UK flooding

[spuddog0507]

Dont know where to start with this really, but here goes, for myself and the older members on here, i cant remember flooding in the UK like we have had in the last 2 decades and for the last decades it seems to be coming more frequent, every time this flooding happens 1000s of people are left homeless and moved in to temporary acomadation and more heartbreaking than that is the loss of personal items that simply can not be replaced, every time these flooding events happen and we seem to be getting more every year now, there are millions of pounds worth of insurance claims going in which we are all paying for when we renew our insurance, 

This week the government have given the go ahead for HS2 that is costing billions ! now hs2 i just see as a big white elephant that 1) will either not get completed or 2) it will just be a massive flop both financially and practabilaty, so to give the go ahead for hs2 just after the weekend of weather we have just had seems a bit pointless to me, as we have loads of cleaning up to do after storm Ciara and it needs to be paid for, so my argument is do we need hs2 ? and would the money setaside for hs2 not be better spent on some sensible flood prevention/defences, after all it is our money being the public but we dont get a say in what it is to be spent on its some smartarse prick with in parliment that makes the call for us whether we agree or NOT, i am sure if we had a say on hs2 it would not be going ahead and the people who the money belongs to as the tax payers i would say they would rather see the money spent on something that would benifit more of the population of the country like flood prevention, it would be interesting to hear other peoples thoughts on this and now we have storm Dennis confirmed to hit us over the weekend with heavy rain and gale force winds so another wk end on the sofa, and then out in the Atlantic another storm that is building and it could be worse one than what we have had so far,

[harvey b davison]

I too think that hs2 should be abandoned. But I do think that some money should be invested in the current rail system. I also think that that prices should be simplified and reduced significantly.

[Guest Gimlet]

I don't think the weather has worsened in the last 30 years, but our net settled population has grown by 10 million in that period and the gross transient population by double that figure. On top of which the number of occupants per household has plummeted resulting in a vast increase in our development footprint per capita. 

 

Add to that the fact that due to the joint connivance of the NRA and the EU, we have effectively abandoned river and waterway maintenance and successive governments have turned a blind eye to developers building heavily on cheap-to-buy floodplains because tolerating construction at any cost, however shoddy and ill-conceived, is easier than tackling a low wage, high tax, over-staffed and under-productive economy. "Climate Change" is just the catch-all get-out clause, and because it's terribly fashionable, no one questions it. 

 

The truth is there are too many people in this county. The maintenance and stewardship of landscape and environment has become politicised and botched (where it exists at all) and we're burying ever more of the landscape under a sea of concrete. Of course we're seeeing more flood damage. Given decades of such woeful mismanagement I suspect we'd be see more flooding even if the climate was getting colder and drier. 

 

HS2 is displacement activity and a massively ill-conceived vanity project.

Edited February 13, 2020 by Gimlet

[eggsarascal]

Firstly and foremostly I think HS2 is an unneeded crock of shit, I've heard the argument that it will take trains off the existing main lines and more freight will go by rail, I don't believe it, how are they going to get that freight on HS2 trains, when, if, it gets to Manchester/Leeds how is it going to get forwarded on to its destination?, how are people going to get into, out of Euston any quicker when they have to get already overcrowded tube trains/roads, it ain't going to save no time.

 

We've done next door to nothing's concerning SUD's except in major cities for all the time I've been in the water industry, and lived on the waterways of this country, the same properties I used to visit 20-odd years ago still get flooded today when it rains consistently. 'We' gave the inland waterways away to a 'charity' that are only interested in making a profit and selling off part of our national heritage, the maintenance programme is pitiful, water doesn't take prisoners, it needs get rid of as soon as it hits the deck.

 

On top of that 'we' keep building on any bit of ground we can find, loads more hardstanding, loads more run off with nowhere for it to go.

[eggsarascal]

6 minutes ago, Gimlet said:

I don't think the weather has worsened in the last 30 years, but our net settled population has grown by 10 million in that period and the gross transient population by double that figure. On top of which the number of occupants per household has plummeted resulting in a vast increase in our development footprint per capita. 

 

Add to that the fact that due to the joint connivance of the NRA and the EU, we have effectively abandoned river and waterway maintenance and successive governments have turned a blind eye to developers building heavily on cheap-to-buy floodplains because tolerating construction at any cost, however shoddy and ill-conceived, is easier than tackling a low wage, high tax, over-staffed and under-productive economy. "Climate Change" is just the catch-all get-out clause, and because it's terribly fashionable, no one questions it. 

 

The truth is there are too many people in this county. The maintenance and stewardship of landscape and environment has become politicised and botched (where it exists at all) and we're burying ever more of the landscape under a sea of concrete. Of course we're seeeing more flood damage. Given decades of such woeful mismanagement I suspect we'd be see more flooding even if the climate was getting colder and drier. 

 

HS2 is displacement activity and a massively ill-conceived vanity project.

Beat me to it.

[Guest Gimlet]

Everyone who's serious about this should read Roger Scruton's book Green Philosophy.

 

An interesting introductory discussion on his theories, here:

‘Green Philosophy’ - Henry Jackson Society

HENRYJACKSONSOCIETY.ORG

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[Big J]

I think it's a combination of a number of pressures and issues:

 

• Climate change. More regular extreme weather events. Whilst we've not had consequential flooding here where we are in the South West, we have had over a metre of rain since the second week of September. That's more than a typical year here. With that level of ground saturation, it doesn't take much to overspill. We had 29mm of rain in a few hours yesterday morning and all the back roads were flooded.
• Population pressure. Increased population, without the planning law change to accommodate them. It's still incredibly hard to build your own house, and as such new building is left entirely in the hands of large developers who frequently build on unsuitable sites, such as flood plains.
• Lack of investment. 10 years of austerity, with sustained cut backs of public services and reduction of investment in flood defences.
• Upland land management methods. Continued use of uplands for grouse shooting (with associated burning) and lack of aforestation accelerates the passage of rainfall into rivers, exacerbating flooding issues downstream. We need to plant the hills, ideally with spruce. We import 80% of our timber at present, and to establish upland forests would kill many birds with one stone. Bugger native broadleaves. They are useless squirrel food until we eliminate the greys. The issue is that the guidance is at present that only NBs can be planted in most upland areas in England (Dartmoor, Exmoor, Bodmin, to use the local examples). 
• Public attitude. Some places flood. They aren't defendable. Either adapt your house to occasional flooding or move.

[Marsh Monkey]

You should try cutting reed this winter... Reckon I've spent more time flooded off than I have working this year. just imported new gear from the Netherlands, I should of got their water management too I reckon.

 

Over in the dry east we're dredging the rivers regularly but it's having little or no effect. Normally we get tidal flooding on the marshes I work for a couple of days a month but this winter from October it's been at a flood level constantly. It was the first time in 12 years my scrub fires in 18inch high trays got put out.

 

Think the sea is just angry with us this year

 

 

 

[MattyF]

I think the problem is with Great Britain is it’s wet ,thousand of years ago most of our countryside was bog , it’s been drained off for agriculture and forestry and housing, probably a lot more efficiently in recent years , they are still ploughing up ancient pasture for arable and whilst the forestry commission is being a bit more thoughtful with its drainage the likes of tilhill , euro forest and now by his comments big j [emoji38] want more upland planted with spruce are not... I was watching the forestry drains on the other side of the burn at the weekend , they where like violent rapids and cascading waterfalls resulting in this , this was some of the last FC land brought in compulsory purchase and was only planted in the 80’s back then and still until recently there was big grants for land reclamation.... all that water has to go somewhere !
Whilst I agree with planting upland smashing up drains and blocking ditches to create habitat , planting spruce In it is not the answer.

[difflock]

There used to be water meadows alongside the rivers, in the flatter areas, these are now filled with houses.

Not hard to see why these areas "flood" is it?