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Post by terryb on Feb 10, 2014 17:44:16 GMT
I have seen reports that Walton has become a flood warning area, along with the whole of the Thames area.
Hope all is OK for you Baz & others who may be affected.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2014 18:17:45 GMT
Just watching the news, they didnt show or mention Walton, so hopefully all good there. Staines and other places didnt look to good though. I'm near the thames but thankfully not right on top of it, though little rivers that come off the thames i was walking my dog earlier and the river was flowing and rising quickly, under a bridge i could see a water mark on the wall and it was as tall as myself, which is very unusual for the river. so be careful people even the smaller rivers are dangerous.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2014 18:45:44 GMT
i live in winchester and its f*cked. im ok though cos i'm a little higher than the river itchen. tried to walk my dog around town and its all flooded except for the high st, even winchester cathederal is nearly marooned, its getting me down
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Post by londonranger on Feb 10, 2014 19:22:43 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2014 23:40:29 GMT
i'm more worried about the hose pipe ban in the summer ahead
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2014 23:54:14 GMT
i'm more worried about the hose pipe ban in the summer ahead Aint no worries about that andrew, we got enough groundwater where about 70% of our water is sourced from to last two years, even if its hot and dry there is enough to get us through now comfortably, so wash your car, drench your garden fill up as many paddling pools as you like this summer cos there aint no hosepipe ban coming anytime soon.
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Post by Bushman on Feb 10, 2014 23:55:05 GMT
My well is filling up.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 11, 2014 0:39:12 GMT
Need a run off there bushman, another dry well being ideal.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2014 0:04:20 GMT
A friend's daughter son in law and the bairns had to move back in to his today, his daughter's house flooded and they just got the valuables upstairs in time before the water came in the house, feel for them as it will be a nightmare after cleaning up and drying the place out.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2014 0:14:56 GMT
A friend's daughter son in law and the bairns had to move back in to his today, his daughter's house flooded and they just got the valuables upstairs in time before the water came in the house, feel for them as it will be a nightmare after cleaning up and drying the place out. I feel sorry for anyone who has suffered, must be a nightmare
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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2014 0:28:25 GMT
A friend's daughter son in law and the bairns had to move back in to his today, his daughter's house flooded and they just got the valuables upstairs in time before the water came in the house, feel for them as it will be a nightmare after cleaning up and drying the place out. I feel sorry for anyone who has suffered, must be a nightmare Yeah it is horrible andrew, nightmare like you say, i spoke to his son in law earlier this evening, though he is not a big football fan he does look for our results because his family are Rangers fans, but bemoaning our luck didnt seem appropriate at the time, as though he was trying to put a brave face on things you could see he was completely shattered by it all.
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Post by blueeyedcptcook on Feb 12, 2014 4:58:17 GMT
,Aint, had any rain, in Perth since Noah was a boy, just the heat, about 100F every day for the last month. It aint alf hot.I tell ya the end of the world is nigh.
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Post by londonranger on Feb 12, 2014 6:00:37 GMT
Surrey worst hit, then Then way upstream Thames, Then Somerset then Devon Cornwall.
Loftus Rd. High and dry Ina few more years underwater. Then the fifth destruction of living creatures except rats and cockroaches. So enjoy. Last life wiped out Dinosaurs, earth hit by a huge comet. Now we are the comet.. Heating up the atmosphere.
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Post by londonranger on Feb 12, 2014 6:07:48 GMT
Eerything you wanted to know about floods. Want to come stay with me, 40 below zero for last 3 months. Watch out for the rats
News US World Sports Comment Culture Business Money Environment Science Travel Tech Media Life & style Data Environment Flooding England's floods – everything you need to know Are this year’s floods the worst ever? What happens to flooded crops? Are we facing a rat invasion? Find out in our guide
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inShare 2 Email Fiona Harvey theguardian.com, Tuesday 11 February 2014 11.16 EST
Residents use a boat make their way through floodwater that has cut off their homes on February 11, 2014 in Chertsey. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images What’s causing England’s floods at the moment?
A combination of heavy rain, bitter storms, and coastal surges. Met Office figures show that January and December combined were the wettest since records began in 1910.
What are the different types of flooding?
• Tidal flooding comes from the sea and tidal rivers.
• Fluvial flooding from rivers bursting their banks or overflowing
• Groundwater flooding happens when the earth is saturated and can hold no more water
• Flash flooding is usually at its worst when drainage systems in urban areas are overwhelmed by sudden heavy rainfall, often worsened by the concreting over of large areas of soil and gardens that would otherwise have helped to absorb the water
As the government’s Centre for Ecology and Hydrology notes, “the full gamut of flood manifestations – tidal, pluvial (flash), fluvial and groundwater – has been experienced over the last eight weeks.”
Who’s at risk of flooding?
The Royal Institute of British Architects estimates that 1.5% of the UK is at risk from direct flooding from the sea and about 7% of the country is likely to flood at least once a century from rivers. It says about 1.7m homes and 130,000 commercial properties are at risk from river or coastal flooding in England alone, and the effects of flooding and managing flood risk cost the country about £2.2bn a year, compared with the less than £1bn spent on flood protection and management.
A resident moves sandbags to surround a property from the floods, in the centre of the village of Datchet, England Photograph: Lefteris Pitarakis/AP Why do we build on flood plains?
Because it’s easy, because people like to have houses there – and because we encourage the building of houses on floodplains for several reasons, principally cost and aesthetics.
Floodplains offer flat or flattish land that makes building streets and villages easy. Historically, people needed to be near rivers as that is where they got their water from, and towns and cities have grown up around them. Nowadays, builders like floodplains because they can acquire large cheap plots of level land.
Think of the alternative: building on hills is not as easy, the houses on hills are less accessible so people may not like them, and because houses on hills are more visible to people in the surrounding area they are much more vulnerable to objections in the planning permission process.
There is no legal bar, and no national regulations, to prevent building on floodplains. And the builders who put up new homes in these areas bear none of the subsequent cost – they have long gone by the time the householders and their insurers are inundated.
Why don’t we build more defences?
Old-style flood defences made up of seawalls and concrete walls inland have gradually been recognised as ineffective.
Our habit of building on floodplains and concreting over large areas of land for housing has inhibited the ability of the landscape to absorb water. Allowing some areas to flood, usually farmland, has been a way of managing flooding for centuries, and flood defence experts are arguing for more use of such natural defences rather than simply trying to build walls to keep water out.
The Environment Agency’s plan for protecting the UK is called Making Space for Water.
The National Trust's Holnicote Estate near Minehead, Somerset Photograph: /Guim Why can’t we store more water in the uplands?
We do in most winters: it’s called snow. That is why spring is often worse for flooding than winter. If the snow melts gradually, this can cause mild flooding, while sudden thaws can lead to more serious problems. But this year’s unusually warm temperatures have meant less snow and the unusually heavy rainfall has swept across the south and west, so the full brunt of that rain has been felt at once.
Bear in mind also that the Somerset Levels, one of the worst affected areas, naturally act as a “sponge” in absorbing water – they were marshes until drained. That’s where water is naturally stored in the landscape.
What difference would dredging the rivers make to the Somerset levels?
Perhaps not much. Dredging can help where rivers are too silted up to transport water downstream. But dredging tidal rivers is an ongoing process because silt is redeposited on every tide, and is very costly as a result. Few communities are willing to bear that cost themselves. Widening and deepening rivers also means that more of the immediately surrounding area may be made prone to flooding, so while some people may benefit others will lose out.
A cyclist goes over a bridge where locals have put up a sign 'Stop the Flooding - Dredge the Rivers" on the River Parrett, at Barrow Mump, in Somerset, England. Photograph: Alastair Grant/AP What effect is climate change having on flooding in the UK?
The Met Office has said climate change is a factor in the current floods, and projections show that this effect is only going to get worse. The world’s, and the UK’s, greenhouse gas emissions are rising. The Committee on Climate Change has warned that we are not doing enough to adapt to the effects of a warming climate.
Professor Adam Scaife from the Met Office says “we do expect that winter rainfall is likely to increase in the future [as temperature rise]” because “as the air warms it can hold more water.”
What happens to the crops that have been flooded? Will there be an impact on food prices?
Any cropland flooded will be seriously affected - most of the crop is likely to be lost. Farmers may be able to make up some of the damage by replanting a different crop later in the spring when the water has subsided. But while this is bad news for the farmers involved, it is unlikely to have a dramatic effect on food prices because so much of the UK’s food is imported.
When was the UK last so flooded and pounded by the sea?
The combination of a high tide, a tidal surge in the North Sea, heavy rain and a lack of warning systems led to the UK’s worst flooding event in modern times, in January 1953. More than 300 lives were lost on land, and more than 200 drowned at sea. It was caused by the combination of a seasonal high tide, a storm, and an extensive area of low pressure over the North Sea that sucked seawaters to higher levels than normal.
When the storm broke, the east coast from Scotland to Kent was badly affected. Waters spread as far as ten miles inland. That event led to the building of the Thames Barrier in the 1960s and 1970s, then the biggest single engineering project the UK had undertaken. There appears little appetite for major engineering projects today, however.
Are we facing a wave of rats in people’s homes because of the floods?
The dirty secret of flooding is sewage. Under heavy rainfall, the sewage system is overwhelmed. This is not just a consequence of the UK’s sewerage systems: all sewers are designed to use water and gravity to flush dirty water away, and rainfall that is heavy enough will displace the dirty water and bring it to the surface.
That is the most unpleasant problem for householders in any flood, and the greatest threat to health after the physical threats of being washed away or hit by falling debris.
Some experts argue that sewage systems, particularly along the Thames, should be updated to deal with the increasingly heavy volumes of rain likely under climate change.
Rats are displaced from their normal habitats during flooding, just like any other animal, and they seek areas where they can survive. When people are driven out of their homes, the rats can take up residence. But this should be a temporary problem: when the waters have subsided, and people’s homes are rehabilitated, rats will return to their usual habitats.
Are the elderly facing worse suffering, because of the damp?
During floods, the most vulnerable groups are those that are always most vulnerable: the very young, the very old, the unwell, and people with disabilities. This is for various reasons: the care of very young and old people must be prioritised because of the influx of sewage that inevitably follows the flooding of homes. People with disabilities or who are unwell, particularly those living alone, may find it difficult to move to higher floors or to leave their homes and can become trapped.
When homes are rehabilitated after flooding, particular care must be taken to clean up the sewage-damaged rooms, furniture and household goods – it may be best to throw out as much as possible, and replastering and repainting, new floors and other rehabilitation will also be necessary. Insurance companies should help with this. The worst thing is to try to do all this on the cheap, potentially leaving people and their property prone to further ongoing problems.
How does this compare with the floods of 2003 and 2007?
The seriousness of any flood is always subjective – it is a devastating experience for anyone, and if you are affected, it is little comfort to think that the same thing happened to others a few years before.
The 2003 floods mainly affected the south of England and in 2007 the Midlands were badly hit. Other areas affected by flooding in recent years include Cumbria and Cornwall.
The UK is prone to wet weather, probably increasingly because of climate change, and as a densely populated island it is almost inevitable that heavy rainfall over any area will cause problems.
One lesson of previous floods is that hundreds of affected people were still left in temporary accommodation months afterwards. The government has promised this time that local authorities will be able to reclaim the money they spend on this year’s floods. Getting people back into their properly rehabilitated homes as soon as possible must be a priority.
Met Office record rainfall graphs - January 2013 versus January 2014 Photograph: /Met Office Should people be selling homes on low-lying land and seafronts in the south west?
In recent years, serious floods have struck all over the UK, from Cumbria to Cornwall. Britain is an island, and so tidal surges and storms are inevitable around the long coastline. It is also densely populated, so inland flooding – which can often be the result of local geography – affects large populations.
Is Glastonbury still on?
A spokesman for the festival said this year’s event will not be affected.
What is the economic cost of this year’s floods?
The cost could hit £1bn, according to insurance experts contacted by the Guardian.
What do forecasts suggest?
More storms are forecast in the coming days.
How long will the floods continue for?
We don’t know.
If and when it does stop raining, how long will it take for the floodwaters to recede?
The effects of flooding will certainly continue to be felt for weeks, even if the rains were to stop tomorrow (which is not the forecast). In the Thames-flooded areas, the water is likely to subside more quickly as the river transports most of the excess to the sea.
But in another of the worst affected areas, the Somerset levels, water is likely to hang around for much longer, because the area is naturally marshy and some is under sea level, so there are fewer places for the excess water to go and the saturated ground cannot hold any more.
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Post by blueeyedcptcook on Feb 12, 2014 7:06:37 GMT
Surrey worst hit, then Then way upstream Thames, Then Somerset then Devon Cornwall. Loftus Rd. High and dry Ina few more years underwater. Then the fifth destruction of living creatures except rats and cockroaches. So enjoy. Last life wiped out Dinosaurs, earth hit by a huge comet. Now we are the comet.. Heating up the atmosphere. Meanwhile in OZ. Hottest temperatures on record, bush fires across the nation, 100s of homes destroyed, drought, cattle dieing, crops failing. However our PM Tony Rabbott, who is a firm beleiver in the Old Testament, had this to say. [actual words.]
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Post by Macmoish on Feb 12, 2014 9:42:49 GMT
Meanwhile on the East Coast of the United States - Notably Washington DC - and even worse so - Georgia and VIrginia...Snow storm on its way....
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Post by jjqpr on Feb 12, 2014 10:13:05 GMT
That's nothing mate, we've got politicians blaming the floods on gay marriage! Not sure whether to laugh or cry!
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Post by Roller on Feb 13, 2014 21:23:46 GMT
Someone put this video of a helicopter trip up the Thames on Not606 yesterday
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FAO CPR
Feb 14, 2014 0:34:42 GMT
via mobile
Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2014 0:34:42 GMT
Our local swimming pool is closed due to the floods.
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Post by londonranger on Feb 14, 2014 2:59:54 GMT
Rangers have to keep heads above water, plus our fans, families and loved ones. Here across pond first day it hasnt been below freezing in 2 months. Still snowed though. My daughter routed thru N Carolina has to wait until Saturday to get to Boston with 6 inches snow. N. Carolina under ice. mashable.com/2014/02/13/flood-soaking-england/
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Post by alfaranger on Feb 14, 2014 10:01:16 GMT
It's bad isn't it and going on for a long time now. Hourly bulletins, meetings of COBRA, live reporting and interviews with people who are badly affected. Prime Minister involved and saying money is no object and saying that we've had the biggest mobilisation of emergency services since 1940. Nearly 6000 homes and businesses damaged. In 2007 (not that long ago) there were 55000 homes and businesses flooded and in 2000 there were 10000 homes and businesses damaged in over 700 flood locations. Of course that was in the North of England. Whilst not wishing in any way to minimise the devastation felt by people who's homes are awash it does seem that damage in Berkshire, Surrey etc can mobilise the nations resources in such a way that ten times the damage in Northern England does not. I don't wish to be contentious or to offend anyone who is unfortunate enough to be affected, I am only reporting a BBC article www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26172688 which suggest Armageddon isn't quite upon us yet.
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Post by Markqpr on Feb 14, 2014 10:30:35 GMT
I am currently re-marketing all my properties in Windsor as now having a swimming pool in the back garden, as well as easy access to the Thames from the upstairs windows.
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Post by Bushman on Feb 14, 2014 12:41:09 GMT
Cross Channel Ferry from Hereford is now possible.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 16, 2014 0:17:29 GMT
It's bad isn't it and going on for a long time now. Hourly bulletins, meetings of COBRA, live reporting and interviews with people who are badly affected. Prime Minister involved and saying money is no object and saying that we've had the biggest mobilisation of emergency services since 1940. Nearly 6000 homes and businesses damaged. In 2007 (not that long ago) there were 55000 homes and businesses flooded and in 2000 there were 10000 homes and businesses damaged in over 700 flood locations. Of course that was in the North of England. Whilst not wishing in any way to minimise the devastation felt by people who's homes are awash it does seem that damage in Berkshire, Surrey etc can mobilise the nations resources in such a way that ten times the damage in Northern England does not. I don't wish to be contentious or to offend anyone who is unfortunate enough to be affected, I am only reporting a BBC article www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26172688 which suggest Armageddon isn't quite upon us yet. Thing is alfa, the figures are wrong concerning 2007, the figures are 55,000 homes and 6,800 businesses, but not in the north of England only, these figures are for England and Wales as a whole, how many people knew that in 2007 that 140,000 homes were without fresh clean water in their homes for more than seven days in Gloucestershire, or that Oxford was flooded, or that the army had to help prevent a sub station being flooded that would have cut off power to over 200,000 homes in Wales, all un reported, so turning this into a north south divide argument is not helpful to the situation people face north and south with the threat of floods. And in the report you will see that flooding was worse then because many of the defences were not there at the time, also the flooding in Hull was not caused by rivers flooding, but surface flooding caused by a pumping station failing and the water not being able to be dispursed quick enough by the remaining working station, hardly the fault of the south or anyone else except the private water company that owns the stations. And on the nations resources being deployed only because Surrey and Berkshire went under is not true, Somerset had been under water for over 6 weeks before they got help, the government had already pledged money no object to flood victims, so when Surrey and Berkshire got flooded after this pledge, they could hardly be ignored. All flood victims deserve help, regardless of location, hopefully the government have set a precedent now for the future. something to read for you alfa if you have nowt on for a while. sorry i spelt your name wrong alfa, i was a bit sloshed again last night. www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&ved=0CDMQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpublications.environment-agency.gov.uk%2Fpdf%2FGEHO1107BNMI-e-e.pdf&ei=5wUAU_OoDIeK7Ab93ICABQ&usg=AFQjCNGNb0bixp-Y0FEj3LYhBgXgnbzqGw&sig2=FBtAp9_dYfVaVlo6LZJZNQ
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Post by londonranger on Feb 16, 2014 8:17:39 GMT
!s Loftus Rd waterlogged?
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