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

Sorry - no idea at all how that emoji got in there! I know I type erratically, but I didn't think it was that bad!!

I mean I do get it. The Capital is down south. The Palace is down south. The UK's powerhouse is down south. The population is greater. This is something we all get and have no problem with! I think the problem is, if England had to sacrifice an area, it would always be the North and we know this. We know we're not as important and knowing this is a bit depressing. It feels like our lives/homes/livelihoods/children are not as important and there is nothing we can do about it.

If the powers that be could just pretend to care about us all the same we'd probably be a bit happier!

The snow in the north is getting plenty of media coverage (photogenic?)

Where is this infamous snow? I'm in Northumberland and we've had a slop of sleet at best!

I didn't have power to my home on the outskirts of Newcastle for 6 days after Arwen. When that happens to people in London I'll be sympathetic.

"London is viewed as more than important than other cities because from an economic standpoint it is. The fiscal surplus generated here funds services in other parts of the country so if London goes down so do a lot of other places."

Ah yes, the place where the money earned in Scottish oil waters, car manufacturing in north and midlands, and digital media companies based in NW or Scotland report their shares and profits to, so (partly) responsible for London's apparent fiscal surplus....? ;-)

There is more than one way to look at these things - and at some point the decision to alter the ever increasing SE-centric cycle (London is valuable->more investment->more important now->London is valuable and repeat) should be made in my view. And recognise that London & SE are partly such powerhouses because of the system which supports the system....

There was some media coverage after Arwen hit but almost nothing to raise awareness of the red warning. I only knew there was a bad storm coming because a Scottish Instagram account mentioned it do I checked and saw it covered Newcastle. We tied down patio stuff and wedged the wheelie bins. Our fence came down, it had only just been fixed when it got tested by the more recent storm! Trees came down everywhere, a huge tree destroyed a wall in a neighbouring street. We have a caravan in Northumberland and the site was devastated, loads of caravans destroyed and trees down. People were staying there that night and had to be evacuated to the entertainment venue!
I'd like to think lessons were learnt after Arwen and we would get a good response if it was hitting the North again but let's see what happens next time!

I have to go out for a bit, but will be back later to read all the evidence people will post about homes in Scotland and Northern England being built to withstand storms

@Wnkingawalrus

It’s the first time the met office have issues a red warning for London, the most heavily populated area of the country. It’s also incredibly rare that the whole country is under red/amber warnings, it’s usually a bit more regionalised than that. Plus the impact of the high spring tide brings greater risk of flooding than we’ve seen with other storms.

But don’t let all that stop the chips gathering on your shoulders.

”whole country under red/amber warnings” (stops slight south of York).

I feel you trampled on your own point there @Wnkingawalrus

@kittensinthekitchen

I have to go out for a bit, but will be back later to read all the evidence people will post about homes in Scotland and Northern England being built to withstand storms

Yeah I wish someone told my house this. Our garden gate blew off and took down a wall at the bottom of our garden.

I wouldn't expect down in Dorset to have extensive coverage of a weather warning in Durham to warn us. I would expect local authorities to do as ours have done with eunice to make sure they warned and prepared their residents. Perhaps the failure has been on part of the local authorities rather than mocking the South.

Huge parts of the south are NOT London or the south east. The likes of Cornwall and Devon and Somerset are at no more an advantage than the North. However, we all get lumped into one generalisation of the favoured south.

And of course London is significantly important, the lives aren't but the city is.

We are also completely without power.

At the moment we have gusts of 83km/h, local tips etc have closed. Trains cancelled etc yet no weather warning that I have seen. But going by that chart areas below York with those gust speeds are in Amber

I too would like to know the difference between building construction in the North to south?

This storm has red warnings so it's more serious. Loss of life expected.

@outdooryone I’m not an economist so this is a genuine question for my info: how does a company in Scotland reporting shares and profits in London (and I’m not really sure what that means ) contribute towards the fiscal surplus here?

@MajorCarolDanvers

This storm has red warnings so it's more serious. Loss of life expected.

So did Arwen. 3 people died.

@MajorCarolDanvers

This storm has red warnings so it's more serious. Loss of life expected.

We will repeat slowly.....ARWEN HAD RED WARNINGS

Honestly the ignorance on this thread

I wouldn't expect down in Dorset to have extensive coverage of a weather warning in Durham to warn us. I would expect local authorities to do as ours have done with eunice to make sure they warned and prepared their residents. Perhaps the failure has been on part of the local authorities rather than mocking the South.

In part you are correct, it was a failure on the local authorities. But also we've had non-stop news covered up here in Northumberland about weather in the South West.

@MajorCarolDanvers

This storm has red warnings so it's more serious. Loss of life expected.

Again, proof that the news coverage of Arwen was terrible and huge chunks of the country weren't even aware that a rare, red weather warning was issued for areas in England and Scotland.

Yet we are all very much aware about this particular red weather warning.

I think some people are still missing the point. It is not about which storm is worse. Both arwen and eunice are rare red events. The difference is in the government and media response. Even now it is telling that people aren't even aware arwen was on red in the North east... people just saying yeah but eunice is red

I made another point just up thread about that map that was posted. Currently where I am in the North east has gusts of 83km. Now on the chart of that map other areas with those gusts are on Amber warning......

@MajorCarolDanvers

This storm has red warnings so it's more serious. Loss of life expected.

So did Arwen. So did Arwen. So did Arwen. Jesus Christ, way to prove the point yet again. And there was loss of life, assume you missed that too.

Getting a bit breezy in the North East - I'm just activating my home's special built-in wind defenses now - anyone else?

@FourTeaFallOut thank you for reminding me! I'll go and switch mine on too

Yanbu OP. The fuss on GMB this morning was ridiculous. Reporter posting from locations all over.

@MajorCarolDanvers

This storm has red warnings so it's more serious. Loss of life expected.

Are you aware at least 3 people died in Storm Arwen? I know there was a 60ish lady in Aberdeen and a younger man in Aberdeenshire killed by falling trees and I believe a young boy killed in the north of England.

@FourTeaFallOut

Getting a bit breezy in the North East - I'm just activating my home's special built-in wind defenses now - anyone else?

Mine blew off last time

And yes AGAIN for those hard of thinking, Storm Arwen was a red warning.