Ok, I know it rained really intensely but FFS we are meant to be an advanced western country! A bit of excessive rain and all the rivers burst their banks and the drains go awol. Ridiculous. Where are the flood defences, and when is our knackered out Victorian drain and sewerage system gonna be upgraded into the 21st century??!! Gordon Brown - sort it out!!!
2007-07-22 10:43:08 · 22 answers · asked by Foxhound 3 in News & Events ➔ Current Events
we are just having to much rain' for this time of the year and we are not equiped for it.and it will happen again and again.
the goverment need to get things moving to prevent this happening.if downing st or the royal houses got flooded it would get sorted in no time,but we are ordinary people who has to put up with whats going on.
2007-07-22 11:39:17 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 1⤋
Well, I live in the flooded area - although we are okay in our town, we cannot actually get anywhere easily now as lots of bridges and roads are flooded!
The problem is that we have had nearly double the highest previous daily rainfall - we had 126.2mm. Pershore in Worcestershire had even more 142.6mm! Because the very heavy rainfall happened over a large area, the biggest problem we are likely to have in Oxford itself is on Tuesday, when all the water reaches there. The problem with the flood defences is that they are mobile, so can be moved to where they are needed. Unfortunately(!), the rain was so bad, the roads were blocked by cars and the flood defences could not get through!
As for the knackered drain and sewage systems, if they were cleaned out regularly, they would not get so full, and could have coped with a lot of the water - rather like de-scaling your shower or kettle, so it works better!
I have been listening to local radio and the major suggestions for curing the problem in the future are two-fold. Firstly, do not build houses on the flood plain! These are areas that often flood anyway, but can 'store' the water until it can leave the area. However, we are always told that we need new housing, and it is easier building there because it is unused and flat! The second reason is that the rivers and canals, the normal water escape routes, are not being cleared. They used to be cleared every two years. Then the government took over the waterways - and stopped doing it!
So I agree that GBrown should deal with it - but I guarantee he will promise millions, but it will not materialise - or he will total what has been promised in the past 10 years (although not spent yet!) and say that is the amount that will be spent in the future, as though it is new moneys being promised!
2007-07-22 13:00:11 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
The sheer volume of water is just too great. Just how much do you think it would cost to protect everywhere from this amount of flooding? Try billions upon billions, are you happy for your taxes to go up a lot? Where do you imagine the funding would come from then? I do think we need to invest heavily to reduce the area hit but let's not pretend we can do this with a magic wand at no cost, it will take years of spending billions to have any chance of avoiding flooding when this much water has fallen. The scale of this is unprecedented. I'm in Cheltenham, water going off for days at any moment now, possibly power too if the sub station at Gloucester is taken out.
We'd better get used to it, we'll see it again and again in coming decades....
2007-07-22 11:04:15 · answer #3 · answered by Chris S 2 · 4⤊ 0⤋
There was comment back in the 1930's that the population of the UK was getting too large at 35m it is now nearly double that.
These extra millions of people have to have houses, there also has to be extra office, shops, schools and roads therefore more concreted areas leaving less land for the rain to soak into. Since WW2 our woodlands have been been reduced (about half what there was 50 years ago) and trees hold large quantities of water.
So basically it is a disaster just waiting to happen. Much more has to be done in flood defence, drainage etc but it will cost each one of us a lot, and we will moan as soon as national and local taxes plus water rates increase.
The answer is quite simple but a little drastic, every other person will have to be shot, then there will be plenty of accommodation in dry areas. Now as this is my plan obviously I am the person who decides who gets shot.
2007-07-22 11:03:46 · answer #4 · answered by Jim 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Perhaps we should spend more money to adapt our superbly designed, but sadly antiquated Victorian drainage system.
Ah, you may ask, but where's the money coming from?
Well, for starters we could save a hell of a lot by getting out of Iraq, paying politicians what they are actually worth and triple taxing ghastly waste-of-space people like Mrs Beckham and all those overpaid footballers, and let's not forget Chairman Ken and his bunch of wasters.
That's about a billion £ saved for starters!!!
2007-07-22 12:05:04 · answer #5 · answered by JOHN O 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Poor planning, horrifically corrupt politics on all sides. Humans leave inner-cities in shambles looking like Beirut and build out into areas that are swampy or shorelines and want taxpayers to pay for the problems that will occur. I would not be one bit surprized to learn Mars was once verdant and lush but then humans cropped up and left it a crusty husk.
2007-07-22 10:56:23 · answer #6 · answered by Princessa Macha Venial 5 · 4⤊ 0⤋
We're having similar problems here in the older cities of the US. Basically, infrastructure has been neglected. I suppose people would rather build highways and sports stadiums than take care of drainage and underground right of way problems.
These days, in New York, if we get more than a few inches of rain, the subways stop running with any efficiency at all.
2007-07-22 10:55:50 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 5⤊ 0⤋
People were promised sandbags that they never got. That would have helped a lot, or atleast given them time to save some of their possesions.
Councils are probably too concerned with how much many they can save on flood protection that they didnt even realise they were up to their neck in water.
But still, when it rains that much that fact, its pretty much physically impossible to stop it, or drain it fast enough.
2007-07-22 10:47:50 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 7⤊ 0⤋
If the Government keeps concreting over the flood plains the floods will just get worse.
2007-07-22 12:25:59 · answer #9 · answered by Beau Brummell 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It may be due to too much building in areas that used to flood naturally. Also, washing machines, diswashers and baths are causing too much water to get into the infrastructure.
But I did hear that roadsweepers were often told to sweep leaves etc into drains, and not pick it up.
2007-07-22 10:55:15 · answer #10 · answered by Zheia 6 · 4⤊ 0⤋