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Flooding is becoming a major issue in the UK for the emergency services |
FLOOD FACT |
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Flooding is becoming a major issue in the UK for the emergency services
As a reminder of the situation we include an article below
Below is an article from Guardian Newspaper in 2007
The government was today accused of underestimating the scale of the floods that have swamped many parts of Britain after new figures showed as many as 3,500 people have been rescued by the fire service in the past few days.
The rescue effort was described as the biggest in peacetime Britain as another body, the sixth, was pulled from flood waters. Police divers recovered the body after reports that a man, believed to have been aged around 60, had fallen from a dinghy in Torksey, Lincolnshire.
In a separate development, Nottinghamshire police named a man whose body was found in the River Lean on Monday as Hugh Birch, 41.
The number of recorded injuries has now passed 600. Hundreds of people in Yorkshire and the Midlands have been forced from their homes.
Official data revealed that the fire service received more than 7,300 calls to flood-related incidents on Monday and Tuesday in England and Wales. The majority of the incidents were in Humberside, Yorkshire, Shropshire, Nottinghamshire and Gloucestershire.
The figures, compiled by fire officers staffing an emergency support group, showed that many other parts of the country have been hit, including Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Derbyshire, the West Country and North Wales.
The Fire Brigades Union said its own research revealed that fire crews were working "to the point of collapse".
"The government has not understood the scale, gravity and severity of what has happened," the union's general secretary, Matt Wrack, said. "We have witnessed the biggest rescue effort in peacetime Britain by our emergency services, and it's not over yet.
"Fire crews and officers have been working to the point of collapse. Emergency fire control operators have been under major pressure, with thousands of extra calls for assistance from the public."
Calls recorded on Monday and Tuesday for flood-related problems across England and Wales were broken down by county as follows: 3,000 in Humberside, 1,282 in West Yorkshire, 596 in South Yorkshire, 176 in North Yorkshire, 450 in Shropshire, 412 in Gloucestershire, 522 in Nottinghamshire, 247 in Derbyshire, 120 in Norfolk, and 186 in Staffordshire.
On Tuesday, the former environment secretary, David Miliband - who was today replaced by Hilary Benn - told the House of Commons that Britain had experienced the "most exceptional" weather conditions.
"It is estimated that some 1,000 properties have been flooded in and around Sheffield, Nottingham, Leeds, Hull, Grimsby, Rotherham, Doncaster, Cheltenham, Shropshire and elsewhere," he said.
Today, the head of the Environment Agency, Lady Young, described this week's floods as "a one in 150-year event".
"No amount of flood defence preparation can withstand these very extreme events," she told the BBC. "We need more investment in flood defences and to think hard about building on flood plains."
She said this week's havoc was not caused by the failure of flood defences but by their "overtopping".
A Defra spokeswoman said the department would be making a case for more flood defence finances in the next budget review.
More wet weather is forecast for this weekend, and Lady Young admitted the agency was anxious about more flooding.
"It is not looking good," she said.
The Met Office has issued an early severe weather warning covering all of England and Wales for the weekend. Heavy and persistent downpours are expected on Saturday, bringing up to 50mm or rain, clearing away slowly on Sunday.
The area of flooding widened today as the Yorkshire villages of Bentley, Toll Bar and Arksey were inundated.
Mark Whyman, the assistant chief constable of South Yorkshire police, called for people to save electricity and share cars to reduce the strain on the county's "significantly damaged" infrastructure.
He said the utility companies were working to restore services and some roads had "structural problems which would take some time to repair".
The regional development agency, Yorkshire Forward, today promised up to £1m in recovery funding to help businesses affected by the flooding. A small business recovery scheme would be set up to provide emergency funding of up to £2,500 per company, the agency said.
In Doncaster, where there has been widespread flooding, more than 350 people have been taken to four makeshift reception centres in the town after the River Don burst it banks.
Yesterday, 126 tonnes of sandbags were airlifted by RAF Chinook helicopters to support the River Don's flood defences.
In Sheffield, a public telephone hotline was being set up today to coordinate all requests for flood-related assistance, as the city prepared for more wet weather.
Council officers were hoping last night's reopening of the M1 motorway round the city will help to ease the traffic problems that have plagued the Sheffield area for the past two days.
The motorway was opened with some restrictions after fears about the safety of Ulley Dam, near Rotherham, subsided. Some evacuated residents living downstream of the dam were told they could return home last night, although many of their homes were flooded.
Last night, CE Electric said 7,500 householders in Sheffield remained without power, although 78,000 had now had electricity restored
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Boscastle was a one in 200 year event! But it happened twice in 3 years !!!!!! Many areas in the UK have similar geology and topography as Boscastle. South Wales is one which is very similar for many reasons as are other areas like Northern England and North Wales. To cover all areas would take too long, so we will look at South Wales here. Firstly with weather systems predominantly coming from the mid Atlantic, South Wales is very geographically similar to Boscastle. Deep low pressure systems travel across the Atlantic ocean with large amounts of energy and potential precipitation. On reaching the western approaches of the UK the cloud is forced to assend due to hills and mountains, causing heavy percipitation. Where cool and warm air meet the situation is further exasperated. The terrain in South Wales is also similar,steep valleys and large open moorland. Boscastle has upper catchment areas of peat and Slate. South Wales has peat and Coal. The run off and absorbtion rates are relatively similar. The South Wales valleys are surrounded by steep mountain sides and large catchment areas. This can make river levels both rise and fall very quickly. A Boscastle event could happen in South Wales and many other areas of UK . The dangers of a Boscastle type of event The danger is due to the fast unpredictable rise in a localized area of flood water. This has the capability to catch both public and rescue crews without warning. Unlike the widespread flooding that effected Gloucester, which has its own dangers there is very little warning of an impending event like Boscastle. Fire crews and others thought the floodwaters were receding. 6 FIRE CREW RESCUED.
Printable reports for rescue services
Fire Crew safety at Flooding, Hygiene PDF Removal of floodwater considerations
We provide the following free services - Weather forum for extreme weather that could cause flooding within the UK. Reports and links regarding Flooding, latest, river levels and weather forecast latest information. We Link too river webcam's, mostly river webcam's from other web sites. We have a flood forum, where users can keep everyone informed of the latest river levels and submit pictures. We link to reputable companies that supply flood products. We offer flood help and advice. The weather warnings are issued by The UK Meteorological office. Its all here - flood prevention, flood warnings and flood alerts for flooding any where in the UK. The Wales, England and Northern Ireland flood warnings are issued by the environment agency and in Scotland by SEPA Email us here
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