[mrs bouquet]

I have just been watching a news bulletin about the weather in Yorkshire, Derbyshire etc.  I just cannot imagine  watching that water and not being able to do anything.   How terrible for those people.   I hope you are not included.     Dreadful.       Mrs Bouquet

[JayG]

In the Sheffield area, some were saved this time around by the flood defences built since the serious flooding in 2007.

Not everyone though, especially those homes and businesses who were hit again and haven't been able to get flooding insurance since then. 

[Plot 1 Problems]

Terrible what is happening oop North. Times like this I'm glad our local authority had the sense not to permit house building on the flood plains of the Severn.

[John]

The unusual rain event in Sheffield back in 2007 was described as a "Once in 200 years, event" - Quite why they spent £20 million on flood defences is hard to see if they truly believed it. Anyway, good job they did as here we are, 12 years later, and another "Once in 200 years, event"

I really believe it's going to get a lot worse as time goes on. Drought & Flood, heatwaves & freezing, superstorms with extreme winds. Cutting CO2 levels should happen but probably won't and even if we stopped now the problems will take years to go away. So we need to do a lot more than become 'green' we need to invest in protecting ourselves from the consequences of our civilisation.

[Goosegirl]

Having been flooded three times in the past I know how it feels and it's not nice!    We were fortunate in that it was our surface water pipe drained into a dyke that kept getting blocked, so we had to re-route the pipe under our garden and the nearby lane so it now goes into a different dyke that drains away from us. When it's due to a river overflowing its banks there's not a lot you can do except to help each other out. We always seem to get homes flooded around the yearly festival event and it makes me feel so sad for those who have been affected.

[RubyRed]

  Oh my God, the irony. Wasn't it Sheffield that destroyed thousands of healthy trees. As has nottingham. In its bid to make the planet healthier tens of thousands of trees have been destroyed to make way for trams. A much healthier way to live. Stop the greed. Work with nature not against it. Round me in derbyshire trees, hedges and fields ( natural soakaways) have all gone to be replaced with vast estates of thousands of houses joining 2 villages. The new roads all have wonderful names like, hare close, buzzard way kingfisher close. No longer will you see them. One of the new estates is called bluebell wood. It was at one time. Now suddenly there are more landslides in the world and dreadful floods. I don't understand why the surprise. You reap what you sow. Sorry I didn't mean this to be a rant but it touched a nerve. 😢

[8doubles]

Near my home town at a meeting about a new housing development that planned to build on the site of the old village pond they were told repeatedly  by elderly locals "It will flood"!
The River Lavant flows underground there till there is enough rain to surface !

https://images.app.goo.gl/nH726Qj3KNRoSo27A

[mrs bouquet]

The same thing happened in our village, the old farm house yard/pond which always flooded, had houses built on it about 30 years ago.   So to help !, 3 willow trees were planted,   they get so big that each year the residents have to pay to have them lopped etc.     Guess what, the development is called "The Willows" - what imagination     Mrs Bouquet

[WeavingGryphon]

I blame patios-uni did. I have a biological background and this is a quote from the lecturer.

Before patios rain had to percolate through trees, bushes, grass (all of which had a drink), through the roots and soil and it took time to reach the rivers. Not it patters onto patios and gravel with the waterproof lining, goes rush from one garden to the next and sits in the bottom person's garden. As a flood.

I took a bit out in the middle which I'll add for those who were not bored and wandered off, the river then had 2 surges (where it rose), once from rain running over the surface, because only so much will be soaked up or slowed down by running through or around things like grass. The second is several hours later and typically after the first surge. It's when the ground water reaches the river.
That was also told by my GCSE Geography teacher.

Really bad areas should consider planting willow, monstrously thirsty plants that help hold banks together (that bit also from uni lecturer). to support my assertion trees should be planted this is also from Uni ans school, the Mississippi one year had too little water in it and they realised one of the states up at the source of the river had planted loads of trees. So they took the trees out, the next year, the banks burst and record breaking flooding ensured. I believe it was in 1993.

More gardens here than not are lock block, gravel or slabbed over. I hate them as I look at them and think that could be raspberries, strawberries or currants. Something your children or grandchildren could eat. Where wildlife could be living. But your wasting it.

Soap box put away. Environment loving grumpy sod that I am, nerve also not so much touched as given a rather painful poking.

[John]

It does go a bit beyond patios (and astroturf!) - a month's rain in a day is going to cause problems regardless. I agree with you about trees absorbing water. Swales on slopes would serve to slow flows too. Just improving the quality (more humus) and depth of topsoil will also help as it can absorb huge amounts of water.
The thing is that these control methods all cost money - we (as a society) either pay up-front or accept the cost of damage. Keep in mind that insurance companies are withdrawing cover for properties at high risk and putting up premiums for the rest.
Certainly 'hard engineering' has its place - flood defence barriers etc. but 'green engineering' has, IMHO, more of a role to play.

[WeavingGryphon]

It does go a bit beyond patios (and astroturf!) - a month's rain in a day is going to cause problems regardless. I agree with you about trees absorbing water. Swales on slopes would serve to slow flows too. Just improving the quality (more humus) and depth of topsoil will also help as it can absorb huge amounts of water.
The thing is that these control methods all cost money - we (as a society) either pay up-front or accept the cost of damage. Keep in mind that insurance companies are withdrawing cover for properties at high risk and putting up premiums for the rest.
Certainly 'hard engineering' has its place - flood defence barriers etc. but 'green engineering' has, IMHO, more of a role to play.

I agree with you on all points. Patio's exacerbate and there's only so much the moors can absorb.
Given how bad things are everything possible needs to be done to try mitigate this. Both green and hard engineering since there's not one solution. Money needs to be found and with green engineering they can ask for volunteers to help plant which would help take costs down. A lot of people would (I hope) be motivated to help plant to prevent future floods. I'd help and our house is at nor risk of flooding.

I remember being in a cafe a few years ago just before the second really bad Stonehaven floods and someone behind us wasn't able to get back to the town to rescue their stuff as public transport was cancelled. They were on the phone their mum to get her to rescue their stuff. Then they were on the phone trying to get insurance on their ground floor flat. They were right next to the river which was in spate and rising. It burst it's banks within the hour. I don't know if they got the cover, heartbreaking  .

[Kleftiwallah]

Could it have been the instalation of 'flood defences' oop North that caused the flooding further South?

I hope evryone is O.K. after this traumatic event.  Cheers,  Tony.

[wighty]

When I lived in 'big England'  (Islander word), down the bottom of our road was two factories, both e mpty.  They were then knocked down and a load of houses were built on the land.  The drainage was insufficient to now cope and we came ho me one afternoon to find our road flooded and water lapping at our front door step.   Further drains were fortunately installed and it never happened again but since I moved here to 'little England' both the ho mes I've had here are on raised land.

[Growster...]

Back in 2000, I was doing the daily drive to Canterbury, usually across several small rivers, streams really, near Smarden and thereabouts.

When we were all hit with rain in Kent that October 31st, I was on my way home in the dark avoiding all the puddles, but in a car, new to me (an automatic).

When I saw a huge flowing puddle by a little bridge near 'The Smarden Bell' pub (Mum will know it), I stopped, then saw some tail lights in the distance, so went for it, but on auto, not 1st gear.

Wrong thing to do. Bow wave over bonnet, stalled the car and water immediately came up to the top of the seats. Should have put it in first then burst through, but didn't know that.

Had to get out quick as the car was slowly moving sideways, but stopped thankfully. Got everything up on the roof, then implored a 4x4 driver to tow me out, which he did, with dribbling thanks from a soaked Growster! Car was a write-off, and smelt awful when I collected what was left of my stuff a week later!

Moral of the story? When it rains, nature likes to feed little streams which join into rivers, which turn into torrents, which break their banks, then cause Growsters mayhem, and all because of some vanishing tail-lights...

[John]

Being 600 feet up on a hillside you'd think we were flood proof. Then we get a cloudburst and a sheet of water comes down the hill. In the cowshed, which is part buried at the back, the French drain is overwhelmed and water breaks through the tanking to jet 3 feet out of the back wall into the cowshed!