I'm sure we all feel sorry for the people who have been flooded and / or cut off ... but I wonder how much of the fuller picture we actually know.

For example - the Somerset levels are know to flood (it used to be a swamp!) - so did the residents know this when they bought (and took the risk?) Were the house prices lower as a result (and they decided to "risk it") ?

We've all know for about 20 years that Global Warming is happening (warmer summers / wetter winters) ... is it a case of if you bury your head in the sand - it will get flooded ?

From what I've read it's bad land management by government agencies.
They cut back on river dredging,supported farmers to flood fields so rare birds could nest etc.
Cammyboy has realised he's loosing core vote in prime Tory land,and is now being seen to be in charge.
He has said dredging will take place asap.Admitting you got it wrong,and being seen to do something is the best option he has.

In The Know (but not this time) wrote:
I'm sure we all feel sorry for the people who have been flooded and / or cut off ... but I wonder how much of the fuller picture we actually know.

For example - the Somerset levels are know to flood (it used to be a swamp!) - so did the residents know this when they bought (and took the risk?) Were the house prices lower as a result (and they decided to "risk it") ?

We've all know for about 20 years that Global Warming is happening (warmer summers / wetter winters) ... is it a case of if you bury your head in the sand - it will get flooded ?

Sometimes it is because they cut down trees to build ticky-tacky housing estates so the drains are overloaded and there is too much concrete and nowhere for the water to drain.

honey!oh sugar sugar. wrote:
Sometimes it is because they cut down trees to build ticky-tacky housing estates so the drains are overloaded and there is too much concrete and nowhere for the water to drain.

Yes, all these concrete supermarket car parks and people bricking over their gardens don't help - all that lost drainage land must be considerable

In The Know (but not this time) wrote:
I'm sure we all feel sorry for the people who have been flooded and / or cut off ... but I wonder how much of the fuller picture we actually know.

For example - the Somerset levels are know to flood (it used to be a swamp!) - so did the residents know this when they bought (and took the risk?) Were the house prices lower as a result (and they decided to "risk it") ?

We've all know for about 20 years that Global Warming is happening (warmer summers / wetter winters) ... is it a case of if you bury your head in the sand - it will get flooded ?

My patience with these whiners is rapidly running out !

IT'S A SWAMP ! Always has been a swamp !
King Alfred "hid out" there in the 800's to avoid capture because it was a swamp and his enemies could not find him !

We've just had the wettest December EVER followed by the wettest January EVER - and Feb looks like following suit.

Water always finds its lowest level (which is why they become swamps !).

WHAT DID THESE PEOPLE EXPECT?
They have "got away with it" for years - and chose to ignore global warming - but they WILL expect us to bail them out, won't they? (sorry about the pun)

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2553474...ges-left-behind.html

''Chris Smith is a coward, a little git and I'll flush his head down the loo': Tory MP's extraordinary attack on Environment Agency boss as he arrives to see flood-hit families in Somerset'
Ian Liddell-Grainger, the furious Tory MP for Bridgwater and West Somerset!

And you think UKIP are mad?

Maybe ITK is in panic mood about Tories losing a few seats.

He's just playing to his local crowd.

According to Somerset County Council 150 homes have been affected .... According to the EA it's only 40 properties.

This is NOT a tsunami !
It's NOT the end of the world.
It's just a few silly people who built homes in a swamp and are for some incredible reason surprised that they have been flooded !

The reporters really are taking the pee with their mock indignation. Not one of them, as far as I know, predicted such a situation and broadcast any reports warning of it and denouncing politicians for not doing enough, yet now their only shouted question is 'Why didn't you do more months ago?' Because they were probably as clueless as you lot, you hypocritical idiots! Blame their civil servants if you must blame anyone.

Sadly it's going to get worse with thousands of more houses being built.

Lot's of empty homes that could be refurbished.

Pru wrote:
The reporters really are taking the pee with their mock indignation. Not one of them, as far as I know, predicted such a situation and broadcast any reports warning of it and denouncing politicians for not doing enough, yet now their only shouted question is 'Why didn't you do more months ago?' Because they were probably as clueless as you lot, you hypocritical idiots! Blame their civil servants if you must blame anyone.

And (until someone alters science and water flows uphill !) what are they to do?

Dredging rivers will have little effect (at enormous cost - for a handful of people).

Pumping water elsewhere ditto ... it will STILL find the lowest level !

They all claims that it has never happened before. Really?

"Well, it's not unusual for the area to flood. The latest widespread flooding of the Levels is just one in a long record of flood events.

Records show more than a third of the area (70,000 acres or 28,000 ha) was submerged in 1919. In the 2014 flood, it is estimated about 6,500 ha (16,000 acres), or about 10% of the Levels, are under water".

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-26080597

So - the truth is - the current flooding is only about one sixth of the last major event !

I don't think it needs to be reported as a major disaster. There was a woman featured on the news who was crying and wailing that her children were having to stay with grandparents! And she seemed quite angry.
They are alive and safe and she should be thankful.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2554324...-crisis-deepens.html

If this happened abroad tax money and aid will be sent within hours, I was told charity begins at home clearly that is bullshit.

honey!oh sugar sugar. wrote:
I don't think it needs to be reported as a major disaster. There was a woman featured on the news who was crying and wailing that her children were having to stay with grandparents! And she seemed quite angry.
They are alive and safe and she should be thankful.

They ALL seemed to make it to the pub last night !

see video - news.sky.com/story/1208498/somerset-floo...autiously-optimistic