UK floods

[Patf]

How are you coping, you people who still live in the UK? We are watching in amazement how widespread the floods are. Gay - what happened in Reading? We saw that the flood was working its way down the Thames and was due to reach you today. Hoping you live far from the river. Pat.

[Russethouse]

Luckily we are on high ground but lower areas are still on alert, we are expecting a surge tomorrow as water works its way down the Thames. Local supermarkets have worked out whether they will flood or not and have contingency plans, people are stocking up on bottled water although there seems to be plenty available at the moment. 

My sister lives in Carterton, between Witney and Brize Norton although she is OK, its very bad round her, lots of the little villages are badly effected, couple of her friends are expecting their cars to be a flood write off

As the water works its way down the Thames things might get interesting, at Maidenhead they built a relief scheme which seemed to mean that Staines flooded in 2003, whether that will happen again or not, we will have to wait to see.

Cheltenham, Gloucester, Tewkesbury and poor Upton on Severn have been very badly hit, some with no power, many with no drinking water, in fact a Red Cross appeal has been launched:

http://www.redcross.org.uk/standard.asp?id=71823&entrypoint=29027_googleAD1_flood&cachefixer=

Thanks for asking.

[Blanche Neige]

Sorry I was going to post a link about The Jet Stream (one cause adding to the floods)

but I couldn't get link to work[:(]

[Gardian]

We exchanged emails over the last 2 days with friends who are coming over to stay next week and whose daughter got married on Saturday in Kidderminster (N Worcs).

They've only partially recovered from the trauma: here's part of the message: 

Sampler - hitched a lift to the venue with Noah who just happened to be floating by in the Ark, 8 am the photographer rang to say couldn't get of the village where he lived, 11.20 Registrar left ansaphone on mobile to say didn't know whether they would make it ; Caterer rescued by police and tractor.

That's just for starters!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Apparently (more or less) OK in the end.  They're going to need a drink or two when they get down here.

 

Aside from all that, I feel very sorry for all those affected, not only these last few days, but previously in the North.  Not funny and it must take ages to recover.  

[MrCanary]

Fortunately, in low level Norfolk, we have been reasonably OK albeit we have still had regular doses of torrential rain.

I really feel for those who have been flooded because my wife and I have been through it when we had a six day old baby. Our house in Great Yarmouth was totally flooded to a depth of about 3 feet inside it. The mess after the waters receded was beyond belief. Even though we used disinfectant by the gallon, we never got rid of the smell.

My heart goes out to those folk who have been hit on this occasion.

Mel   

[woolybanana (ex tag)]

Long term damage in terms of insurability and value of all properties has yet to be assessed. it will hurt though

[Russethouse]

If  I understood correctly, had the sub station at Walham (?) been flooded there were thoughts of evacuating a vast area of Cheltenham and Gloucester......it looks like that scenario was averted, but only just ..........

What sort of idiot vandalises a bowser in these situations ?

 

[woolybanana (ex tag)]

a CHAV

[Blanche Neige]

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20070725/tpl-uk-britain-weather-41a8b2f.html

 

[Ron Avery]

Is it me, but was it really clever of Peter Snow on Channel 4 news last night to tell the world and any would be terrorists that he can now reveal why the sub-station at Walhan was so important? He then told the world it controls the supply of power to GCHQ and a nuclear installation that he could not talk about.  I suspect that both have alternative supply systems but what sort of irresponsible idiot publicises that sort of thing?  Answer,  a journalist trying to get one up on the competition, even SKY managed to keep a lid on that imnformation[:-))]

[Frederick]

Ron...its not as if we didnt know....also Charlies house would have to be lit by candles and we cant have that can we ?    I remember years ago being asked to go down to the embankment by Westminster to "See if the Lions are drinking " The Lions heads with the rings in their mouths for the boatmen to tie up to on the embankment wall was used as the river level indicator.....when they were drinking  an order  had to be made re closing the flood gates to the underground system ......Now they have the Thames barrier...... but ....I bet the lions have another drink soon !......I remember East Molesy went under that time  and I often thought ....was the river held back by the sluices till the tide changed .as it was a  cheaper  option to flood housing than the City ?  It will be interesting to see how this lot is handled .

[Russethouse]

This morning they (the news)said that all the locks were now open, so the Thames is being allowed to flow. There are often rumours of water being managed to prevent the Oracle to be saved (local shopping centre)  but the Oracle manager said it was built to withstand 3 -4ft of water before damaging any shops. Oxford has had problems overnight, and Abingdon. Purley and Pangbourne have flooding but not to property - yet!

[woolybanana (ex tag)]

RH, did the buggers hit the docks bomb the Palace, what about St. Pauls. Is the King safe and the royal princesses, the corgis? They flew in low you see under our defences and our brave boys werent up in time. Cunning devils, always wait til we are asleep. Why cant they fight like men, in daylight?[6]

[Alan Zoff]

I'm working in Tewkesbury at the moment. The A38 is still flooded but there are limited ways into the centre now which is drying out.

Local people are grateful for the effort made by the services, voluntary organisations, etc but the more sceptical among us wonder if this area would have received quite so much attention without the GCHQ factor. Clearly, Gordon is trying to prove to everyone that he's the right guy to be in charge, but whether he received a call from George to instruct him to keep GCHQ in operation we will never know.

At a more practical level, the main problem ahead concerns - ironically - the lack of water. The authorities (including army and voluntary organisations) have responded quickly to supply drinking water to the 350,000 people affected but Severn Trent themselves seem surprisingly low-key and almost laid back about the failure of their pumping station. First it was going to be "at least 72 hours" before supplies would be resumed, but that quickly changed to 2 weeks... And that's about it. Some are wondering if the repair effort might have been greater had the water supply still been in the hands of a public utility rather than a profit-motivated company. No doubt some will argue things would have been worse.

So we won't die of thirst. But at the end of 2 weeks without water for washing either people or clothes, perhaps the only ones able to bear the smell of locals will be other locals. The loos are going to pong a bit too. (Dare I say, a bit like the France of old....)

[Michael]

Property in abingdon have been flooded,i own an old house between Witney and Abingdon. Friday afternoon i had 18 inches of water swirling through every ground floor rooms,my lake and stream just disappeared in less than half hour,we are rather lucky, one that i was in England [supposed to have gone back to france on monday]two,the house is built of stone, its over three hundred years old and  will dry out fast unlike modern houses with rockwall cavity insulation acting like a sponge.My oil fired boiler thought it was the Ark, it took five hours to strip the burner down and get it up and running, luckily being a Heating /Plumbing Eng i had the spares,so its had its first service for nine years,other than carpets theres no real damage other than having to chip off the plaster in the lounge up to a metre and replaster,all white goods and furniture were lifted above water level.Russethouse if you see any Carp up to two feet long down in reading they are mine,they answer to George and Frank.We were only swimming for twelve hours,our hearts go out to those poor people who have been flooded for days and have lost everything. and not capable of looking after themselves.Michael.

 

[Dick Smith]

Sorry to hear that, Michael.

[Iceni]

There cannot be any serious probs in Witney, the MP is visiting the Rwandans - I suspect his PR advisors got this one wrong.

Cannot imagine the smell in flooded houses and it will get worse when the water eventually goes. Hope they are all well insured.

John

not

 

 

 

[Russethouse]

John, My sister is in David Cameron's constituency, he visited on Sunday, before he left.

[Chauffour]

..i hope your sister offered him a glass of tap water!

 

[Michael]

Thanks Dick for those few nice words. We are still battling clearing up,but its the smell now which is quite overpowering.The full extent of the damage is only just hitting us now the pressure is off and i have had a good survey,at least there has been no sewage through the house,a bonus for being a little isolated.The river Windrush has burst its banks allso the Thames at the place called Newbridge which is near us, the farmers in this area are in a desperate situation having moved there animals to higher ground to other farms in the area,and the crops are looking a bit sad.Our home and work in france is now only going to take second place to Uk while we help to sort this mess out etc etc.Michael. 

[MrCanary]

Michael - very best wishes and good luck with your clear up.

As I mentioned earlier in this thread, our house was flooded some years ago and it was the smell after the waters had gone that we found to be worse than the flood itself.

We used gallons of disinfectant which gave us some peace of mind about killing off the germs, but it seemed to accentuate the smell rather than eliminate it. The only real thing that worked was loads of air blowing through the house at every opportunity and lots of heat. We found the latter worked best if we were out of the house having left the heating going full blast, with all the internal doors open and windows at the top of the house open. Make sure you stay out of the house whilst this is happening as even a person with the healthiest chest will get quite wheezy in these circumstances. We had a 6 day old baby when the floods hit us and he and my wife were instantly packed off to grandparents. 

Sadly, the heating procedure had to be repeated time after time after time and, as you might guess, our bills were huge! We did find that a loaned free-standing industrial heater helped.

Best wishes,

 

Mel

[Iceni]

[quote user="Russethouse"]John, My sister is in David Cameron's constituency, he visited on Sunday, before he left.[/quote]

My apologies to DC - serves me right for believing the BBC - but most unusual not to have cameras in tow.

Also thank you mods for correcting my earlier post - the reference I made is applicable to the Sudan not Rwanda.

John

not

[Russethouse]

[quote user="Michael"]

.Russethouse if you see any Carp up to two feet long down in reading they are mine,they answer to George and Frank.

[/quote]

Could they have shrunk in the wash  ? http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/oxfordshire/6917926.stm

(apart from the fact it was swimming in the wrong direction [:D] )

Went through Sonning on Thursday, 3 different lots of flood water to go through but still passable. For those that know the area the water was about 1ft from the patio door of the French Horn. Somehow the water was different to the winter floods, much more in the fields rather than just coming from the river.

Dry breezy day here today but some already flooded areas have heavy rainfall forecast for tomorrow.

[Michael]

 RH No that ones not ours,thats just a minnow, we have found George downstream  but my betterhalf fell in trying to net him.We have put wire netting across the stream until it the level drops so hopefully the three that deserted the sinking ship will be caught.To top it all ,our house in france has been broken into, i just hope it has not been trashed.Somebody up there is not smiling down on us at the moment ,still it could have been worse,it could have been me falling in the drink!!.Michael.

[Blanche Neige]

Michael,

that's really bad luck and I do hope all your troubles will soon be over.

 

Bon courage