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AIBU?

To feel that the South West has been abandoned (long and ranty)

537 replies

zeezeek · 05/02/2014 18:44

My family still live in Cornwall and they have been completely battered by the wind and the rain for weeks now. Last night they had to be evacuated from their house. The main train line down to Cornwall (in fact also half of Devon) is completely destroyed and a lot of prime agricultural land in Somerset is under water.

People are losing their livelihoods and they have been lucky that there have been no loss of life. In a region where there is already high unemployment - the impact on the farming, fishing and tourist industries will just make the situation worse. Freight trains can no longer get down past Exeter.

The EA are effectively blaming the poor buggers who are affected by this and seemingly forgetting that people and homes are also affected. The government doesn't give a shit and the Environment minister didn't even bother taking a pair of wellington boots with him on his photo opp visit. Our future King made silly comments about how a disaster beings people together while his waste of space daughter in law spends taxpayers money jetting off to the Caribbean. Comments in sensible, intelligent newspapers are also blaming people for daring to live on a flood plain (which has never flooded to this extent) and by the sea.

I know that I am BU, but tonight - when my parents are still not allowed home and my brother has had his fishing boat sunk - I am feeling very, very pissed off with the media who seems to be making such a big deal out of a 2 day tube strike - there are buses.

Sorry, but needed to vent. Have nothing against Londoners - I lived there for years.

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Report

RandomMess · 05/02/2014 18:47

It annoys me too, the media does not teach/demonstrate how the economy works and that what has happened in the SW will affect all of us!

Not to mention the personal loss to each person affected.

JennyOnAPlate · 05/02/2014 18:49

Yanbu at all. Imagine if London was underwater....

Starballbunny · 05/02/2014 18:50

YANBU
The 2007 floods only really made the news when they spread down the Thames and threatened Oxford.

zeezeek · 05/02/2014 18:51

Ha ha Waterloo is a flood plain I seem to remember....how about we tell the people there that they shouldn't live there!!!

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Honeysweet · 05/02/2014 18:52

I know that I am BU, but tonight - when my parents are still not allowed home and my brother has had his fishing boat sunk

I think that that is the main part for you. Sorry for all you are going through.
fwiw, the train line at Dawlish will be repaired yet again so trains will run there once again.
and again fwiw, London gets more news reported because the media are based there. It takes them longer to send reporters to Cornwall or whereever. But once there, they will probably be there for a few days.
So if they want say, something on education in 3 days time, they will record a piece form a Cornish or Devonian school.

Financeprincess · 05/02/2014 18:52

I don't understand who you think has 'abandoned' the south west. I'm sorry for your family's trouble, but neither the government, prince Charles, the newspapers nor tube drivers can make it stop raining.

I can assure you that we are all fully informed of the extreme weather in the south of England.

Do you also complain about 'abandonment' when parts of the east coast of Yorkshire fall into the sea? Or doesn't that count because your family don't live there?

ikeaismylocal · 05/02/2014 18:53

I am sure there are busses/coaches put on by the train companies, there has been every other time there has been rail issues and in my experience rail issues are not unusual in the south west

People do buy houses on flood plains, companies build on flood plains. There is lots of options to choose to live not right next to the sea, the houses right next to the sea tend to be more expensive than those away from the coast.

Last summer was so glorious in the south west, I am sure that boosted tourism. Unfortunatly if you live in a part of the country that is reliant on the weather for much of it's industry you need to take the good times with the bad times.

Not taking wellington boots is a good idea, it wouldn't be a good idea to show him walking about in floor waters as the advice is to not do that.

Honeysweet · 05/02/2014 18:54

The EA etc. Yes, I can see that problem becoming worse and worse. I am not convinced that any Government of any colour are going to get on top of the current or future problems in this area. It must seem like a bottemless pit.
I do think though, in future, and I realise that this is of no help to you or your family, that people will take a bit more care about where they buy.

ikeaismylocal · 05/02/2014 18:56

I would also like to suggest that many more peopl elive in London, and the people who live in London rely much more often on public transport than the people in the south west.

PrincessScrumpy · 05/02/2014 18:59

Yep YANBU, we're in Somerset and have had floods since Christmas. The Enviroment Secretary visited Bridgwater but none of the villages that have been hit!

PrincessScrumpy · 05/02/2014 19:03

Ikeaismylocal you have no idea what you are talking about. My parents run their own outdoor company and it has rained everyday since October. They cannot work when it rains and are now having to lay off staff. This is not usual weather for the region.

People who have been flooded in the Somerset levels are not living in newbuild homes they are in homes that are sometimes more than a hundred years old. Many of the residents have lived in the villages for 40 odd years and have never had such flooding so to say it's expected is very ill informed. ffs if you are in London, get on a bus or walk - simple!

saintmerryweather · 05/02/2014 19:06

What exactly are the EA supposed to do about the train track being washed away? Blame the idiots who laid a track right next to the sea

WooWooOwl · 05/02/2014 19:06

I was with you until the bitching about Kate, the floods aren't her fault!

I agree with you on the whole though, I think it's outrageous that we are still sending aid to other countries when this is happening in our own and next to nothing is being done to help.

Why isn't there some sort of emergency appeal and fund phone number so that people in the rest of the country can do something to help?

It's shameful that we as a country are doing so little to help our own.

jacks365 · 05/02/2014 19:08

Are you aware that our train lines were closed due to a landslide late last summer been closed since due to flooding too, that we got flooded badly about 4 times, twice resulted in neighbours being evacuated and our house only survived because we are slightly higher. Businesses have been destroyed and an area that was doing ok has gone downhill fast.

We only make the news when there's nothing better. News etc is very London centred.

zeezeek · 05/02/2014 19:09

PrincessScrumpy - you have my sympathy and I hope things get better for your family too.

My parents house (and B&B incidentally) is Victorian and my brother lives in a house built in 1950. They might live right on the coast (as most fishermen do), but they have NEVER experienced this level of flooding in all the years they lived there - 50 years for my parents and my brother's whole life (48 years).

Londoners may be more dependent on public transport, but that is, in part, due to the fact they have that option. In many parts of the SW there are few buses and no trains at all, so you need a car. Due to the distances between some villages and the nearest towns, it is not possible to walk - especially if you have young children/prams/buggies etc or are elderly or have mobility problems.

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jacks365 · 05/02/2014 19:11

Ikeasismylocal with regards to flood plains I live at about 1000ft so nowhere near flood plains

ikeaismylocal · 05/02/2014 19:17

I am fully aware of the public transport or lack of it in the south west. I grew up in Devon and went to uni in Cornwall. The winter of 2001 was a disaster in terms of train travel, I travelled on the line that goes past Dawlish/teignmouth every week day, we were more often on a coach rather than a train.

I agree that the weather has been wild, I was in Devon over Christmas and the storms scared me. I just don't think the weather is anyone's fault and I can't see what can be done to help.

piratecat · 05/02/2014 19:20

it's just bloody ridiculous. waiting to happen. a tiny part of railway right on the side of the sea that's forever been affected by landslides on to it, and oh how surprising - now the sea has got it from the other side.

Makes me so mad that nothing has been done before. They have had enough warnings over the years.
They keep saying on the news that Cornwall is cut off, but the line has cut off the whole of south Devon and Plymouth too.

zeezeek · 05/02/2014 19:24

No-one said the storms were anyone's fault. That is not what I said at all. My rant is about the attitude that it doesn't matter that the SW gets flooded, that it is all their own fault and no-one in Government gives a shit.

ikeaismylocal - from your username I am making the huge (and probably incorrect) assumption that you no longer live in Devon or Cornwall and certainly not Somerset (as the nearest Ikea in that region is Bristol). So, therefore, how can you say that nothing can be done to help?!! There are lots of things that can be done - but they won't because it will involve the government spending some money in a region of the country that they don't give a shit about.

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Waltonswatcher1 · 05/02/2014 19:25

YANBU and stop apologising .
My family are in a harbour village, the sea defences broke today and seven boats have already been sunk. The locals can't afford to buy property there any more because of the huge number of second home owners. This weather makes it even harder to survive.

Honeysweet · 05/02/2014 19:26

What sorts of things would you like to happen? I always work on the rather optimistic possibility that "people that matter" will read threads like this.

zeezeek · 05/02/2014 19:26

Waltonswatcher1 - yes, it will. My brother's boat sunk this morning too. My thoughts are with you

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merrymouse · 05/02/2014 19:29

Yes, I agree, the SW does seem to have been abandoned and government are not giving an impression that they have a clue what to do.

However, London tends to feature disproportionately in the news because a disproportionate number of people live there.

LadyBeagleEyes · 05/02/2014 19:30

The floods in the SW have been headline news for weeks, I don't understand why you think if it was in London it would get more publicity.
And I live in Scotland and am perfectly aware of it.
I feel really sorry for the people suffering down there, it must be hellish but as for contributing money to the victims, this is not the third world, people should have insurance and the Government need to invest.
So far no one has died, unlike the Philippines where thousands died and lost everything.

DanceParty · 05/02/2014 19:30

Prince Charles donated £50,000 of his own money toward flood relief. What Katharine does is irrelevant.

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