Reply to: Eek!

[darmstadt]

That guy's an arse.

The EA have had the greatest success ever this winter. The surge last year was actually greater than the 1953 surge which lost many lives as well as homes. The floods this winter caught far fewer homes than the floods of July 2007, despite the rain being much worse.

The water has to go somewhere, if it doesn't catch you it will catch the mugs further downstream.

They could have done much better if:

- they hadn't cut 550 flood prevention, warning and recovery jobs in December "with the intention of protecting frontline services concerned with flooding"
- in 2007, under Labour, the EA missed its target of keeping just 63% of England's flood defences up to scratch
- they were then told it cost 150 million a year to reach this target
- since the coalition they have in fact spent less on flood defences and a 6% overall fall in funding for 2011-2015 was in a briefing paper
- in 2012, 120 million was announced after it was found 294 flood defence schemes never received any funding they were promised
- as funding hasn't come up to 2010 levels a new scheme has been hatched: 'Flood and Coastal Resilience Partnership Funding' which is basically a PFI but private investors are not particularly interested
- by 2015 it is expected that only 38 million will be raised from these sources and the funders are firms who want to develop on flood plains
- however the via the taxpayer funded 'Growing Places Fund' extra cash can be allocated but this fund is specifically for infrastructure so really the only way to get flood defence funding is to build yet more on land at risk of flooding

The EA have known about these problems for a long time but have turned pretty much a blind eye...

Just saw this: http://www.theguardian.com/environme...funding-scheme

[Gittins Gal]

Try this.

Hmm inneresting...

So we've known all along that deforestation in the Himalayas excacerbates those awful floods in Bangladesh yet we're paying farmers sudsidies to keep the land bare.

[d000hg]

Talking about having a good blow!

Please do.

[jamesbrown]

Still of the same opinion ? You may not be after reading this

But then again, perhaps you'd like the Somerset Levels to return to their former wetland status. It certainly seems that's what the EA wants.

Try this.

[Gittins Gal]

That guy's an arse.

The EA have had the greatest success ever this winter. The surge last year was actually greater than the 1953 surge which lost many lives as well as homes. The floods this winter caught far fewer homes than the floods of July 2007, despite the rain being much worse.

The water has to go somewhere, if it doesn't catch you it will catch the mugs further downstream.

Still of the same opinion ? You may not be after reading this

But then again, perhaps you'd like the Somerset Levels to return to their former wetland status. It certainly seems that's what the EA wants.

[OwlHoot]

By the way, DS, I'm intrigued to know what Tul is....

Maybe it's short for "Marcus Tullius Cicero", and Doggy Stiles was in his garden declaiming an oration to the gnomes (as he does to us)

[Gittins Gal]

Maybe it was this

A "mini-tornado" brought down trees, damaged property and even lifted cats in the air, an eye-witness has said.

Would have laughed if I'd seen that!

[DS23]

took the dogs out and the weather turned very "eek!" indeed. got rather wet and there was much pointing & laughter when we bedraggled back.

[suityou01]

Or this

[OwlHoot]

Maybe it was this

[Gittins Gal]

It most certainly was an EEK!, GG.

A couple of hours before I was out in the pleasant sunshine in shorts practising my Tul, then a sudden 30 minute storm of biblical proportions, then sunshine again.

Do you think it was the spirit of Rabbie Burns wafting through the Sassenachs?

I have to confess there's rather a bit too much of the spirit of Rabbie Burns around here! It seems to be something they are starting to big up every year in much the same way as they did with St Patrick's Day.

Much rather go Wassailing in one of the local orchards!

By the way, DS, I'm intrigued to know what Tul is....

[Gittins Gal]

That guy's an arse.

The EA have had the greatest success ever this winter. The surge last year was actually greater than the 1953 surge which lost many lives as well as homes. The floods this winter caught far fewer homes than the floods of July 2007, despite the rain being much worse.

The water has to go somewhere, if it doesn't catch you it will catch the mugs further downstream.

That's harsh.. Did you read the article? It was actually commenting on a very localised issue.

[cojak]

Meanwhile it's coming down like stairods again.

Have to feel for the farming communities slightly to my north who are completely inundated. As I travelled down yesterday morning, I got a view of the affected area and it's a complete and utter scene of devestation.

Inneresting article here in the Telgraph by local boy Christopher Booker. In it, he lays the blame squarely at the feet of the Environment Agency who have abandoned their policy of dredging the rivers and rhynes allowing them to become silted up. Why? The dredged silt is a controlled substance and cannot be spread over the fields as before. They were dumping on the banks only for it to get washed back into the rivers again. So they gave up.

That guy's an arse.

The EA have had the greatest success ever this winter. The surge last year was actually greater than the 1953 surge which lost many lives as well as homes. The floods this winter caught far fewer homes than the floods of July 2007, despite the rain being much worse.

The water has to go somewhere, if it doesn't catch you it will catch the mugs further downstream.

[Doggy Styles]

It most certainly was an EEK!, GG.

A couple of hours before I was out in the pleasant sunshine in shorts practising my Tul, then a sudden 30 minute storm of biblical proportions, then sunshine again.

Do you think it was the spirit of Rabbie Burns wafting through the Sassenachs?

[hyperD]

Happened about 4:30pm followed by a 5 hour power cut! Nice.