Flooding woes and the P.O

[Marco]

Gotta have the bombs mate.. We need them

Were you being serious or what, daftee? Your emoj didn't work...

Marco.

[Macca]

Yes, in theory that sounds all very sensible and entirely logical, but what are you supposed to do when the sheer volume of water falling completely overwhelms the defences you've put up? In some cases recently,MONTHS of rainfall have fallen in ONE single day! Just what do you do to effectively protect yourself from that, especially when you're panicking and extremely worried about the potential consequences...?

And following the instructions in the information pack is all well and good, if you're able-bodied and alert enough, for example, to pile sandbags up on top of your front door, etc, and aren't elderly or disabled. Honestly mate, sometimes you don't think things through!

Marco.

You missed out this from your quote 'Maybe that would not be sufficient to prevent being flooded out in some cases but to say they had no warning it would happen is not correct.'

As far as the pensioners and disabled are concerned people round here help each other out. Rather than expecting someone from 'the government' to do it and then getting all self-righteous when they don't. It's what we all did before there were governments.

[struth]

Were you being serious or what, daftee? Your emoj didn't work...

Marco.

Was joking yes.. No point in worrying about the ruskies and the Chinese. They can eat us without bombs.
Of course, you know we only have them to defend against the French. Lol

[Marco]

The other thing is, successive governments have been cutting back more and more and spending less on dredging rivers, clearing drains and maintaining the infrastructure/defences that helps prevent floods, consequently the former are full of all sorts of crap, which at one time was emptied out, and so left somewhere for excessive rainfall to go!

Now, however, because our drains and rivers are so full of shite, there is nowhere for all that water/rainfall to go, which is why drains overflow and rivers burst their banks now so quickly!!

Again, yet another example of governments getting their priorities all wrong! And it's the same story now, year after year, with nothing ever done to fundamentally address the problem, and which is only going to get worse

Marco.

[mikmas]

This isn't like a tidal wave or something, its a result of heavy rain over a week or more.

Maybe the case in your neck of the woods but in terms of what happened last week across our part of the world that is simply not true - and I have the graph to prove it

The amount of rain that fell in less than 24 hours across Derbyshire, South Yorkshire and Lincolnshire was unprecedented - as was the fury of the deluge. It was actually more akin to a 'tidal wave'
As I mentioned earlier, our local river (the Witham) went from its usual level of about 50cm to well over 2 meters in no time flat (and I know because i was monitoring it quite closely)

It wasn't just the river that couldn't cope, drains along the main road that runs past our house were inundated and rapidly over-ran, turning the road into a river in its own right and flooding a small park lower down by a junction.

Luckily the city centre just escaped serious flooding. Unfortunately towns and cities like Rotherham, Doncaster and Matlock were less fortunate ... but to say the residents had plenty of warning to get their precious DVD players up stairs etc. is just blatant poppycock and flagrant denial of the facts.

And yes - it is the Government's duty and responsibility to take appropriate action when faced with such frequent and increasingly abnormal weather events such as this one.
THAT'S WHAT WE PAY TAXES FOR !!!

[struth]

Yes they have. It's bad for frogs etc.
One of the big issues re many flood issues is so many people building in flood overspill areas that were never used for good reason.
And building up river defences at these areas just pushes the problem further along river, that probably never used to flood

[Marco]

You missed out this from your quote 'Maybe that would not be sufficient to prevent being flooded out in some cases but to say they had no warning it would happen is not correct.'

As far as the pensioners and disabled are concerned people round here help each other out. Rather than expecting someone from 'the government' to do it and then getting all self-righteous when they don't. It's what we all did before there were governments.

As I said, there's hee-haw you can do, short of becoming Moses, when our drains and rivers are in the state that they're in, you've got MONTHS-worth of rain falling in ONE DAY, and you live in a flood zone!

And helping folk out is fine *if* you have people around you willing and able to do that, many don't and so have had to fend for themselves, or drown and die (as sadly some have), if they can't. Don't get me wrong, I understand where you're coming from, but in times like this the government has to step up and give proper support to our society's most vulnerable.

Marco.

[Marco]

Maybe the case in your neck of the woods but in terms of what happened last week across our part of the world that is simply not true - and I have the graph to prove it

The amount of rain that fell in less than 24 hours across Derbyshire, South Yorkshire and Lincolnshire was unprecedented - as was the fury of the deluge. It was actually more akin to a 'tidal wave'
As I mentioned earlier, our local river (the Witham) went from its usual level of about 50cm to well over 2 meters in no time flat (and I know because i was monitoring it quite closely)

It wasn't just the river that couldn't cope, drains along the main road that runs past our house were inundated and rapidly over-ran, turning the road into a river in its own right and flooding a small park lower down by a junction.

Exactly!

Marco.

[Gaz]

Many in this case had no warning.

In any case... I'd want to get my affairs in order firstly and foremost before I would even think about rescuing a dvd player.

Not because I'd be lazy but even if you had warning you would want to know what to do and you would be worried sick, especially if you have kids or know of someone elderly or disabled.



Sent from my BBC Microcomputer 32K

I didn't think of what a mind boggling conundrum an approaching flood must be.

Ooh, my house is about to be flooded, what shall I do.....?

Try to minimise the impact it has on me by moving possessions upstairs?

Noooo, far too complicated

Seriously?

[Barry]

As I said, there's hee-haw you can do, short of becoming Moses, when our drains and rivers are in the state that they're in, you've got MONTHS-worth of rain falling in ONE DAY, and you live in a flood zone!

Marco.

When was the last time you saw a 'sludge gulper' clearing out the roadside drains? Another contributing factor is the rooting out of gardens to form a hard standing for cars.