Present Floodings.

But only if your builder bought for cash, Paul, otherwise the fencing panel supplier will have paid the VAT.

I lost two fence panels and one post. Now back up by the builder I have used for years £140 cash no VAT. Sorry Osbourne that’s £28 you don,t get.(unless my bloke wants to declare it)
Yes I am old and disabled so Its a job I can no longer do myself.
Sandbags are 1% efficient so its a waste of time anyway so you would be wasting your money Moggy. Have a Google and read it for yourself. Boarding doors and airbricks are a better defence but that dosn’t stop groundwater and your downstairs thunderbox flooding you!

It was appalling in 1953 Linc, and particularly in your area…

http://www.spaldingtoday.co.uk/news/latest-news/60th-anniversary-of-1953-floods-is-remembered-in-sutton-bridge-1-4741559

Alan, Very true what you say re Flag Fen, well worth a visit.
Where I live, we are 12 ft below Sea level. If the river banks caved in at Sutton Bridge, (River Nene), then you could possibly wipe South Lince, and right up to the Deepings.out.
Jim.
Lincoln .7

I remember a few years ago when we were visiting Flag Fen, near Peterborough. My GPS told me I was driving along a road
which was only 4ft above sea level. As far as I know it doesn’t flood in that location.

There are some massive “Drains” in the area though.

My nearest direct, as the Crow flies, to the Sea, is 10 miles away, yet many, many yrs ago, the Sea coved that distance not only to where I live, but also a further 5 miles inland. But thanks to the Dutch, rivers were diverted, dykes were built, and the land was finally reclaimed. So, if such a vast area can be dealt with, and remember, that in those days, they didn’t have the advantage of modern machinery, why can’t the same be done today?. It was Irish labour using spades and wheelbarrows that did all the hard work, and we sure as hell have enough unemployed that could be set to work in doing it.We have to adapt to survive, we can never beat Mother Nature, but we can make it difficult for any future bad weather such as we have now.In 1979/80, I dug up a downed Lancaster, 27 feet down, we came across the original Sea bed, cockle shells, sand etc, this was at Whaplode Drove, Lincs. Just look it up, and see how far that place is away from the Sea, it will surprise you, however, it will show you just what can be achieved, when we put our minds to it.
Jim.
Lincoln .7

There always has to be someone to blame in these situations.

It’s easy to forget that at one time, large areas of Somerset were permanently under water.

Moggy – yes I echo all of that but I’m afraid the sort of tripe you refer to in your first paragraph is very predictable here.

Self reliance along with self responsibility slipped away a decade ago and no one is the better for it.

I think it is a publicity failure for the government to have done nothing but in real terms I doubt there is anything that could have been done.
There is no justification to spend millions on something that happens so infrequently and to so few of the population.
I don’t see why the government has to give any money to flooded homes.
Homeowners who live near water or on indicative flood plains should have sufficient insurance to protect themselves.

I think this assumption that everyone living near the Thames is a wealthy Tory voter and everyone living elsewhere is a poverty-stricken, downtrodden worker that votes Labour is tabloid silliness at its worst and I am quite surprised to see it voiced here.

Meanwhile.. why this assumption that sandbags should be provided free? If I were a householder whose property was threatened I’d certainly be sandbagging at my own expense well in advance, rather than sitting back and waiting for somebody else (i.e. The government, the troops, the Environment Agency) to do it for me. My property, my responsibility, just like lagging pipes before a cold spell. Or do we now expect it’s the government’s duties to do that for us too? Obviously the old and vulnerable need protection, but providing it for fit, able and competent householders can only limit the help available for those that really need it.

What on earth happened to self-reliance?

PS: My fence has blown down, when is the government coming round to fix it?

Moggy

And finally: http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/mail-demands-foreign-aid-to-be-spent-on-replacing-british-carpets-2014021183451

We understand we have to make sacrifices up here so the Thames side residents can each get a new ivory back scratcher 😀

Go and iron your flat cap and polish your clogs and remember your place. You would only squander the money on heating and Greggs pies!:D

I wonder why house holds in the south are getting £5000 when house holds in north got £300 ….. Could it be something to do with who votes for who and where ???

Presumably in some cases – but we’ll never know because the media will have lost interest by then.

And lost livelihoods Charlie?

How dispiriting and petty to read the dog eared us and them mantra bring trotted out to distinguish people living by the Thames and those in Somerset.
I certainly haven’t seen much evidence of knobs, whomever they are, in Wraysbury and Staines. Just people with lost possessions and lost homes trying to make the best of it.

I wonder how many of them had bought/sold their house there in the past with the sales pitch of lovely riverside view,short walk to the river,private boat mooring area.

Alan I believe you, I hope the poor dear can sleep tonight.

I have friends who work and live on the levels and only recently was their plight taken seriously. Still when Mrs Trellis’s daffodils come out and the Thames is back to normal I wonder if they will still care about Somerset? Apparently if it stops raining now the water will not be gone to the end of May.

There was a woman on the radio yesterday, moaning about her garden being ruined. (I kid you not)

It was also mentioned that Eton and Windsor hadn’t been affected.

Well all I can say is I care deeply for those on the Somerset levels who have to make a living there. Those people who deliberately buy a house on a flood plain I am also sorry for but perhaps they should have enquired a bit further before parting with there cash. I have no sympathy for the knobs on the Thames whose houses run down to the river to their cruisers. Still its Toryland so I suppose things might take on more urgency because of that.(I noticed on the news last night they have a private blue light emergency service in attendance!)

On a lighter note. Scotland could leave the UK and Cornwall is just about ready to be an Island so they wont have to take us “Grockles” money much longer!