England Underwater

[Garth 0]

Flood crisis grows as rivers rise

 

Flood water threatens the town of Upton-upon-Severn

 

Enlarge Image

The flooding crisis in central and western England continues with thousands of homes losing water and electricity supplies.

 

Up to 350,000 people in Gloucestershire will be left without water within the next 15 hours, as the River Severn and the Thames threaten to overflow.

 

The Environment Agency has warned water levels are expected to exceed those of the devastating floods of 1947.

 

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he would set up a review of the crisis.

 

Mr Brown flew by helicopter over Gloucestershire, the worst-affected county, before heading to the police headquarters where the emergency response is being co-ordinated.

 

He said the government would set up a review focusing on drainage and how Britain could protect itself against further flooding.

 

See map of severe flood warnings

 

Extra funding would also be given to local authorities to help pay for essential emergency work in the aftermath of the crisis, he said.

 

 

 

The Environment Agency said water levels on the River Severn and Thames could reach a "critical" level in some areas.

 

Severe flood warnings are in place for the Midlands, Oxfordshire and Bedfordshire.

 

A spokesman for the agency said the River Severn and the Thames would continue to swell until Tuesday and that levels on both rivers could increase beyond those of 60 years ago.

 

In March 1947, millions of pounds of damage was caused in the south of England, the Midlands, East Anglia and North Yorkshire when many of the country's rivers burst their banks.

 

Other main developments include:

 

* Environment Agency chief executive Baroness Young told the BBC that about £1bn a year was needed to improve flood defences.

 

* Environment Secretary Hilary Benn defended the government's flood response, saying there are lessons to be learned but denying flood defences had not been maintained properly.

 

* Meanwhile, the Association of British Insurers has said the total bill for the June and July floods could reach £2bn.

 

* Sir John Harman, the chairman of the Environment Agency, warned summer floods could become more frequent in the future.

 

Severn Trent Water said 150,000 homes in Gloucestershire were without water after a treatment works was flooded.

 

But it warned all residents in Gloucester, Cheltenham and Tewkesbury - an estimated 350,000 people - they would lose their supply within the next 15 hours.

 

The situation is expected to last several days, it said.

 

People were being urged not to panic buy and to do all they could to conserve water.

 

No electricity

 

Peter Bungard from Gloucestershire County Council told BBC Five Live bottled water was being provided and a number of water bowsers being deployed to the area, he said.

 

Elsewhere in Gloucestershire, 15,000 homes were left without power after a major electricity substation was turned off because of the rising water.

 

 

ENGLAND FLOODED

 

Gloucester tap water out

Severe warning on Ouse

Worcester residents affected

More fears for Oxfordshire

West Midlands travel chaos

Clean-up in Lincolnshire

 

A spokesman for the Central Networks Castlemeads substation said areas of Gloucester, parts of Cheltenham and some homes across the county border in Herefordshire had been affected.

 

The county council has appealed to builders merchants to supply "dumpy bags" - giant sandbags - to help the operation.

 

Electricity supplier Central Networks has advised customers to ring 0800 328 1111 to report loss of supply.

 

BBC Radio Gloucestershire visited residents in Tewkesbury, one of the worst affected areas of Gloucestershire, and described a jovial mood among those cut off by flood waters.

 

One resident from a block of flats whose car park was covered in water said people were "laughing" and taking events in their stride.

 

 

HAVE YOUR SAY

We must now look at proper regional controls and answers for surface water problems

Ted Smith, Worcester

 

Over the border, parts of Worcestershire were under 6ft of water and the Army has been deployed to help emergency services provide supplies to people in Upton-upon-Severn.

 

The Bishop of Worcester, Dr Peter Selby, said: "It is rare for a disaster of this kind to affect so much of the country at once, and my prayers are with everyone in the affected places at this difficult time."

 

Warwickshire and Berkshire have also been badly affected and severe warnings remain in place for Oxfordshire.

 

Residents at risk of flooding in Oxford have been told to leave their homes as water levels are expected to rise.

 

Some homes in Oxford, Abingdon, Kidlington and Bladon have already been flooded and conditions are expected to deteriorate.

 

'Critical' situation

 

Meanwhile, the government is expected to announce on Monday that it is rejecting calls to stop building houses on flood plains, despite the recent extensive flooding.

 

A draft of the Housing Green Paper, which was obtained by the BBC, says it is "not realistic" to rule out new developments in areas at risk of flooding.

 

The Environment Agency has issued nine severe flood warnings and says the situation is "critical".

 

There are five in the Midlands for the River Avon and River Severn between Evesham, Tewkesbury and Gloucester.

 

Three severe flood warnings are in place for Oxfordshire, from Eynsham to Abingdon, and one has been issued for River Great Ouse from Turvey to Sharnbrook in Bedfordshire.

 

BBC forecaster Chris Fawkes said the heaviest rain was due to fall in southern England in an area between the Isle of Wight and Suffolk, where an inch of rain could fall on Monday.

 

He also said Gloucestershire and Worcestershire could see 10 or 15 millimetres of rainfall.

 

It's not looking good at the moment. Luckily I live a bit out of the way of all the flooding at present. I've got a wedding to go to tomorrow that is in Gloucester, we've had to rent a 4x4 to make sure we can get there in case we encounter anything too bad.

 

Maybe this will wake some peolple over this side of the world to the problems of global warming, that it's not just something that affects 'other places.'

 

Anyone from here been affected by this at all?

 

[Guest Tzar Lysergic]

Global warming is probably the conclusion most frequently jumped to, anymore. You guys never had torrential downpours that caused widespread flooding before?

[Garth 0]

I can't recall anything quite as serious as this in recent history. I believe the last time we were hit really badly by flooding was 1947.

 

A lot of people seemed quite happy to put the weather down to simply being the poor British climate.

[Guest •]

Global warming is probably the conclusion most frequently jumped to, anymore. You guys never had torrential downpours that caused widespread flooding before?

I was told that global warming was the reason it snowed in the Midwest back in early April, back when the Cubs and Indians got snowed out. I just figured it was because it was the fucking Midwest, where we've had goofy-ass weather patterns for as long as anyone can remember. The Blizzard of '79 that fucked up pretty much everything in Chicago was supposed to be the result of global cooling. No, it just snows a lot here.

 

That was '93 when there was all that flooding in Missouri, Illinois, Iowa and elsewhere along the Mississippi, right? I remember that one. That was some bad shit.

[luke-o 0]

It was quite bad around Reading, particaully in Newbury. Luckily I'm in Tilehurst which wasn't that affected, probably because everything it built on a fecking hill.

[Garth 0]

I'm going to be a bit miffed if Reading is still feeling the brunt of this next month. I have a festival to attend dammit.

[luke-o 0]

Dude, it's like this every year at Reading Festival. 2002 was fucking awful for weather and 2005 was even worse.

[Vanhalen 0]

The weather has absolutely fucking sucked this year, I think I've fallen asleep all summer and woke up in November

[k thx 0]

Dude, it's like this every year at Reading Festival. 2002 was fucking awful for weather and 2005 was even worse.

I honestly can't remember a bad Reading, rain wise, and I went to both of those. Certainly nothing to compare with Glastonbury.

[Copper Feel 0]

It is actually fairly dry where I am, odd.

[k thx 0]

It's not been too bad in Bristol, for what it's worth.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

WE DIDN'T LISTEN!!

[Jingus 0]

Global warming is like Some Puerto Rican Guy for weather. Here in Texas, we've been getting amazing amounts of rainfall, it's been storming every other day. Meanwhile, in my old home of Tennessee, they've been undergoing a horrible drought. Which one did global warming cause? Or can it magically do both?

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

Those two old guys fishing is, like, my quintessential image of Brits. You know, after Mr. Bean.

[At Home 0]

lol, floods

[Garth 0]

I've been to Reading every year since 2000 and I do remember 2002 and 2005 being reasonably bad weather wide. Nothing terrible. It was just a shit for parking in 2005 as allot of the space ear marked for that had been flooded and was unsuitable. Had to walk absolutely miles to and from the car that year.

 

The weather hasn't been too bad in Salisbury either. It's been mainly stuff a l bit further north that has really taken the battering.

 

It is rather wonderful the chaps fishing isn't it?

[EricMM 0]

Jingus, it can "magically" do both, depending on the location.

 

warmer temperatures will cause more rain where there is water to be absorbed, and more draught where there isn't. It will expand the tropics, and increase rainfall in many areas. Areas where the weather is already dry, it will get dryer. But I never knew TN to be particularly dry, so I cannot say for sure.

[Red Baron 0]

In Niagara July has been the wettest month in ages.

[Guest Tzar Lysergic]

That was '93 when there was all that flooding in Missouri, Illinois, Iowa and elsewhere along the Mississippi, right? I remember that one. That was some bad shit.

 

The most recent one up here was in '03. Pissed down rain for a couple of weeks to the degree that some folks around here got FEMA benefits and everything.

[Jingus 0]

warmer temperatures will cause more rain where there is water to be absorbed, and more draught where there isn't. It will expand the tropics, and increase rainfall in many areas. Areas where the weather is already dry, it will get dryer. But I never knew TN to be particularly dry, so I cannot say for sure.

But the temperatures aren't any warmer in Texas than usual. In fact, it's been a pretty mild, cool summer here, I don't think it's broken 100 degrees once (which is depressingly common most of the time, according to the locals). And it sure as hell is a dry area. So, we've got an area with no water and cool temperature, getting rained on constantly, which goes completely against your theory. I've heard TN is the opposite this summer: really damn hot. But it's always so humid that droughts there are rarely if ever a problem; you can't walk a hundred feet in TN without tripping over a stream or pond or giant manmade lake. Yet once again, it's operating exactly the opposite of your prediction: lots of water, hot temp, low rainfall.

[PLAGIARISM! 0]

I'm just glad the South got some of it, finally. I'm sure they laughed at us. Despite living in Sheffield which saw the first major deluges, I've not been affected personally, outside of the hellish trip back from Glastonbury to a city that was closed. It was beautifully sunny today however, joy.

[Guest Vitamin X]

While the thread topic is a bit dramatic, that first picture almost kind of reminded me of New Orleans circa September 2005.

[Obi Chris Kenobi 0]

I don't think you can put it down to global warming, just dumb shits building houses in floodplains. It rains, rivers burst their banks, its nature.

[EricMM 0]

the UK is a floodplain?

 

And Jingus, it's like, if it's 1ºF higher, you're not going to notice it in the thermometer, but it's going to affect climate (not weather so much)

[Guest •]

He didn't say the entire United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland was a floodplain.

[Obi Chris Kenobi 0]

the UK is a floodplain?

 

The whole of the UK isn't underwater though is it, its the same places that flood every year. Only this year the rain all felt heavily over a short space of time so the floods are a bit worse. I'm sure if you were to check the annual rain fall at the end of the year of this year to last year it wouldn't be that much different.

 

EDIT:

 

If they had spent money over the years reinforcing river banks and the likes, then they wouldn't find themselves in so much of a mess right now. Worcester floods even when there's just a little bit of rain, York floods most of the time too, so its not like its a surprise.

[Jingus 0]

And Jingus, it's like, if it's 1ºF higher, you're not going to notice it in the thermometer, but it's going to affect climate (not weather so much)

Of course it will, in a vague, subtle, chaos theory-type manner. But like I said earlier, we've had an unusually cold summer here.

[luke-o 0]

I've been to Reading every year since 2000 and I do remember 2002 and 2005 being reasonably bad weather wide. Nothing terrible. It was just a shit for parking in 2005 as allot of the space ear marked for that had been flooded and was unsuitable. Had to walk absolutely miles to and from the car that year.

 

The weather hasn't been too bad in Salisbury either. It's been mainly stuff a l bit further north that has really taken the battering.

 

It is rather wonderful the chaps fishing isn't it?

 

Wasn't it 2005 (could have bee 04) when it was REALLY bogged down and it was like walking through a swamp? I remember as I had to bin my trainers after the Friday because they were caked in mud and totally ruined.

[k thx 0]

I think 2005 was a bit wet (I remember dodging puddles on the way in) but I don't remember it raining constantly over the weekend or any pools of water, just some mud. My tent got slashed into on the Saturday night, so I know I didn't get rained on for the rest of the festival.

 

May have been 2004 as I didn't go.

[NoCalMike 0]

The U.K. should call in Bush since he did such a bang up job with Katrina and all.....