General Chat

All I can say is, thank goodness we didn't redecorate the living room and dining room here, as planned, in time for Christmas, and when we did finally make a start a couple of weeks ago, we did the hall, stairs and landing.

Keeping everything crossed. Back off home to Somerset on Thursday, house there nice and dry, I just hope that when we get back here next week we don't have to start bailing out.

M.

There is a big tractor / digger type thing trundling about in the field behind at the moment, I hope he is going to clear ditches or something and not make things worse.

Next door seem to be fine but they are a bit higher than us and all on one level. Our lawn is up four steps from the patio which is sort if sunken, we have to go down two steps from the patio doors. Thinking about it, the water is probably draining off their garden into ours as well.

M.

You might want to work out a plan to put items at ground level on work surfaces, or up stairs. Don’t forget the contents of cupboards! Include raising furniture on to bricks if you can. ‘Only’ an inch or two of water could make an awful mess.

You might come home and find that your home is as dry as it's now, but better safe than sorry :-(

To Jude Maryanna and everyone suffering from the dreadful floods, I hope someone from somewhere will do something soon. The rhetoric and posturing and point scoring of politicians is disgraceful, this issue should be beyond politics. I personally not do believe anything that comes out of their mouths.

I have to agree with OFITG I too have been impressed by Eric Pickles.

Never one to be cynical - but they will be getting their fingers out now that the flooding has hit the "Stockbroker Belt" ;-)

Daughter and son in law live here in the old family house, so they are in charge when we are in Somerset.

( although, lovely as he is, and I shall say this very quietly, there is proof that you can't always have beauty and brains ). Daughter has both, luckily !!!!

:-D

I have been trying to discover without much luck, if Eric is " one of mine "

He he. M.

I love that comment about Eric Pickles being more use as a sandbag. :-D

Hopefully these floods will be a wake-up call for the UK to realise that climate change is here and is probably due to human activity.

I was thinking, but didn't like to mention it, that it would become a national disaster if it threatened London.

Logically, I can see some of the reasoning behind this in that there are far more dwellings to be damaged so it will cost a lot more but it still doesn't make it any better for the rural victims.

There was some mention about how the Authorities prioritise

- Urban population with the priority given to areas of high deprivation, the idea being that those with a bit of cash can recover more quickly than those without.
- Other areas of high density population
- Rural towns and villages (fewer properties in a given area)
- Farm land

Since time immemorial flooding has wreaked havoc, many of us can probably recall over, lets say the last 65 years, instances of serious flooding, from the floods caused by the melting snow in 1947 through to the floods in 2012. After every serious flood, politicians of all persuasions, have said lessons have been learned and this must not be allowed to happen again.

I am wondering what the politicians will say after the current flooding has subsided, as it will take more than sympathetic political rhetoric - to help prevent the devastation that can be caused by the power of mother nature?

The only time in my lifetime I have known of anything like this was in 1953 when North Sea floods drowned 2,000 people and much property damage. And I know of Lynmouth, Hunter Valley, Glasgow in 2002 and Kent and Cumbria in 2005.

But tragic as all of those were, NOTHING compares to this. I reckon we have to go back to something like Bristol Channel floods of 1607 which drowned 2,000 people and inundated 200 square miles of agricultural and residential land round Channel in Monmouthshire, Glamorgan and Somerset.

Yet even that was localised and did not include the River Thames. This looks like being the biggest disaster ever in UK outside wartime and plague. And I have a feeling that the men and women of the Environment Agency and the Emergency Services will deserve our plaudits when it is over. We have learned a lot from previous flooding. Perhaps policy (eg dredging) will need to be looked at and leadership at the very top, but the British spirit is winning against all the odds.

MaryAnna...wow,do hope you are ok and the house when you return from Somerset!! take care:)

We are still ok here although it has risen slightly again, reached its peak.

Thanks for the good wishes:)

jude

Thanks Jude, the annoying thing is that we seem to be the only ones affected around here. Especially as we are up a hill

I am sure it us due to our sunken patio and run off from the fields behind us. May have to have a garden design rethink, when and if it ever dries out.

We have had a dry afternoon and I think it has subsided a wee bit, but we have a load more to come before the weekend.

Try to stay safe and dry everyone. M.

When the effluent starts to hit the affluent the powers that be will start to take action. :-D

Only just read this thread and would like to say firstly.
Hats off to you AnnC what a wonderful thing to say. even though as you say the GR community is a very helpful when disaster strikes, most would have just offered quietly to those they "know". To offer as you have is amazing.

Jude and MaryAnna I hope you are still safe...Remember when you pack to take all important papers with you ..that includes insurance documents, house deeds etc as well as your tree papers :-D. fingers crossed for you both.

I have been watching the news constantly as I have family near Martock other family near Yeovil, Plymouth and in Lancing. I can´t reach the family in Martock but they could be away.

Personally I am "gobsmacked" that the use of the billions the UK have for "foreign aid" even has to be debated as to whether the UK can use it. For crying out loud if this flooding isn´t a disaster then it is beyond me what is. Get that money released and help those that need it in the country it was generated.

Stay safe everybody Thinking of you all

thanks Uzzi - we'd all do the same!!!

thinking we should all have a refund on our water bills this year :-D

I´ll take a bet that you don´t get one AnnC

Just watched the English news. I hope that conditions haven't got worse for anyone. My heart goes out to anyone in danger of flooding.

Wendy

We are lucky here in Norwich altho the back lawn is like a bog and the field at the end of the garden is looking very wet too.

I feel so sad for all those people who have had their homes flooded, and hope Jude, Maryanna and anyone else affected, will be safe and not have your homes spoiled.

I feel sorry for the farmers too who will have lost crops and whose fields might not be ready for planting again for many a month.

What a worry for everyone altho in most places something good is coming out of the bad situation, people are helping each other and getting to know their neighbours!

Lizx

Morning:)

The water has gone this morning, we had an environmental phone call, email and text at 7am to say FLOOD WARNING off at River Wye Monmouth ....yippeeee...BUT more rain, high winds and snow due. Last night the river height was 4.78 having been 4.94 in the afternoon and this morning its now 4.10...yehhh
Could believe our eyes when we opened the curtains:)

MaryAnna...how are you,or have you gone to your sons. Positive thoughts in that your house is ok when you get back, this goes to anyone having same/similar probs with the floods.

jude..xx
Edit....from 5.94 to 4.94....dohhhh