Preparedness for when

jk0

Shropshirelass wrote: »

Hi everyone :wave:, have been lurking while short of time to post, takes me some time to keep up to date with this brilliant community.

Sympathy, warm (and dry) wishes to all suffering this weather - probably all of us in some way. We had an hour or so of snow this morning, but seems to be reverting to drizzly rain now - don't know what would happen if we got a serious snow cover on top of this freezing mud. Ground water ground level here too, growing pools in any fields with low areas, road surface water everywhere, fools driving too fast and causing spray which obscures other drivers vision and soaks pedestrians.


Quite a few car fires causing roads to be blocked in last few days, wonder if they might be due to wet electrics in cars that have driven through deep water?

As well as serious flooding of houses and streets of shops, it looks as if storm damage has destroyed sea walls, coastal roads and parking areas all along large stretches of Welsh coast. Media not reporting this, TPTB in denial of need for any costly action, probably delighted to avoid mention, and responsibility. Is it my paranoid imagination, or do we only get a reaction to a problem if the media can easily make a convenient story out of it.

Sorry to hear of your troubles GQ. DS keeps his bike chained on hooks on the wall outside his flat (he has end flat so no-one passes by), at least he might hear if anyone attempts to meddle. DD kept her bike chained up while at work, had the un-chained wheel stolen. Very upsetting, people seem to get attached to their bike, perhaps like your trusty steed. Also devastating to think lottie under attack from these idiots, bad enough getting weather damage, have to accept as 'act of God', but mindless damage by crims is hard.

In last few weeks we have had problems here with access to money via ATMs, on several different occasions :eek: Got a scam email on Saturday re: Tesco club card - asking for my details to be confirmed on line - I don't think so :rotfl:I was also surprised to be approached by a beggar, standing next to the ATM outside the bank. This is a small market town, never seen that before. He was not local - so don't suppose he would get any help from newly opened Food Bank. Upsetting to think someone can be so desperate. All due to changing times, expecting more of these problems, and only hope we can keep wise and keep on top of situation.

Glad I have kept up with the preps, times like these you never know when or why they may be needed.

You need to be careful around people hanging around ATM's Shropshirelass. Often they are trying to see your PIN as you enter it. I won't use an ATM that has people loitering nearby, for that reason.

grandma247

Not all those who ask for money need it. We had a professional beggar here but after I looked at his boots (very expensive looking) I decided not to give him his "bus fair" home. I saw him several times approach people and eventually it was in the paper that the police had had words with him and moved him on. He was not poor.

Frugalsod

auntymabel wrote: »

Some further info re the NHS data issue and a Facebook petition to Jeremy Hunt for those who would like to sign.

Extract:

The government claims that individuals won’t be able to be identified. However, many experts have warned that under the current plans, we could easily be singled out through simple cross-referencing of other databases -- especially if you have a rare or unusual condition.

My brother has a condition that is so rare that over the last few years there were only 66 sufferers in the whole world. Not hard to identify him.

daz378

there is another aspect of the floods that is starting to emerge on program mes like the daily politics ....is food security a lot of farmers crops are write offs......what aggregate price effect this may have on the supply of food in the uk.... yet more reasons to carry on prepping

Frugalsod

daz378 wrote: »

there is another aspect of the floods that is starting to emerge on program mes like the daily politics ....is food security a lot of farmers crops are write offs......what aggregate price effect this may have on the supply of food in the uk.... yet more reasons to carry on prepping

Yes but this happens when ever there is a flood somewhere. It might not be long before prices are back to normal.

[Deleted User]

Then there is the 'what if' factor of will the jetstream actually do this every year from now on, will this abysmal weather pattern become the norm and will we be able to grow cereal and field crops or will the land become so waterlogged that it will not be useable in the future?

nuatha

Frugalsod wrote: »

Yes but this happens when ever there is a flood somewhere. It might not be long before prices are back to normal.

I don't think prices ever return to "normal" there's usually a steep rise, then a bit of a drop back, but the new "normal" is considerably higher than the old normal.

fuddle

Makes me laugh how the good folk of Somerset have been coping with floods for weeks, were telling us that after 3 weeks of being under flood waters arable crops are useless and have been essentially cut off... I live over the county border and had very little clue as all that obviously wasn't entertaining enough to make the news. Now though there's a man hunt to rid a bloke of his job, a scramble to point the finger of blame, idiots thinking its a good idea to call people names and only now it's a disgraceful situation?

I don't know anything about flood defences, flood plains etc but I heard the most sound bit of advice today... In order to stop water trickling away and congregating fast in one place, we should stop it in it's tracks, slow it down, let it accumulate where it falls and then slowly trickle away at different rates. How? Trees and vegetation. I can't help thinking that all this dredging talk, politicians arguing over cuts to EA etc is pointless and we should look closer to home and talk about concrete driveways, more roads, more buildings etc

It's always some b*ggar else's fault. Maybe it's our fault for wanting smoothe weed free drives, bigger houses, more shopping experiences or faster roads and by-passes. I don't think we've helped even if I am way wrong.

What does it mean to dredge and did we dredge in our yester year?

[Deleted User]

Hiya FUDDLE hope you're getting some you time in amongst all this hard work pet!!! The guy on the news this morning was actually saying that TPTB are now talking about planting more forests to do exactly what you've described and trees will take up the water as it falls, planting up large swathes of the countryside again, which certainly would help in the long run but will take time as trees take quite a time to grow big enough to be any help. Dredging is digging out the silt that accumulates in the riverbed every year and usually piling it up into banks (levees) at the side of the river which help keep water in the channel, river management also includes cutting weed to keep the water flowing and keeping the flood plains clear to allow the overspill water to spread out. I see a very good example of a well managed river every time I go into town, the flood plains are completely covered with water, the river which is dredged regularly is flowing fast, you can see it moving and only one road is closed in the area and this is a road with a bridge that is very low lying and the river usually flows under the road and has now just reached the same level as the bridge, otherwise the flood plain is doing the job it's intended to do. That and keeping the field ditches clear of vegetation and dug out would quickly drain water away and keep homes, livestock and crops safe. It's not rocket science, just old fashioned practicality, Lyn xxx.

short_bird

Here's a bit more on the arguments about dredging etc.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/30/dredging-rivers-floods-somerset-levels-david-cameron-farmers