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

[zeezeek]

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.

I think the point the OP is trying to make is that a lot lot of people are badly suffering and missing the basic necessities of life in Somerset/Devon/Cornwall due to flooding.

I agree that we can't help the weather but the South West that the lack of government action has made the situation worse (e.g. the EA not dredging the rivers in Somerset for over 20 years, etc)

As for the idiot that laid the railway line next to the sea this was done over a hundred years ago. There has been lots of talk for years about moving the railway line, but nothing ever happens and not investment in the infrastructure is forthcoming.

Btw people tend to think that living in Cornwall is all sunshine and flowers. However, it is one of the most economically deprived areas of England, wages are very low and employment opportunities limited or seasonal.

To be fair, I've had Sky news on in the background most of this afternoon, the floods in the south west have been covered extensively alongside the tube strike and the gas explosion.

I hope things improve soon down there though.

The only part of the UK that matters to the politicians is London and surrounding areas. That's how it looks to me.

Honeysweet - well, just in case they do:

1. The line needs to be rebuild because, it was said upthread, this has cut off not just Cornwall but the whole of South Devon. There are no other options for train travel in that area. One line, in and out, that is it.

1. The flood water from the Somerset levels needs to be pumped out and the villages affected need supplies delivered to them and proper transport solutions until the waters have gone.

1. For those who have lost their houses and businesses a quick resolution to insurance claims is needed and, in the meantime, some kind of boat sharing scheme or something set up for those fishermen who have lost theirs and their livelihoods (and the livelihoods of the people who work for them).

1. Once the flood waters have receded there is a high risk of infection etc. and this could become a public health issue. Support needs to be put in place for this.

1. Support/food/medical supplies are needed in communities that are cut off.

it's more to do with how these problems, have been waiting to happen, and have been ignored for years.

In the Somerset news, so many angry people saying 'you have never listened'

And, I nearly forgot/...dredge the bloody rivers!!!!

There doesn't seem to be much money to help anyone at the moment.

I wonder how much the government should step in and help people who's houses flood or people who's businesses are negatively effected by the weather, should the goverment give money to people who's houses burn down? Should they buy new cars to people who crash their cars? Should they support business owners who are negatively effected by changes in lifestyle/trends?

I am aware of the floods in the south west and I don't even live in the UK.

The line at darkish has been beset with problems for decades and poorly maintained. It goes right by the sea and is regularly out of action in any poor weather. It's unbelievably shortsighted for the train operators and the government not to have resolved this before now. Frankly no surprise, yet deeply saddening to see the supporting structure in the sea. The flood plains alongside the line at Exeter have also never been managed properly and regularly flood too.

North Devon and north Cornwall don't have a rail network anyway and is properly cut off to public transport.

Devon highways and Cornwall council routinely fail to repair the roads and are still chasing their tails from several winters of appalling damage. The infrastructure is totally screwed.

The poultry sums offered by Cameron today go nowhere near the sums involved for the repairs and flood defences needed here.

Last week I watched highways resurface a section of road that floods because of field run off and a nearby river which overflows. All that money is wasted as the road is flooded again and damage is inevitable.

DanceParty-Prince Charles donated from his 'own' money you state .Where does he get that from then?

Obviously The floods aren't Kate's fault but as the wife of the future king she has to show that life isn't just about holidays and enjoying herself. I'm sorry but the fact that a flood isn't her fault is no excuse. In times of that which is happening in the south west, when peoples lives are being destroyed the royal family must show support and compassion. She has to learn that marrying the future king, as well as giving her great privilege also brings responsibilities.

That would dawlish!

And paltry, not poultry!

My parents are due to go on holiday next week, should they also cancel in support for their friends who have homes/businesses effected by the weather?

Disclaimer: I haven't checked the facts on this, it is just what I've been told...

My dh goes to a local gym and the guy that owns it and the land around it (in Devon) used to be a farmer on the Somerset levels. Every year, around this time the rivers would be dredged to prevent the flooding. Then apparently some investigations were done and they found that the dredging of the rivers was damaging the 'vole' population, so it was stopped. Money was obviously saved at the same time so it was seen as a good idea.

When the rivers were dredged annually flooding was rarely a problem and certainly not as bad as it is now.

As I said, this is just what I've heard... Apparently people 'in the know' on environmental issues warned that it would be a disaster waiting to happen, but they stopped the dredging anyway...

The budget for flood defenses/dredging etc was been cut and cut and cut for years whilst development on the floodplains increases and increases and increases (despite the EA and others opposing this).

We don't want to spend money on sustainable urban drainage, even though in other European countries this has been standard practice for years.

The reality is that - until our homes are under water or washed out to sea we don't care about this stuff and we don't put any pressure on politicians to make it a national funding priority and we don't want to change the way we live to deal with it.

The truth is, this situation has been building for years. And when everything dries up next month, or the one after, it will drop out of site until next time it rains.

£50k from Charles is the equivalent of my finding 1p down the back of my sofa - he and the rest of his useless family are obscenely wealthy. And the comment about Kate was not bitchy- it's inappropriate for her to be jetting off at such a hard time - funny that the tabloid press aren't criticising her when they are having a go at Bob Crowe for going on holiday. OP I fully understand how abondoned the south west feel - because they are .

YANBU!

Best wishes to everyone effected by it all.

[I am very disappointed I thought 'dance party prince charlie' was his new nickname before I read up thread and understood.]

I think that there has been pretty thorough coverage of the huge problems the south west is facing. I haven't seen the victims being blamed in the media coverage I've read or watched, although I have not looked at analysis pieces.
I think the government has failed in it's duty to the people of the south west on an unforgivable scale.
I have no idea why you are having a moan at the people affected by the tube strike. My DH is likely to be stranded at work overnight because of it and buses are no use in his journey home. I haven't seen any government assistance offered to people stranded in London.
My family live in the south west too.

YANBU zeezeek.

I get that the rain and the weather is beyond everyone's control, but just how long can this go on for before someone does something? It is an absolute scandal that people have been in this situation since Christmas and before.

IMO it is more by bloody luck than judgement that no-one has lost their life yet. Maybe that's what the powers that be are waiting for before they get their arses in gear.

The farmers are losing everything. One man on the news tonight said his whole life was in his house. It is so sad and it makes me so angry that nothing is being done. If this was London, or Oxford where David Cameron lives, fingers would have been out of arses weeks ago.

DH is military. Both he and I are surprised that they haven't been more utilised in helping in the situation.

I have no family in the SW further south than Gloucsetershire, I live in the East Midlands and it is still making me really angry how folk are being treated!

there was an article in this week's Economist about the situation in Somerset (which was also the top news story on PM and the 6 o'clock news on Radio 4, ahead of the tube strike) which said that in fact dredging was not necessarily the best thing to do as all it it was push the problem elsewhere and in this case would only have delayed rather than stopped the floods. Things like strategic planting of willow and hedges are a better long-term solution - but it also sounds like it's very chaotic with a lot of bodies and groups involved, but not necessarily at the right stage of planning.

The duchy of Cornwall (owned by prince Charles) made £18 mil + profits last year, which went to the "crown" and pays no corporation tax on it's business affairs.

50k is beyond insulting.

YANBU. I really feel very sorry for those affected by the flooding and think the government need to step up and find some money, draft army etc in and at least be seen to be responding as per the disaster it will feel like to those affected.

The Royal family and politicians need to be seen to be more interested too. I agree that £50k from Prince Charles is equivalent to the average person giving a penny (or less to be honest). This is the ideal time for the RF to be seen to actually do something and spend more than a few hours down in Somerset - they could actually spend some time doing something practical to raise awareness and take a few days about it.

I don't think it has been covered by the news enough at all. And the country needs to find a LOT more money for flood defences and to protect the land. Every acre will become more important as the population rises rapidly and we get more and more crowded. We can't afford to lose land to the sea or rivers.

Doris 'My DH is likely to be stranded at work overnight because of it and buses are no use in his journey home. I haven't seen any government assistance offered to people stranded in London.'

Do you realise how this sounds to those whose houses are under water and they can't go home for weeks/months. I would like to bet that they would be happy to just have to kip at work for one night this year!!!!

Theincidental - darkish?!! I love it!! Could market it as a holiday destination for Goths!

I'm 44 now and I remember, when I was at school in Cornwall, that it was being said then that one day that line will end up in the sea.

Apologies Doris - I misread your post. You weren't having a go.