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.

Look, can we stop with the 'competitive suffering?'
I'm very fortunate not to live in a flood zone, but I'm equally sympathetic to all who do, regardless of their postcode. The Thames floods most years, as do the Severn and Ouse. York, Worcester, Tewkesbury have often been extensively featured.
The scale of these floods has taken us all by surprise. Initially, it was probably considered as a relatively normal hazard of winter, hence the perceived lack of attention, but it's gone way beyond that now and thankfully the authorities are finally getting their act together.

It's not "competitive", it's just a fact that the Somerset Levels have been flooded for several weeks, compared to the Thames for just a few days.

... not to mention many other places in the South West, I just happened to see Somerset on the news most recently.

Exactly. The Somerset Levels have been on the news a massive amount in the last few weeks. As was Aberystwyth and the entire west coast of Britain, along with the Medway towns, over Christmas.
It's just not true to say that the media has only got involved now the Thames has burst its banks. As I said before, it does so most years and doesn't hit the news. It's just part of the bigger national story now.
ALL these communities deserve our help and attention.

www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/paulhudson/posts/UK-flooding-put-in-context

But are thousands of people's homes flooded for weeks on end by the Thames clam?

I think that BBC article is misleading. The "story" in Somerset is not simply the (relatively few) houses being flooded. It is the arrogance and incompetence of the people who'd been tasked with managing the land, and the subsequent utter, utter disruption. Someone's houses may not be actually flooded but if it's been on a tiny island for weeks and weeks and only now is "money no object" (apparently because the Thames is flooding), that's going to piss them off.

There's a remarkable lack of empathy on this thread from some.

Tend to agree with clam. There has been massive amounts of attention to my area (the levels) - as there should be of course. But it didn't look too bad to start with - just a normal very wet winter. It shouldn't have taken so long to marshall serious help once the scale of the flooding was obvious but hindsight is 20:20. I am guessing that from now on there will be more awareness of the risks and things will be in place in advance. I hope so!

All this pointing the finger is a waste of time and effort. What needs to be done is to make sure it doesn't happen next time. My mum is getting increasingly rabid about it now - she has gone from blaming the EA, the local government and now the RSPB and the RSPCA. Last nights was the gem when she yet again blamed the work at the Bridgwater Bay nature reserve for the failure to dredge - 'why do we encourage all these extra foreign birds anyway' So now it's the fault of the damned furrin birds coming in here stealing our money!

"foreign birds" :o

Oh my!

Now, not only are we in "blank cheque" territory, but Cameron is apparently asking for utility service providers to cut bills for those suffering in the floods.

Did any of this happen when Hull, Sheffield, Hebden Bridge, Carlisle flooded? Arguably they were worse (though I believe they withdrew comparatively quickly).

Is this the true face of government (not just this, but also Labour before it)? Even the Somerset floods were ignored by them up until the last few days when a sudden flurry of activity has taken place. It's been eight weeks! Is it truly coincidence that action is being taken as it's starting to get closer to London?

Cameron has set a precedent - it will be interesting to see if a similar scale of response occurs next time somewhere floods. After all, we are officially "a wealthy country" and "money is no object".

"But are thousands of people's homes flooded for weeks on end by the Thames clam?"

Quite possibly going to be, yes, as the flooding is not all river water, but ground water too, which means there's nowhere for it to go. Probably the same elsewhere, but I just don't get the suggestion that we should limit our sympathy because some people on here are chippy about a perceived imbalance in reporting. Surely if anything, we should have learned from Somerset that this is above and beyond the norm, so reactions are quicker. Isn't that a good thing? Or should we say to Bucks/Berks/Oxon residents, "tough shit, you can wait six weeks because Somerset had to?"

"Is it truly coincidence that action is being taken as it's starting to get closer to London?"
London itself is unlikely to flood, thanks to the Thames barrier. The phenomenal impact on tens of millions of people and the whole economy has led to that.

Well said Clam :)

Can I ask (genuinely) why London is unlikely to flood because of the barrier, when the water is coming from downstream?

On another note, if you're really lucky and get the Cornishman, in this week's edition there's a "16 page Storms Special Pullout" so that in years to come we can remember what fun it was

Has it been said at any point that the "money no object" bit is only for the Home Counties? that's if anyone gets it at all when it comes to coughing up.

We had another thread running the other day regarding how the barrier helps. They close it just after low tide, so the incoming tide from the sea can't get back upstream to stop the swollen waters from escaping, and collect 6 hours' worth of flow on the upper side of the barrier. Then they open it on the ebb tide, so it can all get out to sea more easily.

Ah. There we are. Thanks.

So there's less coming down the river than going up with every high tide then?

Well, if central London isn't flooding (at the moment) then I guess so. But I suppose that could change?

Anyway Mrs Thicko here Geography A level notwithstanding didn't understand the other day, so the good ladies of MN explained it all in words of one syllable.

I honestly don't believe the escalation in response is due to the SE now being affected. When the SW was first hit there was no doubt an assumption that it would blow over as it has in previous years without anyone from central govt having to dirty their wellies. Our MP is Floods Minister and has been nowhere to be seen, and when he announced the increase in flood expenditure before all this happened he had to retract the figures because they got it wrong. They have to respond now because of the sheer duration and extensiveness of it all.

I think govt has so far hindered rather than helped by spouting whatever they think will be popular one day and then having to take the opposite position the next. That has not helped the authorities trying to deal with the situation on the ground one bit.

I myself have no doubt that parts of the South East being flooded is what has driven the government into action. I don't think they give a toss about the rest of the country.

We will find out when rebuilding starts. Let's see where the money is going to be spend. I won't hold my breath .... Call me cynical ...

I've just watched the bbc news, and the predominant coverage was Worcester.

They're already repairing the Newlyn Hole though....