OT Flooding/other bad weather.

[Jimk]

Like T w a t s who burn the paint off car wheels in a bonfire.

[harry]

You can't believe the mentality of these people buying houses on floodplains/near rivers.

The cost of house insurance will be up next year for us all.

The other thing is winds. I have reinforced my house roof.

Haven't heard much from the climate deniers of late.

[Jethro_uk]

Someone had to build those houses ...

Unlikely. But your taxes will, as the government quietly slips insurers a(nother) bung to continue insuring what would otherwise be uninsurable ...

If high winds become extant, you might have a lot more to worry about than a few tiles ...

There's extremes of denial ... from "it's not happening at all" (most dense) through to "it's happening but not our fault" (sort of fence sitting) through to "it's happening, it's our fault, and there's nothing we can do" (back to most dense again)

[williamwright]

There is another category of sceptic.

I went up to Snaith the other day. I looked at the seemingly endless expanse of floodwater and the dozens of wind turbines that seem to be everywhere in East Yorkshire. It crossed my mind that instead of mankind wasting trillions in a completely futile attempt to alter the world's changing climate, surely it would have been better to spend that unimaginably large amount of money on measures that would reduce or eliminate the effects of climate change. Think how many flood defence measures could have been provided for Fishlake, Snaith, East Cowick, etc, if all that turbine money has been spent more wisely.

Bill

[Jethro_uk]

That's the middle option. Climate change is happening (in fact it's never stopped, but the greenies really don't like that being mentioned, let alone proved). It's a fact of life and we should be dealing with it on an ongoing basis, rather than waiting for catastrophes.

A good start would be NOT TO BUILD ON FLOOD PLAINS. They may not have flooded for 100 years. But they WILL be needed in 100 years.

[The Natural Philosopher]

The amount of concrete in yer average windymill could raise a whole housing estate 6 feet off the ground. If planning ion flood plains simply insisted that there was no 'habitable space'. on the ground floor they could be flooded with impunity...

And if insurance companies refused to pay out to people who converted them to living accommodation as well..

[Jethro_uk]

They would - but HMG has bribed them behind the scenes not to make them uninsurable. The original "deal" was that insurers would continue to offer cover while HMG spent money on flood defences. Needless to say HMG did not spend a penny, and AFAIAA DEFRA is still expected to deliver

*another* 5% cut this year.

[Cynic]

There is another category of sceptic. 

I went up to Snaith the other day. I looked at the seemingly endless  expanse of floodwater and the dozens of wind turbines that seem to be  everywhere in East Yorkshire. It crossed my mind that instead of mankind  wasting trillions in a completely futile attempt to alter the world's  changing climate, surely it would have been better to spend that  unimaginably large amount of money on measures that would reduce or  eliminate the effects of climate change. Think how many flood defence  measures could have been provided for Fishlake, Snaith, East Cowick,  etc, if all that turbine money has been spent more wisely. 

Bill 

Of course in the 1600s Vermuyden and his associated dutch engineers altered the course of the lower reaches of the river Don so it runs straight and parallel to the Goole to Knottingly canal thus it discharges into the river Ouse and hence the Humber. That section is capable of carrying a helluvalot of water. So much so that big pumps have been employed to transfer a massive amount of the floodwater from Snaith and Cowick into the Don. Looking at the map the river Aire twists and turns for most of its course past Snaith so no great surprise that water traverses that section slowly dropping silt in its channel as it goes. With the present water flow it overtopped the banks. Maybe Vermuyden could have straightened that river out as well? Such works were possible then but apparently not now.

[Cursitor Doom]

When the UK is finally free of EU interference at the end of this year, it can re-commence dredging of rivers and watercourses that was unaccountably banned by the EU many years ago and which has given rise to the widespread disastrous flooding we are now seeing more and more of. Clearing those watercourses should be the very first priority just as soon as the law permits.

[Robin]

round objects

[Jethro_uk]

If you have a cite, I would be impressed. If it turns out it's true.

[Steve Walker]

From what I have read, the EU has not banned dredging. However, it has made treating the river environment as a whole a priority, with dredging being a last resort. It has also declared the silt as waste, meaning that it has become prohibitively expensive to dispose of the large quantities that dredging produces.

SteveW

[Cursitor Doom]

See Steve's answer and try a bit of Googling.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Its the same thing they did with nuclear. They didn't ban it, just made it prohibitively expensive through over regulation

[Jethro_uk]

Yeah, I had a feeling it might not be true.

[Tim Streater]

Is there any good reason the the silt has been declared as waste? Does that preclude, therefore, the silt being dumped at sea (which is where it would end up if it hadn't become silt)?

[T i m]

<snip>

Yes.

Yes.

1) If you 'interfere' with any natural process like a river, then who knows how that might impact the natural circumstances / evolution.

2) Who should therefore be responsible for the cost / work involved and to what degree should you move say dredging spoils (estuary, coast, deep sea) and what might the concequences be of that to the environment?

Cheers, T i m

[alan_m]

Lots of photos on social media showing the same places flooded to a greater extent ----- in the late 1940s.

A few years back most of the water fell as snow. It usually depends on where the jet stream is during the winter months. If its south of us we tend to get colder weather and snow.

[Chris Hogg]

Dumping of dredged sediment removed from Millbay dock, Plymouth, into Whitsand Bay, has long been controversial as it tends to blanket the sea bed and obliterate any bottom-dwelling flora and fauna.

[alan_m]

You don't have be a climate change sceptic to know that anyone living in a flood plain is likely to flooded at some time and more so if use of the land up-river has changed over the previous decades. For instance farming is responsible for the removal of hedgerows and a change to arable farming in many areas means that the land is not able to absorb/contain the same quantity of water that it may have done in the past.

Even in towns the usage of land has changed. The road in which I live nearly every single property owner has concreted or paved over their front gardens for car parking purposes. This pushes a lot more water into the drainage system than it once did.