Recovering from flood

Gavi

Gavi

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We finally got the insurance assessor around today - delay not their fault, we needed non booted access to the house for her. The assessment was very thorough and I have no complaints. Quite the opposite really, the insurance company has been superb so far. Sadly the repair works will take 6-10 months, and it even includes sorting garden building and furniture problems. The good news is that we have secured a nearby house and it is close to an available mooring. Looks like the Broom will be a river taxi this year.
 
My commiserations pal. I've not been flooded but once had a house wrecked by fire so I have an inkling of what you are suffering.
 
Environment Agency data is at last being made available to the public!

There can be a nice outcome in that you should end up with a newly decorated and repaired home. If you can, take the opportunity to carry out those improvements that would otherwise involve the turmoil and mess of building work whilst you live in your home. Ground movement will have taken place and every piece of wood will have moved. Possessions left in an enclosed wet home will be badly damaged so if you want to hang on to them store them somewhere away from your home. Some good news in todays Guardian! http://t.co/ik28pdwxil The Environment Agency are going to let the public have the data that they've paid the Agency to produce. Flood warnings and river levels for other uses should become more useful as the data is accessed by a wider group of people. Flood mapping can be improved also so that people will better know when they're buying a home how bad the flood risk is.
 
2Tizwoz said:
The Environment Agency are going to let the public have the data that they've paid the Agency to produce. Flood warnings and river levels for other uses should become more useful as the data is accessed by a wider group of people. Flood mapping can be improved also so that people will better know when they're buying a home how bad the flood risk is.
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Yeah that data has always been available - more bad reporting by the Guardian and Government Ministers!!

Check out the Shoothill website they already have the data available. Problem with sharing the data without restrictions is when the public access it and its misunderstood/misinterpreted the original data owner is blamed.

CJL
 
The Shoothill webpage merely duplicates E.A. warnings. The far more important data is the rainfall and river levels. Together that data can produce flood risk tailored to particular areas of interest. People are currently receiving false alarms and warnings after the flood has arrived. Once the E.A. have published a warning nothing further is heard putting those at risk in the position of not knowing how to proceed. Travel to a vulnerable relative's home or not, Go to work or not. It's all too poor. http://www.farsondigitalwatercams.com/live-webcams/ Farson finances online cameras with advertising. Where flood risk is the principle area of interest infrared cameras are used but they're primarily on residents' own premises and paid for by them. For fishing and recreation daytime suffices. The E.A. and flood control rooms have used their data because a camera doesn't lie, unlike a stuck gauge.
 
Most of the thames gauges are at locks , and are easily viewable at any time of the day or night by a resident lock keeper , or if it is a site without one , by a relief within a short time.

If river control need to check if the telemetry at a site is malfunctioning , they call the duty desk and they will raise the appropriate member of staff. Usually we can have someone check a site within half an hour.

Once warnings are published they are updated daily , or when a significant change is expected. Flood Alert , Flood Warning , Severe Flood Warning.

You seem to think you know a lot about the way we do things on the thames considering you are based in northumberland ?
 
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teddington_lock said:
Most of the thames gauges are at locks , and are easily viewable at any time of the day or night by a resident lock keeper , or if it is a site without one , by a relief within a short time.


If river control need to check if the telemetry at a site is malfunctioning , they call the duty desk and they will raise the appropriate member of staff. Usually we can have someone check a site within half an hour.

Once warnings are published they are updated daily , or when a significant change is expected. Flood Alert , Flood Warning , Severe Flood Warning.

You seem to think you know a lot about the way we do things on the thames considering you are based in northumberland ?
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What happens when the roads are flooded and the traveling lock keeper can't get to the locks, as has been the case, as I'm led to believe, in the last few weeks. Surley its better to have a resident Lockie on site?
 
Riverleak said:
What happens when the roads are flooded and the traveling lock keeper can't get to the locks, as has been the case, as I'm led to believe, in the last few weeks. Surley its better to have a resident Lockie on site?
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Would be interested to know if any locks have actually been inaccessible, or not had staff on site, during the recent flood incidents. We keep hearing conjecture about non resident staff not being able to access so some actual facts would be good - can anyone throw any light on the situation?
 
boatone said:
Would be interested to know if any locks have actually been inaccessible, or not had staff on site, during the recent flood incidents. We keep hearing conjecture about non resident staff not being able to access so some actual facts would be good - can anyone throw any light on the situation?
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After asking a couple of Lockie friends, they have told me there were quite a number that couldn't be accessed by the travelling staff and the resident staff were there at most locks that couldn't be accessed, The ones that that were not accessible were,
Grafton, Shifford, Pinkhill, Kings, Sandford, Clifton, Days, Cleeve, Goring, Whitchurch, Mapledurham, Caversham, Sonning, Shiplake, Marsh, Hambledon, Temple, Cookham, Romney, Old Windsor, Bell Weir, Penton Hook, Chertsey, and Shepperton. That,s 25 out of 45!
 
Riverleak said:
After asking a couple of Lockie friends, they have told me there were quite a number that couldn't be accessed by the travelling staff and the resident staff were there at most locks that couldn't be accessed, The ones that that were not accessible were,
Grafton, Shifford, Pinkhill, Kings, Sandford, Clifton, Days, Cleeve, Goring, Whitchurch, Mapledurham, Caversham, Sonning, Shiplake, Marsh, Hambledon, Temple, Cookham, Romney, Old Windsor, Bell Weir, Penton Hook, Chertsey, and Shepperton. That,s 25 out of 45!
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I suppose we should define what is meant by inaccessible? I see you list Shepperton but I actually visited the EA area office on 7th February, pretty much at the height of the floods and, although Chertsey Bridge was closed I was able to get there from Walton and park by the lock. Also there is no resident at Chertsey.

As far as the weirs are concerned there would be nothing they could do anyway until the levels started to subside, although I recognise that keeping an eye open for trees and debris impeding the flow is desirable. Unreliable telemetry equipment is certainly something that should be addressed and, in this day and age it should not be impossible to ensure reliable information is reaching control offices. Surely, a rogue reading should be fairly evident when compared to those up and down river?
 
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Its an interesting point this.

The river is experiencing catastrophic river levels and we are expecting "normal" service from the infrastructure. Question - Should we have this expectation? In the past when there have been other catastrophic events on other sites like the Buncefield explosion, the normal infrastructure that was required to operate for the normal scale of failure events failed completely in the extreme circumstances.

A lot of work has happened as a result of the lesson's learnt at Buncefield, but I suspect in this case that once the water gets to the levels we've experienced recently, having a gauging station working reliably when the water is flowing around the surrounding land is rather useless!

CJL
 
teddington_lock said:
Most of the thames gauges are at locks , and are easily viewable at any time of the day or night by a resident lock keeper , or if it is a site without one , by a relief within a short time.

If river control need to check if the telemetry at a site is malfunctioning , they call the duty desk and they will raise the appropriate member of staff. Usually we can have someone check a site within half an hour.

Once warnings are published they are updated daily , or when a significant change is expected. Flood Alert , Flood Warning , Severe Flood Warning.

You seem to think you know a lot about the way we do things on the thames considering you are based in northumberland ?
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The E.A. policies are national and affect Northumberland in the same way as the Thames. A lock keeper like yourself no doubt conscientiously with sound local experience working a slow response river is considered very worthwhile for those reasons. Elsewhere things have not always gone to plan. The initial opening of the Jubilee River sluices was carried out late unfortunately, resulting in the infrastructure being damaged. Numerous residents recently flooded by the Thames received flood warnings after they had been flooded. Despite conscientious officers elsewhere in the E.A. the warning system fails residents. E.A. control rooms have used Farson data to compliment their gauges. That region wanted the E.A. to use the Farson facility but despite asking for and receiving a presentation things went no further.
 
2Tizwoz said:
The initial opening of the Jubilee River sluices was carried out late unfortunately, resulting in the infrastructure being damaged.
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A very specific accusation - on what evidence do you claim this to be true?

E.A. control rooms have used Farson data to compliment their gauges. That region wanted the E.A. to use the Farson facility but despite asking for and receiving a presentation things went no further.
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A google for "Farson data" only reveals the Farson webcam facilities:
http://www.farsondigitalwatercams.com
If this is what you are referring to there appear to be only two of these installations on the Thames - one "active" in the vicinity of Hobbs at Henley and one "inactive" at Whitchurch. I fail to see how a couple of webcams can possibly provide anything other than current visual conditions. If you are referring to some more comprehensive data collection and dissemination resource can you please share the origins of this with us?
From a purely personal point of view I am beginning to despair of unsubstantiated claims and counterclaims that do little to help understand the truth of the matter.

The only thing i actually "know" - i.e. totally believe - is that we have suffered the most severe rainfall in living memory leading to unprecedented flooding and misery for a significant number of home owners on the Thames and elsewhere. I do not "know" what the answers are and have to rely on those appointed to manage such matters who, I freely accept, may sometimes "get it wrong". I may have opinions but I do not have enough knowledge to fully understand all the issues and implications. Nor do I know how to rationalise the conflicting demands of managing the NHS, transport, education or the welfare state. That is what government is there for.

Todays Guardian carries an article which many will find of interest. Apparently low water levels can now be responsible for boats fracturing sewage pipes running across the river and for houseboats "falling over" if they take the ground!
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/mar/02/floods-river-levels-lock-keeper
 
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boatone said:
From a purely personal point of view I am beginning to despair of unsubstantiated claims and counterclaims that do little to help understand the truth of the matter.
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Hear hear - Its getting rather weary now.

And for the uninitiated the Environment Agency don't use webcams to watch flooding they use LIDAR (http://www.lidar-uk.com/)

CJL
 
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boatone said:
Todays Guardian carries an article which many will find of interest. Apparently low water levels can now be responsible for boats fracturing sewage pipes running across the river and for houseboats "falling over" if they take the ground!
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/mar/02/floods-river-levels-lock-keeper
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I suspect there has been a bit of a misunderstanding here by the reporter.

As I'm sure you are aware , the taggs island lagoon is silted up quite badly , hence one of the reasons Molesey has such a tight set of target levels ... So that the sewer pipes and service pipes to the houseboats don't fracture :) Also , the residents of the lagoon houseboats have experienced their boats leaning over when they take the ground.

Easy to misunderstand if you don't understand these things properly.
 
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