floods

[Captain Kong]

Richard,
the relevent Authorities dont spend enough money on flood prevention, why? they let the Insurance Companies pay for the damage by Increasing the Insurance Premiums of everyone.
So everyone pays except the authorities. Problem Solved.
We have had worse weather than this in the past without flooding on this scale.
But as I have said before, streams and rivers are silting up, entrances to small harbours are not dredged and they are silting up. Dredging is expensive so leave it to the Insurance.
I have seen it in the River Severn every year I go to the Vindicatrix reunion in Sharpness, the sand banks and sand bars are increasing in size and number. been watching it since 1952,
In Morecambe Bay off and inside Fleetwood harbour fast silting up since the port was closed two years ago.
Yesterday I drove over the River Mersey near Manchester, it was in full flood, never seen the water so high. they always dredged there, but not any more so the levels are higher and will overflow soon.
So Lets Blame Global Warming. I have never been warm all year.
Cheers
Brian.

[Tony Morcom]

................. a very dry Octember,.............

I know we would all love to make lots of changes to the world as we know it John, but changing the months on the calender is going a bit far don't you think

[John Arton]

Capt Kong (Brian)
As you will be aware the River Mersey actually forms part of the Manchester Ship Canal. The section between Partington and just below Warburton high level. Where it enters the MSC there is a weir which if memory serves me correctly the Canal authorities maintain and keep it clear, same with the weir further down where the Mersey leaves the canal and flows behind Latchford village and through Sankey where it starts widening out.Somewhere just upstream of Runcorn used to be the head of navigation on the Mersey itself, cannot remember exactly where navigation on the Mersey actually ceased in the days before the canal was built but seem to recall from many passages up and down the Ditch, it was marked on the charts.
The canal is dredged permantley with most of the spoil being dumped on Frodsam flats these days or down near Rixton.
Excess water levels in the canal is allowed to run off over the gates at Eastham.
rgds
JA

[John Arton]

Building up river banks etc. is not really the best defence against flooding. The USA built huge relif canals on the Missisippi after some tremendous floods many years ago after realising that the higher you build up the levees, when they are breached massive extra amounts of water come pouring through due to the increased height of the river.
The Germans started straightening and building higher dykes on the Maas years ago and it had an almost catastrophic effect on the Dutch Belgiums when they found the current was running far faster and more water coming down the Maas. At first they tried raising he dykes by around 1-2 metres but again they realised that all they were doing was allowing more water to flow through them should they be breached so they embarked upon a program of building relief canals etc.
rgds
JA

[Captain Kong]

Hi John the part of the Mersey I am on about, is the part that flows through Ashton on Mersey near to Carrington and Sale and above towards Stockport, I used to see shore grabs moving along the river scooping up the mud sediment and dumping it on the banks as they moved along. They do not do it anymore, it is not part of the Navigable part lower down.
I know vessels used to sail up the Mersey as far as Warrington but again I think that part is also silting up.
Cheers
Brian

[Red Lead Ted]

If you build on flood plains as this country has for years then you shouldn't be surprised when the water backs up and comes into peoples homes.......

I agree with you totally, There is no torrent like a raging torrent of water you cant control. To which sadly has cost 3 people there lives. Without sounding to political the minister in charge of flood defences in the UK Andrew Tyrie {QUOTE} Speaking on BBC News the government has pledged another £2 billion to strengthen our flood defences over the next 2 years. That is of very little comfort for the 1000s of people in the most vulnerable areas the country over who are going to suffer /die/or loose there homes and possession's in the coming weeks not months or years. When you think of what is handed over to Brussels every day and for what, What is being spent on the pointless conflict in Afghanistan. We have only just endured the first rainfall of what could be a very long and wet winter. This is nothing new we have had this problem going back to at least the turn of the century and is becoming more and more frequent. We here on Merseyside are very fortunate we are not surrounded by hills and countryside so flooding is very limited although not rare. Watching an old guy on the bbc news today living in Wiltshire been flooded out 3 times in 2 years will take little comfort from the ministers stance on the progression of flood defences. Lets just pray to the lord that the next heavy rainfall not if, but when the temperatures are not that cold for the flooding of peoples homes doesn't freeze there will be a lot more than 3 deaths this is a very serious concern to people in this country and i think government ministers should be doing a lot more than they are. They are compromising peoples lives basically and need a bloody good shake. Regards Terry.

[Tony Morcom]

................They are compromising peoples lives basically and need a bloody good shake.

I suspect,Terry, that the main reason for the long time scale is that at this moment in time they still don't know exactly what they need to do to stem the waters and overcome the challenges created by ill considered building over the past 20 years. Without being too skeptical I would imagine that a hefty chunk of the £2billion will be sucked up by various committees sitting around arguing about it. With these massive machines they have these days surely a couple of large man-made "rivers" should not be beyond the realms of a possibility. Did I not read somewhere a few months ago about how the water companies were investigating the possibility of digging new rivers to transport water from Scotland down to the midlands to help alleviate the "drought".

The saddest part of this latest flooding, other than the deaths, was the report on the TV the night before last highlighting the fact that a village somewhere had had a couple of £million spent on a super duper pumping system to cater for just such an eventuality. Guess what ~ when it was actually needed it broke down within an hour! Sounds a bit like Weston Super Mare. They spent all last summer building a new sea defense system incorporating steel barriers that at the press of a button would raise up and block the gaps in the sea wall on the promenade. First time we had a major storm the immediate area flooded because no one had "pressed the button". The excuse was "no one told us there was going to be a storm surge" Funny thing is everyone other than the council knew because it had been forecast for the previous week.

[Red Lead Ted]

I imagine you have experienced or witnessed more living in Somerset, Than i have on Merseyside to see the raging torrent in Essex on the news today my heart goes out to people trying to run small business's trying to make a living, or living, on these flood plains. I guess you will be proved right in your assumption, Another thing this government could do more of is at least give these people some assistance in there hour of need. If you were an illegal immigrant in this country and suffered this the court of human rights in Strasbourg would be up in arms if they weren't all rehoused or taken to safe havens overnight. Good health and best wishes Terry.

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Hi All.
Saw the floods in the UK on TV last night dreadfull.
I just got a letter from my sister in Wales, she said this is the first year they have had to buy veges in around 30 years, her husband is a keen gardener and shows his plants,the garden has been wiped out by the rain. That is not as heartbreaking as losing someone, or your house, but in some ways to him it probably is. Why is it that polititions from years ago had some vision, here in Aus they built the Snowy River scheme, the Ord river scheme, the Gahn, and Pacific railway, these days they can't even build a dam.
Cheers Des

[happy daze john in oz]

Have just viewed the devastating floods in Britain on the television which must be very hard on those affected, especially at this time of the year. May the situation ease and that notice is taken of the reasons for the floods.

Richard Q

I think Richard you will find the situation has come about by an undue amount of precipitation.
Reminds me of an add years ago for a house.
Lovely three bedroom cottage with a river at the bottom of the garden. In the winter garden at the bottom of the river.