General Chat

Matlock was one of dozens of areas affected by flooding after a month’s worth of rain fell within the space of 24 hours on Thursday.

B Johnson is hunting votes in an area not noted for being Tory friendly.
So he came up with these nuggets.

>>>>> During a visit to the town on Friday, Boris Johnson claimed that flooding in northern England was not a “national emergency”.

He claimed that the government was investing £2.6bn in flood defences but added: “In the end, you’ve got to face the reality that places like this are vulnerable to flooding – we’re going to see more of it.” <<<

I wonder what sound bite he will come up with for tough conditions in Uxbridge.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/video/news/uxbridge-suffers-flash-floods-as-rain-blasts-london/

Seven severe “threat to life” warnings remain in force for the River Don in East and South Yorkshire, which was hit by the worst floods since 2007.
My niece and her children live in South Yorks, On a hill fortunately.

The lady who drowned was Annie Hall, High Sheriff of Derbyshire. Two of my forebears held the title so I feel very sad for her she will be sorely missed.

TRAGIC who cares for anything North of Watford Gap not our PM .

Oh dear, BoJo really has little idea of how people live. Will he help? Not if he can help it and certainly not when he thinks there's no problem.

I am amazed at the local authorities who allow building on flood plains though. There is an application in here to build disabled housing on a small plot of land that we all know floods during the winter - apparently it's been given the go ahead. Perhaps they've made a proviso to the builder and developer insisting on agricultural drains and tree planting? I am not at all sure how much those measures will improve the situation but I hope they help.

There is a proposal local to me to build 600-700 homes. The access road is Watery Lane. The clue is in the name. It was knee deep after the recent rain and STILL they want to build. The local council turned down the plans, but the devopler appealed and got the approval.

Oh yes and access is under a railway bridge that won't take two cars abreast...and they aren't going to alter the bridge if the houses go ahead.

Andy

I was listening to R2 on Friday lunchtime to a gentleman caller who said the reason for a lot of the flooding is because the rivers are not being dredged like they used to. Therefore they are not as deep as they were many years ago and hence can hold less water.

The caller may have a point.If the rivers are only 3 feet deep now as opposed to 12 ft deep say 15 years ago, then maybe there needs to be an overhaul of river bed maintenance.
I think he made a valid point.

Florence in the hebrides

Our local stream is half the width it was when I used to play in it and it has osiers growing in it which it never had before.

Andrew, I think some local authorities ought to insist on other nearby improvements such as road and bridge works before granting planning permission. Amazingly, not all do and some infrastructures have not been changed in decades.

In addition, developers ought to build what they laughingly call family homes on a family-sized plot where children can run around and kick a ball. They ought to take a look at plot sizes from the 1960s and before but, as it will cost them ..... :-(

He's not the only politico who has no sense.

We had a Federal Election last month, the Leader of the Conservative Party (!!) went to campaign in Winnipeg the day after a massive snow and windstorm had swept through that part of Manitoba.

Power was out to thousands of people, the Premier of the province had declared a general emergency, roads were blocked, it was going to take days to re-erect huge power poles and lines as well as neighbourhood services .......


and Andrew Scheer flew in on his campaign trail, narry a mention of the emergency.

He didn't win enough seats to become Prime Minister when the election took place a few days later


Lesson for Boris maybe???

My daughter works for the Environment Agency, true, its in Southern England, but still, I can say nothing about Government interference. :-S
The Environment Agency is, after all, a Government Agency.

The lower part of my garden was under a foot of water yesterday. Fortunately, the house is another six feet or more above that. We get flood alerts on the phone, and for the last couple of nights we have had the door and air brick covers on. Knowing the risk is half the problem, at least we can prepare. As a neighbour said, it is a price worth paying for the privelige of living here.

Has Boris tried walking on water lately?

A bit late now anyway because a youngish fellow succeeded in doing just that a while back - but look what subsequently happened to him!