Response to storm Arwen vs Eunice

[ArwenVsEunice]

Curious to hear other peoples POV. Does anyone feel let down by the government’s response to storm Eunice versus storm Arwen, both with rare red warning storms?

For Eunice the Government have held an emergency cobra meeting, thousands of schools have been closed and there’s huge national media coverage. I think this absolutely is the right thing to do.

When Arwen was brewing there was no cobra meeting, just general advice to be careful from the Met Office. it was in the media but only to a very small extent www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-59419772. We live in the areas affected by Arwen and it was pretty terrifying when it hit. It took out trees and roofs local to where we live, at PIL it blew down their garden wall and fencing and left a 6ft hole. It knocked out power to nearly 250,000 homes. It took at least 5 days to get the army in to help those still cut off. I’ve not seen anything like it in my lifetime.

The optimistic part of me likes to think the government learnt from Arwen and have now pulled their socks up to deal with Eunice the way they should have done but the cynical part of me just feels like they weren’t bothered about Arwen as it was up in Scotland and the North East

AIBU to feel this way?

YANBU - it’s yet another example of the government not caring unless its a problem that affects the south/London

YABU - the government didn’t recognise the severity of Arwen and have learnt from their mistakes with Eunice

We still have a few local businesses who are closed due to damage from Arwen, one was so badly damaged they've got the builders in to strip the place and redo it from the ground up. There are still warnings in place from the council to stay away from wooded areas due to loose trees/tree limbs that haven't yet been dealt with, and council tenants are still being told that only essential/emergency repairs are being carried out to homes as all available staffing resources are still dealing with storm damage repairs.

YANBU.

The government doesn't care about the north they've made that especially clear time and time again. We had 80 mph winds during that storm and had no power for a week... nobody cared. regularly get 50/60mph winds on a weekly basis in winter... and you never hear about it but the southerners get it? And omg it's all hands on deck. 🙃

OP YANBU we were just saying this too. In fact we're still dealing with some damage from storm Arwen

@jowly

Please excuse my southerly ignorance but a genuine question.. where does Nicola Sturgeons responsibility to prepare sit in this?

Nicola Sturgeon isn’t the First Minister of Newcastle and Northumberland

I saw a lot of media coverage about Arwen.
As an individual the only advice I have had for this storm is its a red weather warning .

I dont know what a cobra meeting does and whether it will result in a better response to any after effects or not. Its a bit early to tell. Its clear the response to Arwen was not good enough though..

I was thinking the same thing. We had no power for a week because of Storm Arwen, the tree damage was insane and still hasn't been cleared and yet there really wasn't the national coverage or response that this one is getting.

@jowly

Please excuse my southerly ignorance but a genuine question.. where does Nicola Sturgeons responsibility to prepare sit in this?

For Scotland yes. For England no and Arwen was red for a large part of Northern England. I think people forget that there is 170 miles north of Leeds to the borders that is still England. Leeds to London is only 195 miles.

Manchester to Scottish Boarder is a larger distance than Manchester to London Cross Country.

The North is a big place!

It's less of a concern if a red storm hits the north of England or Scotland because these areas are better-equipped to cope with it. These areas traditionally see more storms and higher winds than the south or Wales, so buildings are designed to withstand this and coastal defences are built stronger.

If a red storm hits areas where structures and defences are weaker, it requires a stronger response from the government.

I also think part of it is down to population. Scotland has 5.4 million people, southern England has 28 million. Clearly the threat is more severe where the population is higher, even if the effects of the storms were the same.

It's sadly predictable though that those who seek to divide the country use natural disasters as a means to spread their propaganda.

@MorningStarling

It's less of a concern if a red storm hits the north of England or Scotland because these areas are better-equipped to cope with it. These areas traditionally see more storms and higher winds than the south or Wales, so buildings are designed to withstand this and coastal defences are built stronger.

If a red storm hits areas where structures and defences are weaker, it requires a stronger response from the government.

I also think part of it is down to population. Scotland has 5.4 million people, southern England has 28 million. Clearly the threat is more severe where the population is higher, even if the effects of the storms were the same.

It's sadly predictable though that those who seek to divide the country use natural disasters as a means to spread their propaganda.

Your joking right? The north are not equipped to deal with it! Some of us had no power for weeks on end!

One of the reasons is because its also coupled with spring tides. The Severn estuary has the 2nd highest tidal range in the world and even coastal flood barriers may be breached by sea surges.

It's the same when snow hits... 4ft in the North east? Get ya spades oot! 1cm in London and its a disaster 🤣

@MorningStarling

It's less of a concern if a red storm hits the north of England or Scotland because these areas are better-equipped to cope with it. These areas traditionally see more storms and higher winds than the south or Wales, so buildings are designed to withstand this and coastal defences are built stronger.

If a red storm hits areas where structures and defences are weaker, it requires a stronger response from the government.

I also think part of it is down to population. Scotland has 5.4 million people, southern England has 28 million. Clearly the threat is more severe where the population is higher, even if the effects of the storms were the same.

It's sadly predictable though that those who seek to divide the country use natural disasters as a means to spread their propaganda.

And what about the people in the 200miles of Northern England 🤔. Our houses are built the same as yours, we have the same species of trees growing and we're actually more exposed in many places.

The North are no more structurally prepared than any other area of England.

100% agree - I was just thinking this myself

YANBU

We had 70+MPH winds with Arwen and my area was just an Amber alert. The tree damage in woods around us was horrendous.

Yanbu

My area in the north east was without electricity for 2 weeks!!!! Absolutely decimated and no cobra meeting for us.

It's no wonder we get pissed off up here.

Leveling up? My arse.

www.spectator.co.uk/article/who-cares-about-a-power-cut-in-the-north-east-

I go to Cumbria regularly and you can still see the impact of Arwen. Massive trees down and cleared to the side of roads but still need to be dealt with. There was major damage to key A road through the lakes as well. I do feel this current storm is getting more media attention, probably because it will affect London. As people have said on here, homes were with out power for weeks yet where was the coverage of that? If that happens in the Home Counties you can guarantee coverage. It’s not about stoking division, it’s an observation about how south east centric the media is. As for saying the North is better prepared - absolute lol. I mean why do you think there’s all this talk of levelling up? Because we get bugger all investment in everything (roads, public transport, infrastructure) so actually storms hit hard and the response is slow because everything is already dated and knackered.

@MorningStarling I don't think anyone here is trying to divide the country they would just like the same response to a life endangering weather event across the country.

So because I life in an area with lower population density I should have to put up with poor preparation and aftermath response from the government than someone else?

Also I'd be interested in seeing where the storm and flood defences statement come from? I'm not sure I really believe they build weaker sea and flood defences in the south and Wales. I've spent time living in the Scottish northern isles and can confirm that they are no better defended against winter storms than when I was living a city in the south east. The main things they did better was the clean up and rapid response to those who needed it. Many of the small islands also had generators in place as a back up if cut off, the population knows better how to prepare but the weather damage is all the same.

@MorningStarling

It's less of a concern if a red storm hits the north of England or Scotland because these areas are better-equipped to cope with it. These areas traditionally see more storms and higher winds than the south or Wales, so buildings are designed to withstand this and coastal defences are built stronger.

If a red storm hits areas where structures and defences are weaker, it requires a stronger response from the government.

I also think part of it is down to population. Scotland has 5.4 million people, southern England has 28 million. Clearly the threat is more severe where the population is higher, even if the effects of the storms were the same.

It's sadly predictable though that those who seek to divide the country use natural disasters as a means to spread their propaganda.

lol ok

YANBU OP. It was a shit show in the NE - neither Boris or Nicola gave two shits about all the people without power in sub zero temps for days on end. If that had happened in London - can you imagine the difference!

@trollopolis

Arwen didn't have 'red' warnings, did it?

You'd only get things like cobra meetings when it's a red

I know the impact was bad, but it wasn't predicted like this one is.

@trollopolis It had a red weather warning. 110 mph Windsor.

Wind, sorry.

@Hospedia

I think they didn't give a shit because it was in the North of England and Scotland, the same as the Cumbria floods several years ago.

Yep. I'm in North Scotland and we were basically ignored and left to fend for ourselves. It was volunteers from the local communities who were checking on the old/vulnerable, bringing water and food, people were just left for over a week with no power and there was nothing on the National news.

There's no recovery plan for the hundreds of thousands of trees lost which will take decades to renew. The destruction is heartbreaking to see.

It's the media as well as the govt whose priorities are all based in the south.

@trollopolis

Arwen didn't have 'red' warnings, did it?

You'd only get things like cobra meetings when it's a red

I know the impact was bad, but it wasn't predicted like this one is.

Yes Arwen was a Red!!!

I am south coast in current red area and didn't hear much at all about arwen