Flood Problems

[Barrie Yates]

Another year, another series of catastrophic floods. Naturally the politicians in the areas affected are calling for more defences, rethink on defences, more Government money and greater effort by the insurance companies to speed up insurance payouts.
I agree with all of them irrespective of which party they represent, but not one of them from national to local level of politics has suggested a cut in the Overseas Aid Budget and the money being funnelled into restoring a decent quality of life, not only at this time of the year but at all times whenever these situations arise.
Why give money to a nation that has a space programme, why give money at all? Far better if aid is given in material things that are manufactured in UK, or contracts to UK company and employees to carry out major works - yes, use local labour but that would be paid to workers, not corrupt politicians.
There has also been a suggestion that the EU Regulations prevent the dredging that is necessary, but how true that is I don't know.

[Eric]

Originally Posted by Barrie Yates

Another year, another series of catastrophic floods. Naturally the politicians in the areas affected are calling for more defences, rethink on defences, more Government money and greater effort by the insurance companies to speed up insurance payouts.
I agree with all of them irrespective of which party they represent, but not one of them from national to local level of politics has suggested a cut in the Overseas Aid Budget and the money being funnelled into restoring a decent quality of life, not only at this time of the year but at all times whenever these situations arise.
Why give money to a nation that has a space programme, why give money at all? Far better if aid is given in material things that are manufactured in UK, or contracts to UK company and employees to carry out major works - yes, use local labour but that would be paid to workers, not corrupt politicians.
There has also been a suggestion that the EU Regulations prevent the dredging that is necessary, but how true that is I don't know.

So this thread ain't really about floods, eh.

[Barrie Yates]

Originally Posted by Eric

So this thread ain't really about floods, eh.

We need to spend more money on flood defences but there isn't enough money in the pot for all that is needed - one place to get it from is to cut the overseas aid which is 2% of GDP - a lot of money which is not even doing a great deal for those it is meant to help.

[Eric]

So it's about cutting overseas aid and vainly hoping that the savings will be applied to flood defenses. Pardon me while I At least we can be sure that your government will not spend any savings on the NHS, nor on affordable housing, nor on education ... not on any progressive social programs. If in the unlikely event that they do cut foreign aid, the savings will more likely be dropped on ISIS, or used to cut corporate taxes.

Here's my theory: the government will spend a nominal amount, make appropriate noises about "preparedness", and keep their fingers crossed that no more major floods occur in the near future. And if they do happen, it's probably cheaper to free up some funds for disaster relief than to actually do something to protect vulnerable areas.

If you disagree with your government's foreign aid policy, you could do so without muddying the waters with concerns about the flooding.

[maccawozzagod]

I think the major problem with flood defences is that if you shore up one bit then it puts more strain further along. It is probably cheaper to deal with the aftermath than it would be to strengthen every stretch of water on the island

[accyman]

i think a lot of the local flooding could have been avoided if cut backs wernt made to keeping drains clear etc

over haslingden road a few weeks back they had the gutter and drain cleaning crew out unblocking drains most likely because they havnt bothered in a long time which caused the problems in the first place

this current lot of rain is hardly the worst we have had yet everywhere is more flooded than usual

[Rowlf]

Cant agree the current rain is not worst we ve had. It has absolutely poured down for almost 24 hours non stop. My garage is flooded and I have lived in this house for almost 40yrs and never seen the like. We have had a lot of rain for weeks so the ground was already saturated before the latest downpours. I don't think any amount of flood defences will stop this amount of rain. The elements will always win. It is very sad to see so much misery for local folk. Padiham is under 3 foot of water and I have never known that before.

[Margaret Pilkington]

More trees are needed to soak up the water.
A single tree takes something in the region of 80gallons of water out of the soil daily.
There has been a distinct lack of drain maintenance over the years and this does contribute to the problem(river dredging is important too to remove silt and maintain depth)....but we have had over one months rainfall in 24 hours(some areas have had even more)...and there is more to come.
I really do feel for those who have had their homes and their lives affected by the floods.
It takes a long time to get back to normal...to clean up the filth that is left behind once the waters subside.

[Rowlf]

I think the worst thing would be to loose photos of deceased parents and ones of ones children when they were young. Furniture and carpets etc can be replaced but no amount of money can replace things like those. I would find their lose heart breaking.

[cashman]

Originally Posted by accyman

i think a lot of the local flooding could have been avoided if cut backs wernt made to keeping drains clear etc

over haslingden road a few weeks back they had the gutter and drain cleaning crew out unblocking drains most likely because they havnt bothered in a long time which caused the problems in the first place

this current lot of rain is hardly the worst we have had yet everywhere is more flooded than usual

Think the poor sods in Whalley can verify about the drains not having been cleared.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Originally Posted by Rowlf

I think the worst thing would be to loose photos of deceased parents and ones of ones children when they were young. Furniture and carpets etc can be replaced but no amount of money can replace things like those. I would find their lose heart breaking.

I think those in Whalley had plenty of warning to get their precious items up to the second storey of their homes...or to safety.
They were given flood warnings at three am this morning.
Yes, you can replace furnishings, but it is the imbuggerance of waiting for insurance assessors and the processing of claims, plus this must be a very difficult time to sort out alternative accommodation.
I know this from recent personal experience. This time last year the whole ground floor of our home was unusable due to dry rot......it was a nightmare finding somewhere to stay, made harder because we have a cat.

[hyndburner]

My house was flooded about 15 years ago. The whole downstairs was under a foot of water. Fortunately I was fully insured. It took a week for the house to dry out, during which the Insurance company put us up in a 4 star hotel. Every item of furniture was written off and all the skirting boards and doors had to be replaced. The final bill was over £40k.

We counted our blessings that everything we lost was replaceable, and North West Water subsequently spent a fortune making sure our area wouldn't flood again. I put the house on the market a few months later and we moved to a safer area.

I think that's the thing that would worry me most - if there was the slightest chance that it could happen again. So my heart goes out to those who have been flooded again...and again.

[Gremlin]

I wonder if the developers will go ahead now.
1 Whalley

2 Railway through Walsden.
3 This was the only road open from Hebden Bridge to Burnely until the slide, Id gone through an hour earlier in pitch darkness and hevay storm.

4 Halifax road Todmorden.

My sympathy goes out to the people affected by the floods, where ever they are.

[Exile on Spencer St]

Hope you've copyrighted that first photo, Gremlin, as the media will be all over it.

[Gremlin]

It's not mine to copyright. A friend posted it for all to see on an open forum.
As were the others by another friend.