Preparedness for when

short_bird

somebody was on the radio this morning saying they'd left the cat to fend for itself when they got flooded
and :mad:

Pooky

I've got 5 cats and I love them dearly but in an emergency situation I would leave as much food and water as I could, leave a window open so they could come and go as long as the house was still standing and yes I would leave them to it. I wouldn't be trying to pack them up in cages to take to a community centre, I can't even begin to imagine the stress that would cause them.

This is more water than we've had since the 1700s so yes there will be glaring errors in the amount that local and government agencies can do, you can't prep for every extreme, it would cost hundreds of thousands of pounds, much like not having the right practices in place for snow/ice, we don't get enough of it for them to spend the money on the "what ifs" situations.

In years gone by locals would know what floods and what doesn't flood and would prep accordingly, common sense. That's the thing that most people are lacking now. The last government and the current one have made decisions on funding for things like coastal/flood defences based on the data they had and likely scenarios, meanwhile they were slated for not spending enough in hospitals and on education....there's only so much money in the pot and only so many "what ifs" that can be planned for.

Society needs to take a bit more control over their local area and environment and be a bit more clued up and a little less expectant on others to do it all for them.

One woman on the news was complaining that she phoned the council 6 times and couldn't get through, well yes, every other person was trying to phone them too and they can only answer so many calls. Maybe they should have put out some sort of bulletin on the local news/radio with more info (they may well have done) but just sitting tight and expecting someone to come know on your door and tell you what to do is a little short sighted. We really have become very namby pamby as a nation.

mardatha

Posting a red alert at 11am for 100mph winds due to hit at 1.30 is not a lot of use is it?

cornishchick

Well bazzare,

half my electric has Gone!! Checked the fuse box and turned all off then on again... but some sockets not working, no switches were triped.
Very very windy weather here.
My tin hat would blow off if ii went outside.

THIRZAH

We are unlikely to get flooded here but are on the edge of the red area for the gales later (I keep telling myself that we're in the amber zone as I really hate it when it's windy).

I've checked the garden for loose objects and tucked the wheelie bins close to the house. In case the power goes off I've double checked the location of the torches , candles and matches, done the hoovering and ironing and washed my hair -I was going to do it this evening but hate the thought of sitting in a cold house with wet hair.Supper is ready and just needs heating up on the gas hob so now we just have to wait and hope it's not as bad as forecast.

moments_of_sanity

Hi all, hope you are bearing up with all this awful weather. I lurk lots on this thread but rarely post (posts generally give me most of the excellent info I need), however, in the last week my DH has gone from being a PAYE temp to having to go self employed to maintain his employment. This mean he has to pay for van rental etc as he is a delivery driver and this will be mean we are losing a minimum of £55 a week in salary! :eek:

I don't work due to ill health and we have 2 teenage DD's who are currently doing A levels. We also have 2 cats (cost is £20 a month to feed) and 2 dogs (cost £15 a month to feed). I try and use my ESA allowance to buy the food so that is about £142 every 2 weeks, if I need to buy extra food, I can use the savings account but I wonder if you could suggest some foods (mainly tinned) that I should be stocking up on (for those weeks when DH doesn't get enough work).

I have 3 freezers full of food, foraged fruit, meat, milk, bread etc. I also have a supply of baked beans, spaghetti, pasta, flour, spices, herbs, sugar etc but can you suggest things I might look at adding?

I try and spend approximately £2.50 per day per person for meals and snacks (home made). This also includes breakfast and I currently have 9 jars of marmalade after making some at the weekend.

Many thanks.

fuddle

I heard the sound bite 1 months rain in a day or two this morning. Tell that to Southerners who have coped with this for 8 weeks!

The winds are news to me Mar. I keep my eye closely on the weather but when I checked last night the winds were strong but what I'm used to at the moment. Woke up to amber alert in my area and shocked to see a red alert for the west.

I'm on the look out for a weather tool that can tell me the gust factor. The gusts here are terrible at the moment - yes it's windy but that only tells part of the picture. I feel the gusts are what does the damage and what people really need to know.

mardatha

Gusty here now and a blizzard outside. Funny to think that yesterday we were out in the garden digging the veg plot

Possession

Very windy too here now, the roof just blew off the rabbit hutch. Rather glad there were no rabbits in it.

greenbee

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

The weather forecast this morning has flagged up the fact that on Friday we will probably be having a front pass over the country that will drop 1 months worth of rain as it passes over us, mainly the southern half of the country from the map they showed. If you are in an already flooded area, GREENBEE particularly, and you have access to sandbags today and tomorrow it would be a VERY good idea to see how many you can aquire as you'll probably need them. They aren't always right with the prediction but the area of 'green' which is used to indicate very heavy rainfall is huge!!! Good luck everyone, catch you all on Friday as off to visit the Grandson for a couplke of days, Lyn xxx.

Have a lovely time Mrs LW.

I have ordered polymer sandbags which I hope they can get through to deliver tomorrow. My brother is coming over later and hoping to bring me some builders' plastic and maybe some more sandbags, as he's got a day off to take the kids for jabs and I'm having to work...