Day 4 of the Big Flood and scarcely a mention on this forum?
Jul 24th, 2007, 04:10 AM
#41
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We are getting the news loud and clear in Australia. We've just experienced some shocking storms and flooding in areas around Sydney, and really feel for so many people dispossessed and inundated in the UK.
Jul 24th, 2007, 09:34 PM
#42
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Zeus + Fidel
It is a big deal and it is serious. I've just come back from a trip to Bristol - so I drove through the area - fortunately for me the motorway was no longer flooded. But what should have been farm land is now what looks like a lake with a few tree tops showing and the odd caravan (trailer) floating past. So that's a year's crops ruined. And I hope the caravans are holiday homes not permanent homes.
Tewkesbury was completely cut off. A mother and new born twins had to be airlifted to a hospital in another town.Both babies have now died.
The red cross is taking food parcels and commodes to people.
There is a huge voluntary scheme in place because people on dialysis cannot use their local hospital so they are having to go to any hospital with a dialysis bed - that could be a two hour drive away. Fortunately volunteers are willing to drive people to these hospitals.Sometimes after the patient has been airlifted from their home.
Zeus - this is not low lying areas it is town centres. Life may go on but it is a little hard when the shops and offices are flooded, when the nearest shop that hasn't been flooded has run out of water. And of course the delivery trucks that normally replenish the shelves are not able to get through.
The flood has also got into water treatment plants and power sub stations so even those who are not flooded but are near are without water and electricity.
If anything the TV news is playing the flood down.
It is a big deal and it is serious. I've just come back from a trip to Bristol - so I drove through the area - fortunately for me the motorway was no longer flooded. But what should have been farm land is now what looks like a lake with a few tree tops showing and the odd caravan (trailer) floating past. So that's a year's crops ruined. And I hope the caravans are holiday homes not permanent homes.
Tewkesbury was completely cut off. A mother and new born twins had to be airlifted to a hospital in another town.Both babies have now died.
The red cross is taking food parcels and commodes to people.
There is a huge voluntary scheme in place because people on dialysis cannot use their local hospital so they are having to go to any hospital with a dialysis bed - that could be a two hour drive away. Fortunately volunteers are willing to drive people to these hospitals.Sometimes after the patient has been airlifted from their home.
Zeus - this is not low lying areas it is town centres. Life may go on but it is a little hard when the shops and offices are flooded, when the nearest shop that hasn't been flooded has run out of water. And of course the delivery trucks that normally replenish the shelves are not able to get through.
The flood has also got into water treatment plants and power sub stations so even those who are not flooded but are near are without water and electricity.
If anything the TV news is playing the flood down.
Jul 24th, 2007, 11:22 PM
#43
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I live 10 miles from Gloucester, and 25 from the water treatment plant at Tewkesbury. This means my water has been off for 24 hours now, and we are expected to be without for 7-14 days.
So far everyone here and in many other villages and small towns unaffected physically by the floods is making do with bottled water and what we have saved in rainwater butts. We will hear later today if bowsers (temporary water tanks) are to be supplied in this area.
If 350,000 people are without water in the actual flood zone, then the amount of people now without fresh water must be at least double that.
So far everyone here and in many other villages and small towns unaffected physically by the floods is making do with bottled water and what we have saved in rainwater butts. We will hear later today if bowsers (temporary water tanks) are to be supplied in this area.
If 350,000 people are without water in the actual flood zone, then the amount of people now without fresh water must be at least double that.
Jul 25th, 2007, 02:13 AM
#44
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More flooding expected along the Thames. Heres the latest:
http://news.aol.co.uk/extreme-weathe...25014409990009
http://news.aol.co.uk/extreme-weathe...25014409990009
Jul 25th, 2007, 02:57 AM
#45
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we saw a news report last night filming in a country english pub (cant remember where) which was up over a metre with water. as the camera panned across the room, we caught a glimpse of one of those yellow plastic caution signs lying flat, on top the bar, which said "wet floor"
seriously though, britain is soaked, including friends not being able to go to work in london.
seriously though, britain is soaked, including friends not being able to go to work in london.
Jul 25th, 2007, 03:40 AM
#46
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The waters are going down in Stratford Upon Avon, which was almost re-named Stratford Under Avon last friday. See the photos here
We've tried to include as many as possible from around Warwickshire in our flood galleries.
The link to our flood index is here if you want to look for your photos:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/coventry/in_pic...leries/floods/
We've tried to include as many as possible from around Warwickshire in our flood galleries.
The link to our flood index is here if you want to look for your photos:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/coventry/in_pic...leries/floods/
Jul 26th, 2007, 12:25 PM
#47
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Nonconformist:
My "100 year flood" information came directly from sources available to me in England, newspapers and television. As I understand it, the flood of 1947 was caused by run off from snow melt. Perhaps the "100 year flood" figure is based on flooding caused by rainfall? Doesn't really matter, the point is that the flooding is unusual and widespread.
Two weeks ago we visited with friends in the Cotswolds who celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary this year. They were married during the snowstorms of March 1947 and talked about having to shovel their way into the church, and the transportation problems the storms caused. They honeymooned in France and therefore missed the flooding that year.
Last Saturday they decided to have a brief weekend away and booked accomodation in Stanway. As the rain pounded down, first the wine cellar flooded, followed by loss of water and power. They decided to leave Stanway for Lower Slaughter, but their hoped for destination, Lords of the Manor, was experiencing similar conditions.
Does anyone know if the small stream that runs close to the Lords of the Manor was the problem? It is hard to imagine this stream flooding, because this time last year it wasn't more than a slow trickle, about 2 inches deep.
Our local S.F. news has only reported on Tewkesbury and a few areas near Oxford. Hope we can get some first hand reports from Fodorites, and hope that all are faring well.
My "100 year flood" information came directly from sources available to me in England, newspapers and television. As I understand it, the flood of 1947 was caused by run off from snow melt. Perhaps the "100 year flood" figure is based on flooding caused by rainfall? Doesn't really matter, the point is that the flooding is unusual and widespread.
Two weeks ago we visited with friends in the Cotswolds who celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary this year. They were married during the snowstorms of March 1947 and talked about having to shovel their way into the church, and the transportation problems the storms caused. They honeymooned in France and therefore missed the flooding that year.
Last Saturday they decided to have a brief weekend away and booked accomodation in Stanway. As the rain pounded down, first the wine cellar flooded, followed by loss of water and power. They decided to leave Stanway for Lower Slaughter, but their hoped for destination, Lords of the Manor, was experiencing similar conditions.
Does anyone know if the small stream that runs close to the Lords of the Manor was the problem? It is hard to imagine this stream flooding, because this time last year it wasn't more than a slow trickle, about 2 inches deep.
Our local S.F. news has only reported on Tewkesbury and a few areas near Oxford. Hope we can get some first hand reports from Fodorites, and hope that all are faring well.
Jul 26th, 2007, 01:00 PM
#48
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Zeus
"Or could it be that once again the press is making a big deal out of nothing?"
Get real, this is a F***ing disaster, I know everthing in the USA is bigger and better than anywhere else in the world. I am sure that as you wade through the water waist deep in water carrying your 2 year old daughter to the doctor, like my daughter has had to, the effluent and excreatment is bigger and better than ours!!.
It makes my blood boil when someone makes comments like this.
OK I have had my say, if in doubt try booking a hotel in Tewksbury or Chipping Campden.
"Or could it be that once again the press is making a big deal out of nothing?"
Get real, this is a F***ing disaster, I know everthing in the USA is bigger and better than anywhere else in the world. I am sure that as you wade through the water waist deep in water carrying your 2 year old daughter to the doctor, like my daughter has had to, the effluent and excreatment is bigger and better than ours!!.
It makes my blood boil when someone makes comments like this.
OK I have had my say, if in doubt try booking a hotel in Tewksbury or Chipping Campden.
Jul 26th, 2007, 01:12 PM
#49
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Jul 27th, 2007, 09:21 PM
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A couple of points:
- This wasn't a hundred year flood. On at least three major bridges near us, water reached levels that have NEVER been recorded, which makes it probably the heaviest shower in at least five hundred years.
- In the Cotswolds, the floods have little to do with the issue of building on flood plains. This is a hilly region, and most people affected were in places chosen for building over the centuries precisely because they don't get flooded during the once every 2-3 years heavy rain.
- Most things, for most people (apart from the 150,000 still without water because of the extraordinary flooding of a treatment works) are now close to back to normal. Rivers run fast round here (that's why we had a drought a year ago), and most people and businesses are above rivers. So whatever water was around a week ago has now run off. Roads are working: the Cotswold Line train restarts this morning. Getting to and from Heathrow right now, for example, is complicated only by the heavy traffic that's normal as the summer holidays start.
- However dramatic some of the pictures, this was a brief crisis in an exceptionally affluent region with generally competent emergency services and little vulnerability. There's a lot of work to be done to clean everything up, a number of issues about relief drains and the like, and some poor people still in a mess. But, compared to real disasters - such as floods in parts of the world where people get killed and livelihoods washed away - this was a brief drama that's now close to being over.
We hope!
- This wasn't a hundred year flood. On at least three major bridges near us, water reached levels that have NEVER been recorded, which makes it probably the heaviest shower in at least five hundred years.
- In the Cotswolds, the floods have little to do with the issue of building on flood plains. This is a hilly region, and most people affected were in places chosen for building over the centuries precisely because they don't get flooded during the once every 2-3 years heavy rain.
- Most things, for most people (apart from the 150,000 still without water because of the extraordinary flooding of a treatment works) are now close to back to normal. Rivers run fast round here (that's why we had a drought a year ago), and most people and businesses are above rivers. So whatever water was around a week ago has now run off. Roads are working: the Cotswold Line train restarts this morning. Getting to and from Heathrow right now, for example, is complicated only by the heavy traffic that's normal as the summer holidays start.
- However dramatic some of the pictures, this was a brief crisis in an exceptionally affluent region with generally competent emergency services and little vulnerability. There's a lot of work to be done to clean everything up, a number of issues about relief drains and the like, and some poor people still in a mess. But, compared to real disasters - such as floods in parts of the world where people get killed and livelihoods washed away - this was a brief drama that's now close to being over.
We hope!
Jul 27th, 2007, 10:10 PM
#51
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Apologies for Zeus - lots of us in the US know about the flooding and are worried for friends of ours who live there. I personally have friends in the Cotswolds that I'm checking in on.
I wish we could take some of your rain for you... those of us in California are dealing with a drought-like conditions we haven't seen in 50 years. Strange that the one thing that might bring us all together is global warming.
Good luck to everyone in England - Blightyboy, I hope you and your daughter are okay - our thoughts really are with you.
I wish we could take some of your rain for you... those of us in California are dealing with a drought-like conditions we haven't seen in 50 years. Strange that the one thing that might bring us all together is global warming.
Good luck to everyone in England - Blightyboy, I hope you and your daughter are okay - our thoughts really are with you.
Jul 29th, 2007, 03:41 PM
#52
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A practical note: places which you may have on your itinerary ought to be called if there's not enough time to email before your planned visit;also, do use a route-planning site to check for travel alterations due to flooding. We were planning to go to Blenheim Palace last week, but have put it off due disruption of Oxford's train service's -- buses were in use, though, with clear information posted on line.
We found that at Warwick Castle, both the jousting tournament and trebuchet demonstrations are suspended for a while due to flooding of the land just below the castle--None of this information was available on the castle website, and our kids were disappointed (they still had lots of fun)---
This shows that there are small focal effects as well as the larger sequelae of the flooding.
I hope that people in other areas affected by flooding will continue to post about the effects there. Our best wishes are with those who still don't have fresh water to drink or are scraping the muck from their homes.
We found that at Warwick Castle, both the jousting tournament and trebuchet demonstrations are suspended for a while due to flooding of the land just below the castle--None of this information was available on the castle website, and our kids were disappointed (they still had lots of fun)---
This shows that there are small focal effects as well as the larger sequelae of the flooding.
I hope that people in other areas affected by flooding will continue to post about the effects there. Our best wishes are with those who still don't have fresh water to drink or are scraping the muck from their homes.
Jul 30th, 2007, 08:14 AM
#53
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Excellent advice from beeze.
We're heading to the UK today (from SFO) and I wanted to visit Hidcote Manor Gardens. One of the British papers mentioned it was closed and there was no information on the National Trust website. Luckily my hotel offered to call and it has now reopened.
We're heading to the UK today (from SFO) and I wanted to visit Hidcote Manor Gardens. One of the British papers mentioned it was closed and there was no information on the National Trust website. Luckily my hotel offered to call and it has now reopened.
