Gordon_R

For those who hadn't heard, parts of western and central England experienced torrential "monsoon" like weather conditions at the end of last week and are now suffering the worst floods in 60 years. There is widespread disruption to travel in Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and parts of Berkshire. See:-
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6911226.stm

Apart from one or two isolated posts, virtually nothing has been said about this major incident on this forum, which seems very strange. I cannot believe tourists are not being affected by this, especially those traveeling to the Cotswolds, Oxford etc. If you are planning to visit any of the affected areas in the next few days, check out the latest news and be prepared to alter your plans.

Zeus

Or could it be that once again the press is making a big deal out of nothing? If one believed everything they watched on TV one would be led to believe that all Israel is under siege with the truth being that the bombings of years past were isolated incidents.

Up here along the Delaware River in Pennsylvania there has been flooding in the low lieing areas almost every summer but if you watched and believed the national news you'd think we were all getting ready to build arks. Life goes on like nothing happened just a few hundred yards away from the river banks. Of course the devastation is horrible for those directly involved but the way these things are depicted in the news you'd think everybody in NE Pennsylvania and New Jersey were effected.

BTilke

"Or could it be that once again the press is making a big deal out of nothing?"

That is absolutely NOT the reason. The flooding most certainly IS "a big deal."

BTilke

For example, I would say that 350,000 people without clean drinking water and/or electricity is not nothing, esp. as the routes to leave their homes are impassable. The virtual shutdown of rail service on one of the country's biggest commuter runs to the nation's capital is not nothing.

Dukey

Gordon,

How many people travel and never write trip reports? Plenty! So, I don't think it is all that strange not to have heard many first-hand accounts of travel difficulties...at least not yet.

MissPrism

Have a look at http://www.guardian.co.uk/
to see reports and pictures.
It is bad.

anchoress

We were talking to visitors from the UK at the weekend and hearing terrible stories also about the floods. Unusual for the UK which is why they are causing such havoc. They were glad to be safe in Ireland.

BTilke

We are going to stock up on a few supplies just in case. We're not worried at all about our house flooding but there's a slight chance that we could lose power and/or water due to flooding along the Thames. And that the roads we use to get to downtown Mhead could be flooded.

We're very thankful not to be a resident of Tewkesbury or Gloucester or to be a tourist up in Moreton-on-Marsh or Chipping Camden or anywhere in the Cotswolds where we'd need to depend on mass transit to get back to London or to an airport.

No matter how beautiful the view, we have no desire to ever live on waterfront property. Just not worth the risk.

P.S. And those idiots swimming and frolicking in the flood waters!!! How stupid is that!! One of the rescue guys who'd work up in Yorkshire during the flood there said he's had to spend four days in the hospital after getting a water-borne illness. The flood waters are full of sewage and other contaminants, to go swimming in them for fun is beyond idiotic.

carylspall

I feel so sorry for all those affected by this devastation.
For 10 years,when we had 3 young children ,we spent 3 weeks every summer in Upton-Upon-Severn, near Worcester. We went to Tewkesbury market for our provisions and took excursions to the places now affected by the floods.
I am so saddened. My heart goes out to all who are suffering.

nanabee

I'm surprised too that there is not more mentioned about the devestating floods. It seems that many forums attract literally hundreds of posters for such "talk" about name mispronounciations (234 posters) or what's your favoirte food (734 posters).

It may be that many travelers, and residents are too inundated with problems right now to post.

Hopefully, we will hear from them later.

JoeTro

I'm in Oxford centre and a little worried, but I think things should be okay where I am. I've stocked up on food and water just in case, though. It is a big deal here, though, and tons of people have been affected, and there are major transport problems with some rail lines (one is closed until August 6). So it's not the media's scare tactics.

Fidel

"Humanitarian crisis as thousands face new evacuation alert in UK flooding." Take care Brit Fodorites during this media hysteria.

Philbill

Don't forget that parts of Yorkshire have had a second terrible bout of flooding.

nanabee

and the worst part is the forecast is more rain

alanRow

It's fine in Edinburgh

moolyn

Gordon, I was in the UK at the end of June during the earlier floods and the attempted bombings in London and Glasgow. I definitely intend to mention these events in my trip report and to include photos of the destruction we saw even in less affected parts of the country.

EnglishOne

The rain hasnt stopped for weeks now - Im living in Kent and we are the better off out of anyone, by the look of things. One of the worst struck areas over the past fews days are Gloustershire and Worcestershire. Im thanking my lucky stars, some people are losing all their possessions, even their pets in the flooding

EnglishOne

I did alert this board with a new thread, to the flooding when it first started but it didnt get many responses at the time

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y29...6/PICT1188.jpg

EnglishOne

Whoops!! Wrong link (to my Russell & Bromley shoes for sale on ebay for some reason!!)

Heres the 'real' link!

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...hOne&fid=2

specs

I've been in the England for 3 weeks and have use of a computer only intermittantly. I'm at the Bradford on Avon public library right now checking to see if there has been any info about the flooding from other Fodorites.

I can assure you that those who are in the midst of the flooding have not exagerated a single thing. The River Avon was so swollen yesterday that it was to the top of the support arches on the bridge. We could see the river rising rapidly and the current is strong. We aren't flooded but can imagine how horrific it is for the people in Gloucestershire and Worcestershire. We've spent quite a lot of time in this region in the last few weeks and never would have dreamed the area could look like this.

This is not a media frenzy. We've seen television footage of the floods and consider ourselves extremely lucky to have missed them.

We were on our way to Owlpen on Saturday, right up the M5 and into the flood zone. We didn't know about the flooding as we had no t.v. or computer for a few days. A few wrong choices on the roundabouts added about an hour travelling time to our trip. We decided to scrap Owlpen plans as it was an out of the way stop for us and not a must see. Thank heavens for our delay as we would be stranded.

We did encounter flooding below Cirencester. We took a wrong turn (again) and shortly realized our mistake. We drove along through 3 inches of standing water and deeper puddles. Not a big deal. We once we turned around the road in the other direction was flooded and cars were stalled by the roadside. We crept thru, hydroplaning along. I think our turning wheels must've acted like paddles or something because we don't know how we kept moving forward. Very scarey