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Flooding In London And Surrounding Areas

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tiggerblue10 | 17:17 Mon 26th Jul 2021 | News
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-57971381

So we had flooding a couple of weeks ago, heatwave last week and now more flooding. Do you think this is to do with climate change or other factors?

Obviously the flooding in the UK is nothing compared to the devastation on the continent.
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Maybe a contributory factor buttress things have happened before. Maybe the drains arnt cleared aswell as they use to be
Buttress is predictive text. Should say but these...
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Maybe more and more fatbergs are forming.
floods have happened before, made no better by people's preference for living on floodplains, but the flash-flooding is new. I've watched the sudden downpours get more common and heavier over about the last 25 years. And the heatwaves seem to be getting hotter too.

Yes, I think it's global warmig - global because it's certainly not just Britain where it's happening.
Global warming.
Were the drains blocked by discarded face masks, and are the "new" Londoners happy to have a flood or two every year ... just like home.
It's called weather.

There have been floods in London (and other parts of England) for donkey's years. The causes are many and various. One particular location in Raynes Park gets flooded every time there is a decent storm. The road was excavated to form a dip under the line when the railway was built. The drains are improperly maintained and it floods as sure as night follows day. Violent thunder storms are a feature of English weather in the summer. They mark the end of a hot spell.
//There have been floods in London/

1928 and 1953 for instance? That was before the glow bulls got loose and before half the place was either concreted oven or coated in discarded kebab. I hope that your basement swimming pool and subterranean bespoke cinema were not affected Judge. (╹◡╹)
Yes, the bad drainage situation in Raynes Park might also explain why the record temperature in Canada was broken by about 4 degrees this year. I'm sure it's nothing to do with what the majority of scientists have been saying for decades.
//I'm sure it's nothing to do with what the majority of scientists have been saying for decades.//

No it isn't tomus. The bridge under the railway at Raynes Park (and one or two others I know of including the "twins" of Haggerston Road and Middleton Road which burrow under the London Overground line in North London) always floods when there is any heavy rainfall. There are a number of them in London which were all built in the same way. They are essentially large, concrete lined pits with a couple of small drains at the bottom and are hopelessly unable to deal with heavy rain. They have been doing this for as long as I can remember and probably ever since they were built - which was long before "Global Warming" and its more recent metamorphosis, "Climate Change", were ever thought of.

They often show Raynes Park on the telly when it rains. They have to get there quickly because an hour or two after the rain stops the water has drained away.

//I hope that your basement swimming pool and subterranean bespoke cinema were not affected Judge. (╹◡╹)//

Thanks, Togo. All is fine. After Brian May's disaster a week or so ago I had them both moved to the roof!
There are areas where it is always liable to flood due to the geography. Hebden Bridge, near where I once lived is one and it is near flooding every year.

Every year there are stories of unexpected 'flash floods' I remember a very dramatic one in Devon a few years ago.

We've had some very wet Springs and a local 'race' nearly burst it's banks this year - but it's 8 years since it last did it and about the same before that - it's always done it occasionally.

Where we did get unexpected flooding it was due to uncleared gullies and partially blocked drains. Local government services have been pared back a lot in recent years. Restore the level of unblocking and clearing that we used to have and then decide if the climate is much changed.
Where the floods are worst it's often the drainage that seems to reverse and feed the floods.

The odd thing recently has been how localised and intense the downpours have been. I was in London a couple of weeks ago with the massive downpour that just seemed to go on and on. When I eventually got onto the M1, as I went past Watford I noticed that the ground there was none dry - not a drop.
.... bone dry ...
Yes the UK climate is changing. To appreciate this overall countrywide trends should be observed rather than focussing on one specific area/event/day and comparing that particular one to previous years.

A good report here from the Met Office:
https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/climate/understanding-climate/uk-extreme-events-_heavy-rainfall-and-floods
Oh yeah the drains: not just in London.
The drains in France and Germany, in China and India, and so on.

Fix the drains and we’ll be fine :-)
we are still using the antiquated sewer system installed in Victorian times, they are getting overloaded and can't cope with the amount of rain we had in London recently
this was from an environmental agency ^^
Strangely, fixing the drains might only make matters worse as far as flash flooding is concerned. That is very much a problem caused by 'concreting over everything'. As less rain is absorbed in the ground where it falls, more clearly rushes through the rain drains and into the streams and rivers.

Planning Authorities have made some half-hearted attempts to improve this with recent properties but the measures that are needed are unpopular as they can be expensive. As for existing urban areas, it seems to be concrete (or similar) as far as the eye can see.
// Oh yeah the drains: not just in London.
The drains in France and Germany, in China and India, and so on.

Fix the drains and we’ll be fine :-) //

You nailed it, but read the the nonsense arguments defending the
"drain hypotheses" posted here.

Cognitive dissonance out the ying-yang !

//Cognitive dissonance out the ying-yang !//
Pardon?

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