfall has only added to their problems. So we are pulling together to do what we can.
I just wish there were enough Military personnel left in the UK to put two men to each bowser, to 'discourage' the scum who are deliberately sabotaging the taps and polluting precious drinking water. I just don't think the Police can cope at the moment.
Wishing you all well and a speedy end to the misery
John
CHJ
Established Member
We had to travel twice through areas high in the Cotswolds (both 200+mile round trips) during the immediate aftermath of the rain.
A 1-1/2 hr trip became 5 hrs as we tried to get round the floods, even then we passed through several areas of 18"+ deep floods to get out of entrapment. At one point negotiating a section of road that had been washed out to a depth of 12" or so on our return we noted that the water was currently 3 metres below the road but there was flood debris in the hedgerow above the level of the car roof. This was in a high valley with no normal water course.
Currently we are without mains water due to local reservoir being empty because the main pumping station and filter beds which supplies it was submerged, we are fortunate in as much as we have 200+ gallons of rainwater stored that can be used for the essentials and washing, and bottled and bulk tanker water was available within 3 days, this together with our in house storage tanks which hold 50+ gallons of fresh water which is cycled on a daily basis means that apart from having to think through a different routine we are fine. Thank goodness we are at 200mtrs above sea level and not in a water catchment hollow.
We collected a further 20 gallons of rainwater yesterday before all containers were full.
I lived in Tewkesbury for 12 years and also in Worcestershire during the 1947 flooding and I have never seen such depth of water or devastation away from the normal flood plains, some of the damage done in high valleys is reminiscent of the flash flood water courses in Texas etc.
A 1-1/2 hr trip became 5 hrs as we tried to get round the floods, even then we passed through several areas of 18"+ deep floods to get out of entrapment. At one point negotiating a section of road that had been washed out to a depth of 12" or so on our return we noted that the water was currently 3 metres below the road but there was flood debris in the hedgerow above the level of the car roof. This was in a high valley with no normal water course.
Currently we are without mains water due to local reservoir being empty because the main pumping station and filter beds which supplies it was submerged, we are fortunate in as much as we have 200+ gallons of rainwater stored that can be used for the essentials and washing, and bottled and bulk tanker water was available within 3 days, this together with our in house storage tanks which hold 50+ gallons of fresh water which is cycled on a daily basis means that apart from having to think through a different routine we are fine. Thank goodness we are at 200mtrs above sea level and not in a water catchment hollow.
We collected a further 20 gallons of rainwater yesterday before all containers were full.
I lived in Tewkesbury for 12 years and also in Worcestershire during the 1947 flooding and I have never seen such depth of water or devastation away from the normal flood plains, some of the damage done in high valleys is reminiscent of the flash flood water courses in Texas etc.
Mike.C
Established Member
Some of the pictures I have seen showed the water just about up to the roof of the cars. I cannot imagine what people in the flood areas are going through, it must be a nightmare.
Are these people covered by insurance or will the insurance companies call it an act of god?
If some of them are, then you can guarantee that their future premiums will be sky high, thats if they can get cover at all.
Bob, am I right in saying that in the US if the government declare it a disaster zone, the public can get financial help from them?
I wonder in the circumstances if our government might step in and help those people that are covered by insurance?
Cheers
Mike
Are these people covered by insurance or will the insurance companies call it an act of god?
If some of them are, then you can guarantee that their future premiums will be sky high, thats if they can get cover at all.
Bob, am I right in saying that in the US if the government declare it a disaster zone, the public can get financial help from them?
I wonder in the circumstances if our government might step in and help those people that are covered by insurance?
Cheers
Mike
cranbrook2
Established Member
My thoughts and prayers go out to all affected by the flooding.
It is very sad to see.
I hope everything works out .
It is very sad to see.
I hope everything works out .
Greenfield Bob
Established Member
Mike, I have never lived in a disaster area, so I don't know what kind of financial help our government gives to people, I would they would help out.
My thoughts are with all of you and hope this comes to an end soon.
It seems like the weather has been crazy in a lot of areas around the world. Maybe we are being paid back for the way we have treated the Earth.
Bob
My thoughts are with all of you and hope this comes to an end soon.
It seems like the weather has been crazy in a lot of areas around the world. Maybe we are being paid back for the way we have treated the Earth.
Bob
Dave S
Established Member
Greenfield Bob":cc6rj2vu said:
In principle I would agree - however this year El Nino is a significant factor. Such is the unpredictability of our weather, particularly during El Nino that they were predicting 2007 to be the hottest year on record :?
Dave
Fecn
Established Member
Glad I'm not the only one who remembers the 'hottest on record' predection they made at the end of last summer.
When I was little, the media were worrying about a nuclear winter blocking out the sun and making the planet too cold... now we're worrying about global warming instead... Solutions for each other perhaps
When I was little, the media were worrying about a nuclear winter blocking out the sun and making the planet too cold... now we're worrying about global warming instead... Solutions for each other perhaps
CHJ
Established Member
Fecn":1g98kvj2 said:
They were not far out as it happens though, just 800 miles or so.
It would appear that the atlantic jet stream is just a few miles further south than expected.
My son who lives in Bavaria has been experiencing 38+ degrees.
His and several other colleagues windscreens cracked in the car park last week due to extreme direct sun temp.
Just shows how vulnerable we are in this narrow vertical band of habitable space. I often look up at a con-trail with its silver source and wonder at the fact that there is somewhere in the region of 70c difference between us.
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