somerset floods

[Dorset Hedgelayer]

Not sure if link will work

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=568640503220772&set=a.558083507609805.1073741836.497935103624646&type=1&theater

 

(new to FB) Or just find the persons page/pictures, there amazing sadly for the wrong reasons

[roboted]

Not sure if link will work

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=568640503220772&set=a.558083507609805.1073741836.497935103624646&type=1&theater

 

(new to FB) Or just find the persons page/pictures, there amazing sadly for the wrong reasons

 

Yes amazing pictures.....Bloody heck they do bring it home....There is one thing I see in them though......."Backbone".....If you understand me.

[Gnarlyoak]

Whilst what is happening in Somerset and elsewhere can & could be classed as anything from tragic to catastrophic, I fail to understand why so many posters seem to, by default, blame unerringly the Government.

 

Whilst the Government/Environment Agency could have (should have!) done more to mitigate some of the problems currently being experienced, let us not lose sight of what the real problem is.

 

Rain.

 

Rain, rain, rain, and more rain! Then, now, and for the rest of this month by the looks of things.

 

The government (of any colour, and at anytime) can be blamed for a lot of injustices in this country, but the weather is natural phenomenon that, at least the last time I looked, cannot be controlled or engineered by any mere mortal organisation.

 

Short of the Environment Agency dredging rivers to almost half the depth of the Grand Canyon, the sheer volume of rain that the South West and elsewhere has received since mid-December, has been unprecedented and record breaking with Atlantic storms hitting the Western side of the country almost every 4/5 days in that time, (by Monday the South Western and Western parts of the country will actually have been hit by 3 major Atlantic storms in a week!)

 

The government does not control the weather. Some inter governmental agencies might have done more sooner, but the result would still have been the same. Even if rivers were more regularly dredged, the removal of a couple of feet of mud would still have not prevented the dramatic flooding that we are currently witnessing, given that it has rained, and rained, for days, weeks, months on end. You only need to look at other threads on AT about tips & ideas for keeping dry whilst trying to work in the current British weather. It been raining consistently everywhere around the country, regrettably, the highest amount of rainfall has fallen in the South West, consequently this region has suffered, with flood waters barely moving for weeks on end, because it hasn't stopped raining for long enough for the flood waters to recede.

 

You cannot blame the government for the rain, or how frequently it falls consistently in the same area. You could argue that this is a foretaste of climate change. There, the culprit is easily identifiable. Its humankind. As long as populations grow, then so will the causes of climate change, if you were to blame anybody then it is all of us, the 7 billion plus (and counting) inhabitants of this tiny little planet in the middle of a barren universe.

 

Cause and effect, we shall all reap what we sow. Flooding in Somerset, tragedy, but not the Governments fault, its the weather stupid, and that is probably the responsibility if not the controllability of us all!

[hedgesparrow]

Gulp.

 

I use these forecasts to plan. The guy is one of the calmest and level headed forecasters going. He's worried about the weekend weather in south west. Looks terrible.

 

 

 

Dave

 

simon is one of the best forcaster his forcasts are 99% spot on i now plan what i am doing by his forcasts as i know it is spot on but weekend looks grim 80ft waves force12 winds batton down the hatches

[hedgesparrow]

Whilst what is happening in Somerset and elsewhere can & could be classed as anything from tragic to catastrophic, I fail to understand why so many posters seem to, by default, blame unerringly the Government.

 

Whilst the Government/Environment Agency could have (should have!) done more to mitigate some of the problems currently being experienced, let us not lose sight of what the real problem is.

 

Rain.

 

Rain, rain, rain, and more rain! Then, now, and for the rest of this month by the looks of things.

 

The government (of any colour, and at anytime) can be blamed for a lot of injustices in this country, but the weather is natural phenomenon that, at least the last time I looked, cannot be controlled or engineered by any mere mortal organisation.

 

Short of the Environment Agency dredging rivers to almost half the depth of the Grand Canyon, the sheer volume of rain that the South West and elsewhere has received since mid-December, has been unprecedented and record breaking with Atlantic storms hitting the Western side of the country almost every 4/5 days in that time, (by Monday the South Western and Western parts of the country will actually have been hit by 3 major Atlantic storms in a week!)

 

The government does not control the weather. Some inter governmental agencies might have done more sooner, but the result would still have been the same. Even if rivers were more regularly dredged, the removal of a couple of feet of mud would still have not prevented the dramatic flooding that we are currently witnessing, given that it has rained, and rained, for days, weeks, months on end. You only need to look at other threads on AT about tips & ideas for keeping dry whilst trying to work in the current British weather. It been raining consistently everywhere around the country, regrettably, the highest amount of rainfall has fallen in the South West, consequently this region has suffered, with flood waters barely moving for weeks on end, because it hasn't stopped raining for long enough for the flood waters to recede.

 

You cannot blame the government for the rain, or how frequently it falls consistently in the same area. You could argue that this is a foretaste of climate change. There, the culprit is easily identifiable. Its humankind. As long as populations grow, then so will the causes of climate change, if you were to blame anybody then it is all of us, the 7 billion plus (and counting) inhabitants of this tiny little planet in the middle of a barren universe.

 

Cause and effect, we shall all reap what we sow. Flooding in Somerset, tragedy, but not the Governments fault, its the weather stupid, and that is probably the responsibility if not the controllability of us all!

 

i have posted on a different post maybe worth reading as have to disagree that the EA could not have done much yes we would of had floods but not to this scale it all starts in the fields and works down to the sea that is were it needs to start work digging ditches and maintaining hedges it then follows down the rivers to the sea

[humpo48]

I do a lot of tree work down on the levels and this week I done a site visit and I cannot describe in enough words how wet it is down here. My heart goes out to the people effected and how some of the farmers are going to recover from this I don't know? These people are the first casualties of global warming in this country.

[Wood wasp]

It's not global warming, it's incompetence and misguided priorities by the useless at the quango

Edited February 7, 2014 by Stephen Blair

[Gnarlyoak]

It's not global warming, it's incompetence and misguided priorities by the useless c@nts at the quango

 

And your hypothesis is based upon.......?

 

Seriously though, the AE like most government depts. has been cut to the bone. With limited funds to cover every environmental "project and event" in England/Wales & NI. What do you cut to devote all your time and money to prepare for record amounts of wet weather in one county?

 

Whilst "global warming" is a hypothesis that is still deeply debated, climate change is a phenomenon that is increasingly perceptable to all. You only need to look back over the last 5-10 years to find us having the warmest, the coldest, the wettest weather on record. Britain has always had weather rather than a climate, now year on year we are seeing more extremes! These are hard to forsee and even harder to plan for, when we don't know when or where they will happen or what the likely consequences are until they do!

 

Anyone with a crystal ball and without an axe to grind, please step forward and be this country's saviour. And I shall kneel before you Sir George, (David, Patrick, Andrew).

[FJMatt]

And your hypothesis is based upon.......?

 

Seriously though, the AE like most government depts. has been cut to the bone. With limited funds to cover every environmental "project and event" in England/Wales & NI. What do you cut to devote all your time and money to prepare for record amounts of wet weather in one county?

 

Whilst "global warming" is a hypothesis that is still deeply debated, climate change is a phenomenon that is increasingly perceptable to all. You only need to look back over the last 5-10 years to find us having the warmest, the coldest,. Britain has always had weather rather than a climate, now year on year we are seeing more extremes! These are hard to forsee and even harder to plan for, when we don't know when or where they will happen or what the likely consequences are until they do!

 

Anyone with a crystal ball and without an axe to grind, please step forward and be this country's saviour. And I shall kneel before you Sir George, (David, Patrick, Andrew).

 

as you have said in your thread " the wettest weather on record" , it doesnt take a lot of common sense to keep the water ways clear,

[Wood wasp]

Hypothesis based on dealing with useless at quangos on a day to day basis and the unrelenting cry for more funding… But the sheer waste at each and every one is soul destroying.

 

The reason all these quangos focus on saving voles/otters/ospreys/coast birds/whatever is sexy in applicable areas is that they can't be judged on performance in these sectors. If however, they focused on tangible areas (clear ditches/dredge rivers/plant trees -commercial trees, not "native" worthless garbage- etc) then it becomes blatantly obvious how much has been delivered and at what cost… And that in a nutshell is why you will see them like a rash all over their latest buzz projects and nowhere to be seen for practical matters.

 

And of course climate changes, but better to prepare as best you can for these events by keeping infrastructure in tip top condition… And now we're back to the "need more funding" cry.

 

So to be clear - lashing down with rain for weeks on end is not entirely unheard of in this country. However the infrastructure to deal with it as best we can has been criminally neglected, there is plenty of funding available in this country but it is absolutely wasted by useless c@nts who in most cases don't know their arse from their elbow and blow it on their little pet projects.

 

Finally, I've no idea how accurate the link below is but even with error margin of 50%(!) it's a pretty shocking indictment of the EA

 

Inside the Environment Agency - Welcome to Inside the Environment Agency - Environment Agency One of Biggest in the World?

Edited February 7, 2014 by Stephen Blair