Major Flooding On The Way In Britain

[Zaune]

The Guardian

Severe flood warnings have been issued in the north and east of England, the Midlands and much of Wales, with non-stop torrential rain expected for the next 24 hours and into Saturday in what forecasters are predicting could be the most serious weather conditions yet this year.

The Environment Agency warned already sodden areas of the country to prepare for further heavy rain, after forecasts warned that a month's rain could fall over 24 hours, as heavy showers swept across the UK.

The agency has opened emergency incident rooms and has teams out on the ground checking on flood defences and clearing any blockages in order to reduce the risk of flooding as much as possible.

Communities across the country have already seen severe floods causing deaths, traffic chaos and widespread damage but the agency warned the risk of flooding was expected to be the highest of the year so far, with homes and transport in some parts of the country likely to be hit.

Yorkshire, the north-east, the Midlands and East Anglia are likely to be hit hardest by the severe weather late on Friday, according to the Environment Agency. Craig Woolhouse, the agency's head of flood incident management, said: "We are expecting some very significant flooding in the coming days across large parts of the country and would strongly urge people to sign up to flood warnings, keep a close eye on the forecasts for their area and be prepared for flooding. We would also ask that people stay safe, by keeping out of dangerous flood water and not attempting to walk or drive through it."

Nick Prebble, a forecaster with MeteoGroup, said up to 100mm (3.9in) of rain could fall over central and southern England in a 24-hour period but it was likely to be less. "There is quite a large area of rain edging in from south-east England and making its way westwards through the course of today. Much of England and Wales will be affected by rain."

The Met Office issued an amber weather warning – the second highest level of warning, meaning "be prepared". Tony Waters, its deputy chief forecaster, said: "We are expecting spells of very heavy and thundery rain across a wide area of the UK in the next few days, with worst affected spots likely to be in central and northern parts of the country. Rainfall totals could be 20-40mm widely across warning areas, but some places could see around 100mm of rain through today and into tomorrow."

Heavy rain last month, the wettest June since records began, had exacerbated the problem, he said, with heavy rain falling on already saturated ground. "This could cause significant disruption – including difficult driving conditions and flooding in some areas," he said.

Down district council declared an emergency in County Down in Northern Ireland on Thursday, after flooding hit parts of the county. Newcastle SDLP councillor Carmel O'Boyle said floodwater was "several feet deep" in some areas of the Northern Irish town.

Double the average rain fell last month, with provisional figures from the Met Office showing the UK received 145.3mm (5.7in) in June, beating the previous record of 136.2mm (5.4in) in June 2007. Prolonged rainfall and short but exceptionally heavy showers, followed by freak storms with hailstones the size of golf balls in some areas, left parts of the Midlands, the north-east and Wales submerged.

April was also the wettest April in the records, which date back more than a century to 1910. June saw long, prolonged rainfall and short, exceptionally heavy showers, and ended with freak storms which battered areas of the Midlands and the north-east. The exceptional amount of rain caused floods in Wales and parts of England.

Posted without comment, because the only thing that springs to mind is, "Oh, bugger."

[Dartzap]

Still, on the plus side, the reservoirs shouldn't run out for a few years after this.

Hope all those in the path of this do well.

[Broomstick]

Pity we can't ship some of that rain to drought-stricken areas elsewhere. Hope people stay safe.

[Zaune]

Still, on the plus side, the reservoirs shouldn't run out for a few years after this.

Not necessarily true, unfortunately; the survface reservoirs are getting toppoed off nicely, but the ground's been baked so hard from the long spell of hot, dry weather that most of the rain's just bouncing straight off and running down towards the sea instead of refilling the aquifiers. Can't be doing the topsoil much good either.

[Dartzap]

Yeah, topsoils been knackered in the last few months. Quite a few farmers around here are in dire straights as crops have been wrecked.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

It's a pity there's no way to funnel all this rain underground on the scale required to replenish the aquifers- here in the South West, we've been getting alternating periods of blazing hot sun and continuous rain. Lucky no actual flooding here so far

[Eternal_Freedom]

I laugh at the idea that East Anglis will be hit by heavy rain tonight...it's already happened damnit! Pouring down all night, to the point that when I got up at around 7for a piss and looked at the window I couldn't see the garden fencedue to the rain (in other words about 20 feet of visibility, if that).

[EnterpriseSovereign]

On the plus side, it could be worse- at least it wasn't because it was underwater

[Dartzap]

It's a pity there's no way to funnel all this rain underground on the scale required to replenish the aquifers- here in the South West, we've been getting alternating periods of blazing hot sun and continuous rain. Lucky no actual flooding here so far

When the hell did we get any blazing hot sun in the last few months? Devon has been soggy since the end of March

[EnterpriseSovereign]

It's a pity there's no way to funnel all this rain underground on the scale required to replenish the aquifers- here in the South West, we've been getting alternating periods of blazing hot sun and continuous rain. Lucky no actual flooding here so far

When the hell did we get any blazing hot sun in the last few months? Devon has been soggy since the end of March

Maybe not in the last 24 hours, but Wiltshire has certainly seen its share of sun- the two weeks preceding this one had quite a few hot days

Yesterday evening I was left scratching my head as to why it was hotter than it should have been given the forecast- my PC doesn't kick out that much heat.

At least the rain has stopped here for now- I might be able to ride to the gym today after all

[Crown]

I woke up this morning to a miserable wet summer's day, and had the most glorious thought that 'well at least it will stop when Wimbledon is finished', wich only lasted a micro second when I remembered that they Olympics are right after*. So that fucked me off.

But on the plus side got my Australia holiday approved from one of my bosses yesterday for Christmas, so I know Melbourne won't disappoint me later on this year. I WILL see the sun in 2012!




*Yes I know, this is due to the jet stream, but anyone that lives in this country knows what happens when Wimbledon is on.

[Dartzap]

Yup. Not one Briton, be they male or female, shall ever see the Finals. Oh. Wait

We just got given a Red Alert down here now, Welp.

[Sea Skimmer]

It's a pity there's no way to funnel all this rain underground on the scale required to replenish the aquifers- here in the South West, we've been getting alternating periods of blazing hot sun and continuous rain. Lucky no actual flooding here so far

Well, such a mechanism does exist, but it would require restoring all that pesky riverside flood plain and marshland human activity has destroyed or contained over the last few thousand years. In the US at least, restoring flood plain and accepting crop losses is gaining ground as far more economical then raising levee heights, but I would imagine this is far less practical in England due to higher density of population and no space to move towns away from riverbanks.

Installing more soakaway style cache basins in storm sewer systems can also have a pretty serious effect on groundwater if done in a comprehensive manner, though it is unlikely that even a very good system is going to handle more then around an inch of rain in one go. Still lots of one inch rainfalls add up.

[madd0ct0r]

It's a pity there's no way to funnel all this rain underground on the scale required to replenish the aquifers- here in the South West, we've been getting alternating periods of blazing hot sun and continuous rain. Lucky no actual flooding here so far

Well, such a mechanism does exist, but it would require restoring all that pesky riverside flood plain and marshland human activity has destroyed or contained over the last few thousand years. In the US at least, restoring flood plain and accepting crop losses is gaining ground as far more economical then raising levee heights, but I would imagine this is far less practical in England due to higher density of population and no space to move towns away from riverbanks.

Installing more soakaway style cache basins in storm sewer systems can also have a pretty serious effect on groundwater if done in a comprehensive manner, though it is unlikely that even a very good system is going to handle more then around an inch of rain in one go. Still lots of one inch rainfalls add up.

The UK doesn't rely on leeves quite so much as the US, simply because the US had them occur naturally to start with (asymmetrical deposition). And everything's on a smaller scale too. Since the Lynmouth flood (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynmouth_Flood) the preferred methods have been to allocate a certain amount of land for flooding - so riverside parks, carparks, playing fields ect
During the 2007 floods for example - huge areas of meadow and farmland around Oxford were underwater, but the main city was reasonably unaffected (surrounding villages got fucked though)
Motorway embankments, canals ect are used to try and direct the floods, and rivers are kept winding and slow, to stop too much water being dumped into one place very quickly. SUDS and drainaways are becoming standard on new developments, but people are stll building where they shouldn't.

Fucking John Prescott has a lot to answer for.

[Dartzap]

Fucking John Prescott has a lot to answer for.

Apart from the obvious 'Who ate all the pies' questions, what did TwoJags do, or rather not do in his tenure?

[madd0ct0r]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/new ... homes.html

Bascally, he authorised / encouraged / planned for the building of hundreds of thousands of new homes in the UK, focusing them on where the land was cheap and close to London for jobs.

Except there was a reason that land was cheap and not yet built on. It was fucking floodplains. Know what happens when you turn an area of floodplain into an tarmac and roof and drain suburb? Flooding there (duh) and the run off gets downstream much faster, making peak flow much greater, screwing everyone else downstream.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Well, it's here- just seen on the news places that are sitting under six feet of water. Oh, and the water's fucking up the grounds around Silverstone too, as well as delaying the qualifying for an hour or so. Wonderful British weather

[DoomSquid]

Ah, British droughts are the best sort of droughts.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Just seen on the news about flooding in Russia- makes ours look like a trickle in comparison.