The problem with this weather is it’s that really wet type of rain that soaks you right through.

Unparalleled natural crisis? I’m sure the bees, fish and inhabitants of the worlds rain forests are like WTF!

“The attribution of these changes to anthropogenic [caused by humans] global warming requires climate models of sufficient resolution to capture storms and their associated rainfall,” it says…..”Such models are now becoming available and should be deployed as soon as possible to provide a solid evidence base for future investments in flood and coastal defences.”

But in the meantime, we know (sic) who/what to blame.

Meanwhile, 200,000 Indonesians affected by eruption of Mt Kelud…

Someone on my FB feed (a good friend), just suggested that it was inappropriate for us to make such an effort to financially assist those affected by the typhoon in the phillipines last year, yet put nothing in place to help the victims of this flooding. Sometimes, it all just gets a bit too much.

I’m sorry to keep referring to the rest of the world but where does the current crisis rate?

Typhoon Haiyan is feared to have killed more than 10,000 people in the Philippines. Here are the natural disasters in the last decade that had higher death tolls:

— March 11, 2011: A magnitude-9.0 earthquake off northeastern Japan causes a tsunami that sweeps onto the coast. About 19,000 people are killed and three nuclear reactors melt at the Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant.

— Jan. 12, 2010: A 7.0 earthquake devastates Haiti’s capital and surrounding cities, killing 314,000 people.

— May 12, 2008: A 7.9 temblor in China’s Sichuan province kills 87,000 people. A disproportionate number of them were children killed when their shoddily built schools collapsed.

— May 2, 2008: The storm surge from Cyclone Nargis washes up densely populated areas around the Irrawaddy River delta in Myanmar, washing away whole farming villages. Around 138,000 people died.

— Oct. 8, 2005: A 7.6 earthquake kills about 80,000 people in northwestern Pakistan and Kashmir.

— Dec. 26, 2004: A 9.1 earthquake off western Indonesia triggers a tsunami in the Indian Ocean, killing 230,000 people in a dozen countries.

— Dec. 26, 2003: A 6.6 earthquake flattens the historic city of Bam in southeastern Iran, and some 26,000 people are killed.

Someone on my FB feed (a good friend), just suggested that it was inappropriate for us to make such an effort to financially assist those affected by the typhoon in the phillipines last year, yet put nothing in place to help the victims of this flooding.

That sentiment is quite common it seems 🙁

Btw my comment wasn’t meant to imply that our floods were a terrible disaster. I’m just commenting on the statistical rarity of this set of weather in the UK.

This is all as nothing compared to what some people have to deal with.

This is all as nothing compared to what some people have to deal with.

Tell me about it, we were nearly out of milk this morning……

Where’s that?

Btw my comment wasn’t meant to imply that our floods were a terrible disaster. I’m just commenting on the statistical rarity of this set of weather in the UK.

This is all as nothing compared to what some people have to deal with.

Oh aye, I get that. There’s no denying there is a lot of water knocking around. It just pains me to hear the word “crisis” when, if we’re completely honest and viewing this with any sense of perspective, is an inconvenience for most people.

One of the things that really humbled me when we were waiting for the typoon to hit in vietnam, was that the people who were going to be the most badly affected didn’t actually have much to lose, but that just meant they stood to lose everything. When I see even the most badly affected people in our own crisis (bearing in mind the people who have had to leave their homes represents a tiny minority of those affected overall), I can’t help but feel that the real hardship is having to stay in a premier inn until your insurance money comes through and your house can be repaired. I know it’s terrible (our home was completely destroyed in the 90’s when flood defences failed), but it’s really just a massive inconvenience. Your life is not ruined, it’s just made more difficult for a while.

That said, as this drags on, I do feel for small business owners, who are likely to be the real casualties of this.

That is the Street – Taunton road a few miles from where my mum lives on the Levels. It always floods along that stretch of road but ye gads, this is something else.

Where’s that?

The drought looks horrendous. That reservior has almost completely dried out and they’re just left with some cruddy shop and no drinking water.

That said, as this drags on, I do feel for small business owners, who are likely to be the real casualties of this

Agreed. I watch the flooding reports and think people should just crack on and sort it out (which most are) but the small businesses are really going to struggle. Sadly ironic was the guy who had been running the watersports park…

That reservior has almost completely dried out and they’re just left with some cruddy shop and no drinking water.

We made an effort to drive the long way round something out here in Oz as there was a road that went through a reservoir and was only passable during very low water. Everyone else in the campsite pointed out that it had never ever filled up…

andyl – Member

I guess we could boil it away? How many millions of tons of water do you reckon we have? Need to do a quick back of the envelope calculation.

So, you boil away the water from the Somerset levels, the steam rises, causes clouds and drops in rain over the next set of hills. Somewhere near the south east. Floods the Thames a bit more. Hmmm… the plan needs more work, I think. 😀

Some businesses must be booming? Welly manufacturing?