Somerset Levels Flooding

[black_cat51]

I get that flooding is terrible and really uproots people, things and buildings. we have been flooded ourselves and it was awful. However, i can't really understand what the somerset people on the news moaning about the govt are really expecting them to do - they can't stop it raining!
Lots of people have been flooded in recent years, but i haven't really seen this much criticism of the govt before. It's like at Xmas when the electricity companies were vilified for people being without power - when trees fall down in the wind, you kind of expect power lines to come down too, and i doubt the companies just sat around thinking "oh dear"!

[chrissa1]

I think it is mainly that govt hasn't spent money on dredging rivers to allow the water to flow out to sea naturally.

[black_cat51]

oh, ok thanks. Although looking at the news pictures, i can't really see how dredging would have helped

[chrissa1]

That's probably because you can't see where the rivers have overflowed. They have just disappeared as the water has built up.

[jno]

the government announced cuts in flood defences last year

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-25587555

(that report's from a month ago). It's felt they are blind to the increasing extreme weather the country's suffering.

Broadly speaking, I think it's felt (rightly or wrongly) the government doesn't seem that bothered by stuff that happens beyond the M25, and should be looking into much more dramatic ways of preparing for bad weather

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26042518

The helpline for flood victims costs up to 41p a minute, which goes to a private company

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2550791/Flood-victims-pay-41p-minute-call-premium-rate-government-helpline.html

[EDDIE51]

Dredging is actually worse than useless , the real problem is that many bridges have been built downstream,these now form 'pinch points' where the river is narrowed. Dredging the river may increase the flow but it makes more problems and flooding further down in the towns with a bridge. it may even mean that the bridges are damaged or destroyed. What no one seems to mention is the fact that we are having the wettest start to a year since records began. The Somerset Levels have never had to cope with this level of rain since they were first formed hundreds of years ago. They are not a natural feature they were originally a swamp, the 'rivers' are actually man-made drainage channels.

[naomi24]

jno, The 41p was from mobiles and has been scrapped. From landlines it’s 10.5p.

From your link.

//However, yesterday amid the outcry, it set up an alternative helpline on a cheaper 0345 number, which costs the same as calling a landline. //

Eddie, dredging or not is a contentious issue. I was listening to an interview with the leader of the Green Party the other day and it seems that much of the problem is due to green policies – not dredging rivers.

[jno]

it hasn't been scrapped.

[EDDIE51]

naomi i agree with you, the environment agency made a thought out decision to stop dredging as they considered it was counter productive. It was not just stopped to save money as has been suggested.

[Ann]

I think the issue here is that millions of pounds are squirrelled away for foreign aid to countries which can well afford to look after themselves! This funding should be stopped immediately and the money then directed to UK areas which need major re-building after these dreadful storms which can definitely be classed as a major disaster.

[sandyRoe]

If you build houses on a flood plain there's a chance they'll be flooded when there's heavy rain. Same as farming on the Somerset Levels, when there's lots of rain the farms will be flooded. King Canute couldn't alter that.

[Peter Pedant]

This is an insightul comment BC
and the thing is that I think you only understand if it is done to you....

we had a gas main punctured by workmen on ( or in ) a road - and as it was Friday - they just turned the gas off and went home.... for the week end.
Two old peoples homes cut off as well - and yes the utility did say o dear.

So yeah I sympathised with the people cut off at Xmas - because yeah I think the utilities were sitting around over Xmas - thinking exactly - oh dear....

[naomi24]

jno, you're right - it hasn't been scrapped - but your claim that 'The helpline for flood victims costs up to 41p a minute' with no mention of the lower costs available gives a false impression. An alternative priced at the same rate as calls from a landline (10.5p) is in operation.

[beso]

pp //So yeah I sympathised with the people cut off at Xmas - because yeah I think the utilities were sitting around over Xmas - thinking exactly - oh dear.... //

Did you sit around over Christmas? Remember what you call "the company" is actually people.

You want all the power workers out there day and night over their Christmas fixing the damage done by nature?

And of course the company should have enough people trained, experienced, equipped and on call to do the vast amount of work required during such times even though most of them won't get any work for the years in between.

Oh and of course those that are on call and working over Christmas shouldn't expect any penalty rates because that would push up the price of power.

[youngmafbog]

The World is changing, we stupidly built on flood plains (and probably still do) and now we moan.

People blame the Government because that is the popular thing to do, blame someone else for your own stupidity. (Regardless of the colour of the party in power).

Remember; the wise man built his house upon the rock!

[modeller]

It isn't just rivers and flood plains that suffer. It also depends on the water table which is governed by the sub strata. My estate is built over gravel so our gardens are always short of water , however only a few hundred yards away is a wooded common overlying clay which is permanently boggy and at the moment is flooded . What has made it worse IMO during the past 2-3 years hundreds of silver birches have been removed to make it more open to the public. It's done that alright but with less trees to take up the water there has been a huge increase in standing water and that was before the current downpour.

[jno]

naomi, the OP aks why peoople are criticising the government over flooding. One of the answers is that the government have appeared to make money out of it by licensing premium rate phone lines. It has only just - after weeks of flooding - done something about this, but not by cutting off the premium phone line, which people will still use if they don't know about the new one. (Landlines aren't necessarily going to work if you're flooded, so using a mobile may be the only way to get through.)

So that's an answer to the original question. What's yours?

[ToraToraTora]

The dredging would have made no difference anyway, even if the capacity of the rivers was doubled. However there has been systematic neglect of water dissipation infrastructure and flood defences since privatisation. No intervening government as done anything much really but then again it takes two to tango and of course this amount of rain is unprecidented, there still would have been flooding even if all the above had been A1.

[ToraToraTora]

give it 8 weeks we'll have a hosepipe ban!

[anotheoldgit]

Forget your feelings for Mr Farage or his party, and address his suggestion of using foreign aid money.

If another country was in such difficulties we would be among the first to dip our hands in our pockets, but where are they when we need them?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2552969/Ukips-Nigel-Farage-calls-foreign-aid-budget-used-help-flood-hit-communities.html