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[UncleUB]

  Fields and gardens are filling and overflowing, even without any apparent influx of water.  And though there's not been all that much rain for the past few days many of the drains, even far above the river levels, are spouting like fountains.   

A lot of streets drains are suffering from failure by local councils to clean them out on a regular basis.This is a result of years of neglect by councils who cite the lack of funds as the reason why things have been left for so long.

I know its a different subject but roads in Sheffield use to get resurfaced every 7 years but we now have a situation where most roads are just crumbling away.Pot hole repairs are done quite pathetically and as such are constantly being redone.
We now have an ongoing project where every road in the city is being resurfaced.The cost is estimated to be in the region of 1.5 to 2 BILLION when completed in around 2020.

Sheffield suffered badly in the floods of 2007 but after a couple of days of media coverage quickly became forgotten.It also seems that Somerset has taken a back seat now that villages along the Thames have become flooded...

[burakkucat]

Can anyone tell me which countries are sending us aid to help with the flood relief effort....

I understand that the Netherlands has sent over some high capacity pumps, for use on the Somerset Levels.

[kitz]

>>> is the spontaneous appearance of ground water flood.

Im no expert, nor seen the program... but doesnt it depend on the soil type of the area?  Its not unknown for sandy/chalky/fine soil types to have this happen when the water table rises?  Sometimes weird things happen and flood defence barriers cant do much if the water table has risen and it can bubble out at points of least resistance ie sandy/chalky areas verses a more clay type soil.

The other weird thing that can happen is water coming up via the toilets,  I recall this from when I was a child at my parents.  One of the first signs before flood water down the street would be being woken by the toilet making strange noises and water levels rising. Water would always come up via the drains first before any breach of the wall.   I dont know if this was lack of care via the council, I was too young to even think about such things.

Those high capacity pumps are brilliant, but atm much of the UK is so water-laden, that Im not quite sure where all the pumped water will go....  and if its only diverting the problem else-where

I saw a cartoon ealier yesterday that depicted UK under-water and the stretch of water between between Scotland and France renamed to "The Scottish Channel"    Sorry if the cartoon doesnt depict well by trying to describe it.

[roseway]

"The Scottish Channel"

I suppose it's not really funny, but it did make me giggle.

[Scottiesmum]

We've been watching in horror !  Surprise, surprise now that the Thames has burst its banks Mr. Cameron is pulling out all the stops  (pun intended  )  I am very  sceptical at his 'no expense spared ' promise ! I notice that the Transport Minister said  "that wasn't  exactly the case".  It will be interesting to see if all the Euro sceptic MPs do what they were entitled to do several weeks ago and as the EEC for aid; they should put the public before their 'saving face'  attitude.    I feel so very sorry for all those people affected, whether they knew they were buying on floodplains or not, they certainly don't deserve this; the 'Planning Officers' on the other hand  !!!!

Keep safe everyone.   

[kitz]

"The Scottish Channel"

I suppose it's not really funny, but it did make me giggle.

Same cartoon turned up again today elsewhere, so sharing it, because Im sure my description didnt do it justice.

[roseway]

[Scottiesmum]

    love it !

[sevenlayermuddle]

Interesting to compare the 'official' wind classifications with what we have come to percieve.  Bearing in mind that the Beaufort scale is for average speeds not gusts,   The winds that had me nervous last week, around 30mph gusting to mid 50s would have been merely a 'strong breeze'.

http://www.rmets.org/weather-and-climate/observing/beaufort-scale

I like the single word summary or what would occur in a true hurricane...  devastation

  Surprise, surprise now that the Thames has burst its banks Mr. Cameron is pulling out all the stops  (pun intended  ) 

In fairness to Mr C, the rural Thames up in Oxfordshire (near his constituency) has been out in the floodplains off and on since early January, which is not at all unusual.   And the villages, as usual, have just had to lump it.  Much of Oxford centre was flooded back in January, which is unusual but not unprecedented.    It seems to be the publicity around the Somerset Levels that has got the politicians inspired, for whatever motivation.

Re the Thames, what impresses me is that recent floods are only slightly higher than 2007.   But the 2007 floods were in summer and followed basically just a few hours of very intense rain.

[kitz]

Thanks for that link 7LM, kind of explains why we were hearing various reports of wind speeds.   
I shall take it that the 92.5 wind speed from the airport will have been correct and thats why any reported gusts of over 100mph were ignored because they didnt hit the 10min mark.  I know for sure we hit beaufort scale 12 and we were in the main corridor that got hit.



As to devastion, well TBH I dont think the main media have really picked up on just how bad things were here.  I did a long post, but lost it, so youve all been spared most of it

But basically all of the main routes out of my town, were either closed or impassible. If you look at the local police twitter, you'll see that one by one each of the main routers and side routes became affected and blocked.  My daughter able to get home as there was no public transport at all and trains stopped at Preston.

You dont have to go far around here to see structural damage, some of it serious plenty of houses on the prom lost windows/roofs/gable ends/chimneys, and plenty of trees down.  Most homes have suffered to some extent with the usual outhouse/shed/greenhouse/fences/lost roof tiles/garden type damage.

Much of this has been ignored though by the mainstream media as its concentrating on the floods down south, and I think we only got a mention and a few shots of the prom cause Cameron did a visit.  Im not sure if anyone outside of this area will be aware of photo's like this which which is the type of things that the locals were seeing.


 

[sevenlayermuddle]

Scary stuff kitz, especially for me as my dislike of strong winds seems to be getting worse and bordering on phobia these days.

I hope you didn't think I was questioning the severity of 'your' storm, rather I was mocking my own cowardly attitude to the rather less severe weather further south. 

It does seem a bit weird that the politicians and media are focussing so much on the flooding down South, considering what's been happening elsewhere.         

I suppose perhaps it suits the media as they can sell the stories on to foreign channels who's viewers have heard of The River Thames, but not of Lancs.   And it is easier for politicians to make it look like they're doing something about flood defences, compared to impotency when it coes to 'wind defences' (?). 

[kitz]

I was picking up on the fact you said

"Much of Oxford centre was flooded back in January, which is unusual but not unprecedented.    It seems to be the publicity around the Somerset Levels that has got the politicians inspired, for whatever motivation."

Youre quite correct in that plenty are suffering atm, all over the UK, but concentration does seem to be in certain areas and something has got them & the media motivated about something which they perhaps would not have got so much attention in the past.  Its almost like everything is being focused on certain areas.   You may have hit the nail on the head.