Britain underwater, thanks Obama. (aka Winter weather watch 2015)

a reply to: Anaana

First, kudos. Not often people admit to misreading or being wrong. I would also like to apologise as that post came over rather more forcefully than intended. I can only blame a long day spent sand bagging and helping a couple of friends try to save some belongings.

The flood topped out at just over 5.20m (according to the Environment Agency, reading taken from the Viking measuring point). The water is definately receding now, which is clearly good.

The point i was making is that the Ouse in central York floods. As the city has been a settlement of some description for well over 2000 years, there is nowhere in central York to build proper defences - apart from the brick walls with flood gates. As such, St George's field and right along the front in the centre is supposed to flood (and is why some pubs have furniture nailed to the floor). Clifton Ings is supposed to be for letting off excess floodwater, so that always floods when the river exceeds a certain height. It must be noted that for whatever reason, on Saturday the pumps were silent there......

Fulford is bog / marsh land. Again, when the river reaches a certain height the A19 road gets flooded there. This cuts access from that side of York. This is a common theme (yearly occurance). Germany Beck forms part of this area and is where the council in there wisdom have granted planning permission for 700 new homes. All i will say is good luck selling those - they will need gullible outsiders to buy them rather than more savvy locals.

Actually though, beyond these issues, York is swamp / marsh land. The Romans installed some irrigation and then in the Medieval period this was massively expanded and land reclaimed. For the UK, the Ouse is a big river. Big River + marsh land = recipe for flooding. In some respects, this is similar to the problems on the Somerset levels.

Fundamentally though, the flooding here was that bad because of the Foss (Environment Agency or not). Once it overspilled round the back, it was able to meet up with Ouse flood water in areas not designed to withstand anywhere near that much water.

I also have to say that people are pretty cheerful, all things considered. There is not really much blame at the moment (beyond a few angry fists shaken towards the skies!). We had so much water coming down and to cap it all off, we get a lot of rivers from West Yorkshire draining into the Ouse that people are kind of accepting (that may change in time but who knows?). Basically, people are just cracking on with it.

originally posted by: stumason
a reply to: Soloprotocol

Stop being the eternal cynic, Solo, for five minutes. If you got your head out of your rectum, you'd know perfectly well what the soldiers are being asked to do and yes, they do make a difference for those they help.

They've been helping evacuate people, help people get their belongings upstairs or onto a higher surface, place sandbags, construct temporary flood defences etc.

I don't think for a moment you'll bother to look and if you do you'll probably dismiss it anyway, but here is the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment Facebook page which shows exactly what they've been up too, with links.

Here is another link, from a left-wing rag as well that should help allay your "fears" that the Government is somehow deploying hundreds of soldiers to pose for the camera's....

I can personally attest to this. The soldiers have been a great help, as have all the Rescue Crews. I can honestly say that the "feeling on the ground" is one of gratitude for all the help received. At the end of the day, in sandbag filling alone the Soldiers have more than done enough.

And there is nothing any government can do when you recieve over 3 1/2 months of rain (in what is pretty much the wettest month anyway) in around 20 days. Quite simply, the river systems have never had a chance to fully drain so each new inundation keeps exacerbating the problems. Generally, people round here understand this.

a reply to: Flavian

Indeed.. it's just one of those facts of life when you live near a river and you have as much rain as we have had. The fact some are trying to make political hay out of it is sad.

For the record, when there was flooding during Blair/Brown's tenure as PM, I took precisely the same view, before anyone thinks I am just defending a Tory Government.

Contrary to what some believe, the Government isn't all powerful and cannot be expected to prevent situations like this from happening. Even with more flood defences, it would just push the water elsewhere and unless you want every town surrounded by a 40ft wall, you just have to accept that, from time to time, it's gonna flood!

WARNING: Tonight’s HURRICANE force winds more powerful than 1987 storm which left 22 dead

Heads up people, Storm Frank has entered the building.....I am hoping the Express is exaggerating with this report.....

a reply to: woogleuk

You might have something to say over here.

I am hoping the Express is exaggerating with this report.....

Without looking at their article, your hope is not in vain. Re-read this in Dom Joly's voice or Jeremy Clarkson's

'WARNING!! Tonight’s HURRICANE force winds more powerful than the 1987 storm..........which left... 22 dead....'

a reply to: Kandinsky

Oh I know the DE has a record of over-sensationalising, what's worrying me though is that the wind I can observe outside has to be well over the 40MPH stated by the MET office, and there are warnings in place to avoid Hall Park due to trees.

www.itv.com...


Seems a few local MCC's have begun doing street patrols to deter looters in some of the affected areas.

Good on them and kudos to MSM for showing bikers in a positive light.

a reply to: woogleuk

Wonderful - we've just got power back to our network sites and are working through repairing the damage, but you know what's going to happen... I'm going to spend the next 8 hours getting everything back up, for it all to fall over again in the morning

a reply to: stumason

You can only do what you can do matey.

Perhaps securing defences for the next one (Gertrude?) may be more appropriate than wasting time fixing other damages...a lot of uncertainty about how this is going at the moment.

a reply to: woogleuk

We've got the ear of Gold Command who kindly lent us some squaddies to build some defences for us to try and prevent some flooding, but it remains to be seen if that will work... Even if the site stays dry, there's no guarantee power will stay on and then we've only got 1 hour of battery

Ah well...something to do....

a reply to: woogleuk

Are you bracing yourselves? The wind's howling here already - I dread to think what this idiot storm will bring.

a reply to: beansidhe
I'm lying in bed all warm and snug....the wind is raging outside, yet some bugger is letting off fireworks.

My arse clenches a wee bit everytime there is a strong gust (outside wind, before any smart alec comments).

Am I the only one who thinks Shameless Frank Gallagher raging drunkenly through the streets?

a reply to: woogleuk



I'll be thinking of you and your clenched arse, and hoping for the best.

yeah been watching this one - good link for animated wind charts - just zoom to wherever in the world but you can see the size of this one and its speeds.

link

a reply to: beansidhe

It's about to hit you by the looks of things.....like an evil banshee from the forests of Cumbria, our Frank's a coming.....stay safe.

Storm Frank: Scotland braced for gale-force winds and flooding

a reply to: johnb

Those green strands are mesmerising when you zoom in. What does it mean when they turn pink? I'm assuming it's bad.

a reply to: beansidhe

click on them and it gives you the wind speed, red is stronger winds.

a reply to: woogleuk

Hmm, I have an amber warning in Argyll I see. Bugger.

Stay safe, y'all.

If Frank turns out to be anything like hurricane bawbag we have no need to worry.