floods again

[naturelover]

Anyone see the weather for tonight, dosnt look very good,those poor familys that got flooded last time have got it again,the rivers are bursting their banks while i am wrighting this,they also said the south east,and anglia could cop it this time,thats me.
When ever is it going to stop,makes you think about a certan film i remember watching,WATER WORLD spooky,has any one watched it that could be us soon if this rain dosnt pack it up.

[big bill]

You people have my deepest sympathy down in England with the floods when will the builders and goverment get it into there heads to stop building on the flood plains,money over peoples lives as normal no concern for the general public.
They cannot sell and in most cases I think will be unable to insure again after being flooded out already no justice

[paulchandler6]

The Thames here is slowly rising still and there are flood warnings in place along the river from north of Oxford to down my way.
I'm OK as I am quite high up above the flood area. Lets hope its not as bad as the summer floods of last year.

Paul

[Kayleigh]

There are far too many people on this Island..We are sinking

[Fourwings]

I feel for the poor folk that suffer flooding, I fear its a problem that may only get worse as a result of our rapidly changing climate.
It certainly makes me glad that I live on a hill, if we get floods where I live then the rest of Leicestershire would have to develop gills

[Brocker]

Originally Posted by paulchandler6

The Thames here is slowly rising still and there are flood warnings in place along the river from north of Oxford to down my way.
I'm OK as I am quite high up above the flood area. Lets hope its not as bad as the summer floods of last year.

Paul

I am the other end of the Thames and thankfully, no flood warnings in place here. Severe gale warnings though. I will have to watch the fences tonight

[honeybee]

We are bracing ourselves. We were without tap water in the summer but were not ourselves flooded although I know a lot of people who were. My grandmother lives near Tewkesbury and although she's high up enough not to get flooded, we couldn't get to see her because she was cut off. There are huge on going building developments going on in Gloucester and Tewkesbury on meadows and flood plains. They might not always get flooded but they put a huge demand on sewarage and drainage and really old houses are being flooded for the first time and there's decreasing land for the water to drain, just tarmac and concrete. I could moan on about loads of issues to do with the floods but I wont. I just feel sorry for all the poor people still living in caravans whos property's are just starting to dry out who may have to go through it all again.

[JeffH]

Originally Posted by big bill

... when will the builders and goverment get it into there heads to stop building on the flood plains...

Your right Bill - we're quite low lying here in our part of East Anglia (just a few feet above sea level) and parts of our village have suffered quite serious flooding twice in recent years, though fortunately we escaped it.

Despite that, right now one of the parts that was worst hit last time is having several hundred new houses built on it with very little sign of any significant drainage improvements and no flood protection what so ever - madness

Jeff

[agrumpycow]

I'm not particularly clued up on all this type of thing so hopefully someone can explain it to me:

I was under the impression that a lot of the floods we had in this area (Berkshire) last July were caused by the sheer amount of rain that fell in a short period of time so the drains couldn't cope.
Certainly areas here which got flooded were well above sea level and away from the usual flood plains along the Thames valley.

So this type of flooding is different from the type when rivers overflow due to persistent rain and, therefore, it makes no difference whether the land was on a flood plain or not.

Hope this makes sense, and I hope someone can clarify because I'm getting myself confused just thinking about it!

[naturelover]

Hi clair i have been told that the fens is below sea level,but touch wood we havnt had much flooding here,we are very flat as you no dought know so if our rivers burst their banks it shouldnt get that deep we hope,the thing is they have made so many flood ditches all around the fens so it seems to hold its own.

[honeybee]

Originally Posted by agrumpycow

I'm not particularly clued up on all this type of thing so hopefully someone can explain it to me:

I was under the impression that a lot of the floods we had in this area (Berkshire) last July were caused by the sheer amount of rain that fell in a short period of time so the drains couldn't cope.
Certainly areas here which got flooded were well above sea level and away from the usual flood plains along the Thames valley.

So this type of flooding is different from the type when rivers overflow due to persistent rain and, therefore, it makes no difference whether the land was on a flood plain or not.

Hope this makes sense, and I hope someone can clarify because I'm getting myself confused just thinking about it!

I think we are seeing flooding lately due to a combination of reasons. The MET office are saying we are approaching record levels of rain. You've got to look into why that is and if it's anything to do with global warming.
We're building hundreds of thousands of new homes with no improvement to drains and so on so there's more surface run-off that can't permeate soil. The rivers are full round here now and bursting their banks, for the Severn we have to take into account rainfall and snow melt in Wales and the fact the river's tidal. A lot of homes being flooded are new but places that havn't suffered before are doing so, obviously as you say if it pours down a lot very quickly there would be a problem anywhere but I think the situation is more coplicated than that. Because water can't sink into the ground or wash away naturally it's turning roads into rivers and so on. The more roads and buildings there are in an area or along the path of a river is going to cause knock on effects for places further afield.

[ron1863]

I listened to the forecast last night - 5 more days of wet weather across Britain and woke up this morning with blue skies and the sun splitting the trees - typical

[Susie]

Originally Posted by agrumpycow

I'm not particularly clued up on all this type of thing so hopefully someone can explain it to me:

I was under the impression that a lot of the floods we had in this area (Berkshire) last July were caused by the sheer amount of rain that fell in a short period of time so the drains couldn't cope.
Certainly areas here which got flooded were well above sea level and away from the usual flood plains along the Thames valley.

So this type of flooding is different from the type when rivers overflow due to persistent rain and, therefore, it makes no difference whether the land was on a flood plain or not.

Hope this makes sense, and I hope someone can clarify because I'm getting myself confused just thinking about it!

Hiya,

I have relatives who live in Thatcham and a couple of days after they moved into their house on a newly built estate last summer the area flooded (luckily for them theirs wasn't one of the houses in their street affected). The reason given for the flooding in that area last summer was as you stated; too much rain in too short a time and the drains being unable to cope - indeed the local river and canal which are only a few hundred yards away didn't even burst their banks!

So, it just goes to show that there a number of reasons for inland flooding.

[peppermint]

I live just north of Oxford and on route to work this morning there were loads of flooded fields alongside the A34 west of Oxford, they were more like lakes! The Thames looked like it had just about broken its banks at Iffley meadow (south Oxford). Luckily there aren't any houses built right on the banks as it is a wildlife trust reserve. If the rain continues i would say there will be more areas of the Thames definatly breaking its banks.

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by agrumpycow

I'm not particularly clued up on all this type of thing so hopefully someone can explain it to me:

I was under the impression that a lot of the floods we had in this area (Berkshire) last July were caused by the sheer amount of rain that fell in a short period of time so the drains couldn't cope.
Certainly areas here which got flooded were well above sea level and away from the usual flood plains along the Thames valley.

So this type of flooding is different from the type when rivers overflow due to persistent rain and, therefore, it makes no difference whether the land was on a flood plain or not.

Hope this makes sense, and I hope someone can clarify because I'm getting myself confused just thinking about it!

Its to do with frequency of flooding, the levels experienced in the summer are what is often thought to be a 1 in 200 year event (though such levels may have to be reviewed) as in it is not the usual rainfall pattern it is an extreme event that doesn't happen that often - proterties affected are not necessarily considered to be in the 'floodplain'.
The floodplain is usually the area that floods as standard - annually or nearly annually due to the naturally higher rainfall at this time of year.

I think this is right or at least its along these sort of lines

[agrumpycow]

Thanks for your replies Honeybee, Susie & Gill and thanks for confirming what I thought.

Isn't it funny, when we get a dry spell everyone complains (me included!) and when it rains more than we'd like we complain again! Well, I suppose we are British

[Kayleigh]

On my way to work this morning the river at the back of Towcester race course had burst its banks. The fields are now rivers. Luckily there are no houses on this land so far. But they want to build 4,000 houses around Towcester.

I feel for the people this affects. Its just awful to go through something like this.

[nicki.k]

i live in skellow which is just next to tollbar and bently which flooded also. it was dreadful people whos houses flooded last have only just moved back in , and some houses are still untouched. they have all been informed as caution to move everything upstairs. most of the houses that were flooded were built on flood grounds, due to that alot of people never got insured. the mayor flooded the villages to save the banks from burstingto save the doncaster town centre. everyone is watching the banks rising at the mo with fingers crossed. only time will tell.

[honeybee]

Originally Posted by agrumpycow

Thanks for your replies Honeybee, Susie & Gill and thanks for confirming what I thought.

Isn't it funny, when we get a dry spell everyone complains (me included!) and when it rains more than we'd like we complain again! Well, I suppose we are British

I didn't know of the exact reason why your area flooded but I recall keeping an eye on it as other half had to get home from London that day. He avoided Berkshire just in time, took him about 7 hrs to do a 2 hr journey. Someone he knew went the M4 way through Berkshire and didnt get home til the next day!

[honeybee]

Originally Posted by nicki.k

i live in skellow which is just next to tollbar and bently which flooded also. it was dreadful people whos houses flooded last have only just moved back in , and some houses are still untouched. they have all been informed as caution to move everything upstairs. most of the houses that were flooded were built on flood grounds, due to that alot of people never got insured. the mayor flooded the villages to save the banks from burstingto save the doncaster town centre. everyone is watching the banks rising at the mo with fingers crossed. only time will tell.

My other half is from Doncaster. Is a terrible situation, must be very depressing for people who are still not back in their homes. We're seeing people now being flooded for the fourth time in less than a year.

[agrumpycow]

Originally Posted by honeybee

I didn't know of the exact reason why your area flooded but I recall keeping an eye on it as other half had to get home from London that day. He avoided Berkshire just in time, took him about 7 hrs to do a 2 hr journey. Someone he knew went the M4 way through Berkshire and didnt get home til the next day!

We were on the M4 coming back from a short break in Somerset, atrocious driving conditions and the services were flooded and closed so we couldn't stop for a break!

We got caught up in the landslide between Reading and Newbury and while we were sat there watching muddy water run down the carriageway we listened to the radio who said the A4 and A33 were both blocked by flood water - the only 2 ways into Reading from the M4! The usual hour and half journey form Somerset took 5 hours, and we were lucky compared to some.

I remember the radio presenter asking all parents to collect their kids from certain schools, then 10 minutes later asking them not to because all roads to them were flooded!

A very surreal experience!

[Boddie]

Originally Posted by nicki.k

i live in skellow which is just next to tollbar and bently which flooded also. it was dreadful people whos houses flooded last have only just moved back in , and some houses are still untouched. they have all been informed as caution to move everything upstairs. most of the houses that were flooded were built on flood grounds, due to that alot of people never got insured. the mayor flooded the villages to save the banks from burstingto save the doncaster town centre. everyone is watching the banks rising at the mo with fingers crossed. only time will tell.

Thank god the town centre never flooded as my favourite cobblers could have suffered. I already got stuffed when Trickers in Pickering closed after they got flooded

[Stewy]

Originally Posted by Susie

Hiya,

I have relatives who live in Thatcham and a couple of days after they moved into their house on a newly built estate last summer the area flooded (luckily for them theirs wasn't one of the houses in their street affected). The reason given for the flooding in that area last summer was as you stated; too much rain in too short a time and the drains being unable to cope - indeed the local river and canal which are only a few hundred yards away didn't even burst their banks!

So, it just goes to show that there a number of reasons for inland flooding.

That used to be the old army depot Susie and it would flood with just a heavy shower back then before houses were built on it.

So with all that rain in July it's no surprise really, I can't believe they built houses on it to be honest, I think it's a flood plain but i'm probably wrong.

[JeffH]

Originally Posted by Boddie

Thank god the town centre never flooded as my favourite cobblers could have suffered. I already got stuffed when Trickers in Pickering closed after they got flooded

Yes poor old Trickers - I always said they should have gone into wellies

Jeff