Preparedness for when

System

thank you !! (smiles nervously and tries to wave back) :wave:

pineapple

thriftwizard wrote: »

The power lines are frozen solid & can literally snap if the wind gets up, and they're still clearing up after the tornado. It's not a gentle place...

Saw a US news snippet saying that in some areas it would be colder than your freezer :eek:
Of course people do live in arctic climes - but with skills and an infrastructure developed for their needs and probably not with the same population densities.
My sense of unease about all these global extremes is growing day by day. Here in the land of pineapple the river is fortunately way downhill. It's land stability we have to worry about.
As for those in the UK flood areas it's not just a matter of mopping up and claiming off your insurance especially if you are in your own home. Who will buy it? Not me. Will you even be able to afford your insurance next year?
If I do sell this house and re-buy the number one consideration will be land stability and flooding. I foresee a new breed of surveyor with specific expertise in these things - if there isn't already.

[Deleted User]

pineapple wrote: »

If I do sell this house and re-buy the number one consideration will be land stability and flooding.

I know what you mean P.

If these floods continue happening, I can see high altitude properties becoming highly desirable, with a price tag to match.

Of course, who is going to be willing to sell such a property?

Probably the only way to procure such a property, will be by dead man's shoes.

kayjay1809

I live in a flood zone in a small village and the houses on the outskirts of the village flood regularly from the brooks leading to the river. If the river bursts its banks it tends to flood the agricultural land, as well as our allotments, before a few houses. This doesn't stop people buying in the village, as it's a lovely place to live and locals tend to accept that a by-product of living here is the possibility of flooding. Insurance is possible, but harder to get, we haven't moved our insurance from the original mortgage provider as I have neighbours who have moved insurance for a cheaper premium and then find it shoots up the next year and it's hard to find cheaper. We pay a lot for insurance and if we flood the excess will be thousands. Our house has never flooded since it was built more than 50 years ago, but we are prepared for it. The houses which do flood have been given flood doors and gates to help. And they still sell. So to say nobody will ever buy a house again is just not true. Often it's houses with no special risk or previous flooding that flood, as can be seen during the past week.

System

Having recently moved into temporary accomodation whilst looking to buy in a new area, I am certainly paying very close attention to the flooding here. My previous village suffered some flooding in the heavy rains some summers back, and whilst I was lucky in that my house wasn't directly affected, there is nothing like seeing other people's doormats floating past to focus the mind on potential water damage to hearth and home....

On another note, The Book People have Good Housekeeping's 1000 Home Remedies for £4 in their sale if it helps anyone.

Hollyberry

Welcome greeninkpen and MikeyMacbeth. Nice to meet you.

Ali Glad your OH is doing ok, albeit no real help forthcoming until his next appointment. I suspect that rather like yourself, he is made of stern stuff, but I'm sure you won't let him be too stoic for his own good.

Selfishly an altitude premium would do us good, as we live at a fairly high elevation anyway, and on top of a hill as well. Might compensate for the other shortcomings here, like excessive ventilation... [aka majorly draughty]. On which note, I am feeling slightly smug as I have put up new lined door curtains [found in my mum's stash] in front of the back door and the cellar door...and it's *warm* in the corner there! :j :j :j Small things please me, I know, but it's lovely not to have such a cold blast emerging there, and I'm sure it will make the whole of downstairs warmer. Well worth the hour and a bit it took me perching precariously on the step ladder to sort it out.

For those of you liking pandemic novels, Bluebag? this one popped up as a Kindle freebie today: Plague: Original Cut' by Jeremiah Donaldson. It hasn't got rave reviews on Amazon, but most of that is due to proofing errors which the author says he has now largely fixed. Blurb: An unseen traveler lurked within flight 308 to Paris, France. A traveler that infected everyone aboard, and raced across the world while those in charge of its containment denied the real danger. AN OLD THREAT Panic spread, gangs roamed wild, and madmen preached religious salvation. Few survived the carnage, fewer left any record. Moss Valley was one of them.... It's now second in my queue to read.

And finally, a good article on hypothermia over at Backdoor Survival: http://www.backdoorsurvival.com/what-every-prepper-needs-to-know-about-hypothermia/. It may not be as cold as the States here, but still really useful stuff.

[Deleted User]

kayjay1809 wrote: »

If the river bursts its banks it tends to flood the agricultural land, as well as our allotments, before a few houses.

Have you considered swapping to growing rice on your allotment?

GreyQueen

:T Newly decloaking people! Yayyyyyy!!!!!! I wonder how many more there are out there reading quietly in the wings, be lovely to have you pop up to say "hi!".

I'm feeling a little guilty about being in a flood-free zone, albeit only 50m from a smallish river which has had a lively past, although much tamed in recent decades by management techniques. Not sorry to be warm and dry but my mind is absolutely boggling at the incredibly low temperatures the continental US and Canada are experiencing.

Can you imagine what would befall us here in the UK if we got a tiny fraction of that coldness?

Last night I started a book which has been written by a historian but it a semi-dramatised style to bring out the real experiences of people in one particular English village during the Black Death. It's shaping up to be very interesting.

What drops my jaw every time I think about it, is how quickly the plague went across the known world in the 14th century and how many it killed (est death toll 75-150 million people, 40-60% of the population). Can you imagine what a similar plague would do to our fast-travelling and very interconnected world? It's the very stuff of nightmares.

On happier subjects, I have bought wisely in the sales (check out Icelandia for big joints of meat reduced by 50%) and have a large gammon joint roasting as we speak. At £5 for 1.9 kg, that's a lot of food for the money.

Nomnomnom (apologies to any passing veggies).

[Deleted User]

GreyQueen wrote: »

What drops my jaw every time I think about it, is how quickly the plague went across the known world in the 14th century and how many it killed (est death toll 75-150 million people, 40-60% of the population).

What also boggles my mind (I like a good boggle you know ), is how the known world population has ballooned.

From around 150 million, just after the black death, to over 6 billion now.

That's at least a 40x increase, in about 600 years. :eek:

And that's despite the death tolls of the various wars, disasters and genocides.

GreyQueen

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

What also boggles my mind (I like a good boggle you know ), is how the known world population has ballooned.

From around 150 million, just after the black death, to over 6 billion now.

That's at least a 40x increase, in about 600 years. :eek:

And that's despite the death tolls of the various wars, disasters and genocides.

Yeah, but think about it like this; you and me are approx the same vintage and there are exactly twice as many people in the UK now as when we were born. 'Mazing, innit? :rotfl:It's a wonder we've room to walk around the streets.