Floods

[Nick]

Nick, in 2011 we were flooded, by a an error by the bureaucracy controlling the local dam.
$ 350,000. Damage to our home and a year living in a hotel. The grounds are still toxic in places. The stress to my wife was unbelievable her nest was destroyed some may call her soft but those who know her know she isn't.
No one who hasn't experienced their home being flooded, cannot imagine the images of inches of mud in your your living room, the stench of decay, sewage and dead things is unbelievable.
I know because I lived it and if anyone wants to call me or my wife soft you can go fuck yourself.

:thumbsup: Sorry this happened to you, but glad you posted about it I may have been guilty of being overlay judgmental of you in the past, and knowing the community in Somerset they will work together as well. There have already been examples of people opening up their homes to help.

I meant to quantify by reply to Nick, as I felt he deserved better, but the power went out, so here goes now.
As regards weather, we get off pretty lightly in the UK, and because we enjoy such a mild climate, these 'extremes' tend to get people excited. Having lived through 'weather' in the United States' I can assure you Nick, that people in the UK don't know when they are well off.
Sometime in 1987 or '88, I dropped my 1 year old daughter off at her school (in Huntsville) and went back home as I was not working that day. The sky went black and hailstones as big as tennis balls rained down with attendant thunder & lightning storms. The power went out but I could hear distant sirens. I was concerned enough to get into my truck and just make sure my daughter was ok.
The shopping mall close the school had gone - in a heartbeat. A Tornado had ripped through the neighbourhood, destroying a swathe 1/4 mile wide out of the whole suburb and killing 30 or so people in the process. I found my daughter huddled with the others in a corridor of the school, but there was little protection against such a beast that had passed within 100 feet of her.
THAT is weather Nick. The frightening shit that people the world over have to tolerate and live with and which makes a turd floating in the living room Nirvana by comparison.

So Keith did you not tell them they don’t know how lucky they were, they choose to live in that area knowing what happens every year They should think themselves lucky they didn’t live in Chernobyl , there situation is a walk in the park compared to that? Did you tell your daughter to stop moaning and winging kids lived through the blitz her situation was Nirvana by comparison to that?

These days we can't seem to cope with a flood. I may get overly excited in my posts, but I operate on an 'equal and opposite' method in my rants. The more these bloody reports exaggerate, the more I will over-simplify and ridicule it all. Mix the two together and we may just discover the true situation?

Mark I actually agree with and Keith about the dinners, but playing devils advocate imagine if the farmers of the Somerset levels who have nowhere for their surviving cattle to go as their entire fields have been covered in water for the last 7 weeks and possibly for months to come, with their business's devastated were to say.

I heard of a guy winging and wining, and complaining about coping with one pregnant mare left in one of his fields, this is bad, I agree, but no matter what you say it is not a disaster, in fact it is peanuts compared to what we are going through I mean it was just a hobby field to keep his pampered pets in wining ^&%$£

 

[Mark]

Farmers, at least the many I know, must plan their businesses over at least a 7 or 10 year forecast. They live with life and death situations on a daily basis. They have bumper years, they drought years. They have to cope with far more than just localised flooding. They have the price of their Lambs savaged due to foreign imports. They have the value of grain decimated by foreign markets or droughts or over production ten thousand miles away. Their animals thrive, their animals die. Life as a Farmer is far from as simple as being wiped out by one or two bad years, or a simple, local flood or some downed power lines. Farmers will not go bankrupt because they had to move their livestock. They will not go bankrupt if they cant get to market this week, or last. Of course some may struggle, some more than others, but not, I argue, as a direct result of just this particular spell of bad weather.

The assumption that every Farmer is a Savant, is ridiculous. There are good farmers, there are bad farmers. Just like any other business owner/operator. Farmers are also human and prone to making business mistakes, just like the rest of us. Therefore, I agree that for a few, not so well established, or already over-extended farms, this could be the last straw. However, if this is the final nail any someone's coffin, I suspect they were already screwed before this DISASTER and that a simple change in interest rate would have finished them off any way?

But please guys, these are local floods, nothing too serious. Bloody expensive to put right, bloody depressing for those effected and certainly ruinous for a few. The majority of people effected however, will not be ruined in the literal sense. If I am wrong, then this is indeed a Disaster. I suspect though, that I am not.

 

[Keith]

Keith, the reaction here was not whinging but getting on with the job of helping each other out. All the people knew the2011 flood in Brisbane was caused by the dam operators lack of decision in the first instance and blind panic in the last. It in part caused the downfall of the Bligh Government. Neighbours rose to the fore, dubbed the mud army total strangers turned up to help cleanup the mud and the mess. I for one will never forget the people who turned up to help in the clean up. They were magnificent.

Well apologies to all those who have suffered floods and I know how much Pete was affected by the human error that almost washed away an entire city.

My beef is those publicity seekers who somehow manage to find their way on to every broadcast and complain about everything relentlessly not the stoic majority who just get on with it.

My apologies therefore for my poorly worded post(s) but they were intended to be local centric.

 

[Mark]

Same here.

 

[Keith]

:thumbsup: Sorry this happened to you, but glad you posted about it I may have been guilty of being overlay judgmental of you in the past, and knowing the community in Somerset they will work together as well. There have already been examples of people opening up their homes to help.


So Keith did you not tell them they don’t know how lucky they were, they choose to live in that area knowing what happens every year They should think themselves lucky they didn’t live in Chernobyl , there situation is a walk in the park compared to that? Did you tell your daughter to stop moaning and winging kids lived through the blitz her situation was Nirvana..

They never complained. None of my family has ever complained about anything bad that has happened to them including my youngest who fell onto a 6' mirror yesterday and partially severed her right arm, even though she was due to start an exciting new job next Monday in the (wait for it) Health & Beauty industry.

Businesses and homes are insured against these kind of losses and now we have that nice Mr Cameron dishing out £5'000 to everyone who has had a damp patch in the lounge, on top of insurance claims. Ye gods you couldn't make this up!

For REAL flooding look up what happened in 1947 with people still on rationing, in temporary housing, and with little or no infrastructure. The flood waters rose to unimaginable levels - whole house covered and millions of acres of crops destroyed. My mother was trapped on top of a wardrobe in a hotel in Hereford and almost drowned clutching me tightly with my sister hanging on by her nails.

Shit happens, it seems, is the Hardy family motto.

Anyway, have a beer and head for the pub in your punt.

 

[Nick]

They never complained. None of my family has ever complained about anything bad that has happened to them including my youngest who fell onto a 6' mirror yesterday and partially severed her right arm, even though she was due to start an exciting new job next Monday in the (wait for it) Health & Beauty industry.

Businesses and homes are insured against these kind of losses and now we have that nice Mr Cameron dishing out £5'000 to everyone who has had a damp patch in the lounge, on top of insurance claims. Ye gods you couldn't make this up!

For REAL flooding look up what happened in 1947 with people still on rationing, in temporary housing, and with little or no infrastructure. The flood waters rose to unimaginable levels - whole house covered and millions of acres of crops destroyed. My mother was trapped on top of a wardrobe in a hotel in Hereford and almost drowned clutching me tightly with my sister hanging on by her nails.

Shit happens, it seems, is the Hardy family motto.

Anyway, have a beer and head for the pub in your punt.

That's nothing I spent six years at an English public school, "stop sniveling boy it's only a compound fracture, take 2 aspirins and come and see me in the morning". Beer cider dear boy cider, punt that's luxury, I have a rubber ring

 

[Robert May Eng.]

We have to put this flooding issue into perspective and divide up the number of victims into groups. The low lying Riverside properties have and always will be vulnerable to flooding , those that choose to live in them do so on a wing and a prayer living with the fact that its only a matter of time before they go under. Prevention in part by man with de silting/dredging may help but if nature takes its course they will silt up over a period to the point where they burst their banks all the time.
The levels is just a huge basin with a small plughole and is just an accident waiting to happen. The EA should have called in the army to evacuate all those in danger and the farmers should have had plenty of time to move livestock to higher ground, this has been a piss poor performance on the part of the EA and someone needs a good kicking.
Then we have the poor fuckers that have purchased property in built up ground that used to be flood planes. What the fuck the council planners think they are doing by allowing these deveopments beggars belief. They should be put to task to either fix the problem or relocate these poor people to higher ground of which there is plenty.
None of this is rocket science with most of the problems firmly the responsibility of man and not nature.

Rant over

Bob

 

[David Morton]

Thank's Jim.
Much appreciated.
What i have here is very simple and uses leads all over the place.
We have gas for cooking and a solid fuel (logs) fireplace. This winter its never been cool enough tto bother lighting it.
I've just returned from London and it was a lunchtime lager lout day drinking Becks Vier.
its 8pm and i just want to go to bed.
Dave

 

[David Morton]

I'll have a look at the floods in the morning.

 

[Paolo-LoveGT40 Modelworks]

something really strange in this winter. Then I read some says global warming is just a bulls....
Neither in sweden or in italy we had winter. today was fixing my boat and in romagna we had full sun and 17 degrees. next week in sicily will be 28. It is 15 february btw.

 

[Mark]

The argument here tends to be on the matter of if, or not, man is directly causing climate change, or if the climate changes, because that's what the universe does......

 

[Larry L.]

something really strange in this winter. Then I read some says global warming is just a bulls....
Neither in sweden or in italy we had winter. today was fixing my boat and in romagna we had full sun and 17 degrees. next week in sicily will be 28. It is 15 february btw.

"Climate change" (or whatever its name is this week) has faaaaaaaaaaaar more to do with the amount of Sun activity ("sun spots") and variations in the degree of 'tilt' in the Earth's axis than anything man can do. And man can do absolutely nothing about either of those.

 

[Jim Rosenthal]

David, I had that sort of rig to start with. Next I had the same gasoline set with a plug-in on the outside of the house and a small switchover panel in the basement, so I could flip a few loads over. Finally I bit the bullet and bought a diesel set. I have not had to use it a lot, but the installation was finished the day before Superstorm Sandy hit on the US East Coast. I was very glad to have it. It ran the house for a day and a half, I think, and did splendidly.

PM me if you wish on any questions. I don't know the UK generator set builders, obviously, but volts and amps are volts and amps everywhere, and if I can help you out any, I'm happy to do so.

 

[David Morton]

Much obliged Jim.
A graphic diagram would be superb . The two Honda Generators can be paralleled with a dedicated lead so they behave as a 5.2 kw system and any future house will have a purpose built fail safe system. There have been a few Honda Silent self starting rigs for sale recently and i will probably look into getting one of those as i doubt anyone in my family could start the 2.6 generators. One other thought is one of my Racemet trailers has a built in self starting generator which is about 5kw.

Floodss: well the Thames has not really gone down at all and is expected to peak some time today. Again, I'm alright Jack but some of the folk who bought and chose to live on the flood plains around the town are facing massive problems and insurance claims - which we all pay for eventually. The flood water has about 1000 times more bacteria and harmful contents than the normal river water so I am encouraging and Members of Parliament to come to Marlow and join in the massive crowd -all wearing the 'fashionista' hunter green wellies and slopping about in the diluted shit that is flood water. The shops have none left though there are plently of black gardening wellies to be had. Thats the Tory heartland in a nut shell for you. Google the Buckinghamshire Free Press and there are plenty of pictures.
The sun is shining and the wind is relatively calm so no doubt people will be messing about on the river. If they can find it.

 

[Robert May Eng.]

Much obliged Jim.
A graphic diagram would be superb . The two Honda Generators can be paralleled with a dedicated lead so they behave as a 5.2 kw system and any future house will have a purpose built fail safe system. There have been a few Honda Silent self starting rigs for sale recently and i will probably look into getting one of those as i doubt anyone in my family could start the 2.6 generators. One other thought is one of my Racemet trailers has a built in self starting generator which is about 5kw.

Floodss: well the Thames has not really gone down at all and is expected to peak some time today. Again, I'm alright Jack but some of the folk who bought and chose to live on the flood plains around the town are facing massive problems and insurance claims - which we all pay for eventually. The flood water has about 1000 times more bacteria and harmful contents than the normal river water so I am encouraging and Members of Parliament to come to Marlow and join in the massive crowd -all wearing the 'fashionista' hunter green wellies and slopping about in the diluted shit that is flood water. The shops have none left though there are plently of black gardening wellies to be had. Thats the Tory heartland in a nut shell for you. Google the Buckinghamshire Free Press and there are plenty of pictures.
The sun is shining and the wind is relatively calm so no doubt people will be messing about on the river. If they can find it.

There is an electric start diesel genny here if you need to borrow one David. PM sent. 5. something KVA

Bob

 

[David Morton]

I just went down the the bridge in downtown central Marlow town centre. The weirs downstream of the main hotel are visible again where as before the edge of the river was indistinguishable. The sun is shining, the wind is calm, i think it deserves a bottle of shampoo with lunch.

 

[David Morton]

I'm really pleased I don't own a riverside mansion. They have beed acting as a jobbie filter for the last four or five days and the task of starting to clean the detritus from their ground floors must be a nightmare. The Heath and Safety experts (nurds) will crawl out from underneath their stones tomorrow and prescribe / come out with someting akin to an NBC suit before people will be allowed back into their own homes.
Fact :its still a disaster area and the plods (police) are execising their so called special powers to the full extent.
Wankers.

 

[Pete McCluskey.]

I knew the floods were bad, but not this bad!

 

[Robert May Eng.]

I heard this on the news this morning BBC News - Sonning Bridge road sign apostrophe error are there really that many pathetic individuals on this planet ?

Bob

 

[Graham T]

I heard this on the news this morning BBC News - Sonning Bridge road sign apostrophe error are there really that many pathetic individuals on this planet ?

Bob

There are a lot of writers on this site who could do with learning proper grammar and speaking English like I does !!!!!!