Yikes! Brits! We're sending boats and snorkeling gear!

[3113]

Most of us U.S. folk were ignorant of your situation. Apparently, the U.K. has been hit by torrential summer rainstorms and is sinking under the waves.

All you Brits still afloat?

Rains cause flash-flooding chaos

Torrential rain has caused severe flooding in parts of England, leaving people trapped in cars and homes. West Midlands Ambulance Service said crews had reported floodwaters rising to the height of car doors in the Herefordshire and Worcestershire areas. Two inches of torrential rain also fell in Kent, with parts of Folkestone, New Romney and Dover the worst affected. Some flights at Bristol International were cancelled or diverted when the airport lost power on Tuesday evening.

Hundreds of homes and businesses across the greater Bristol area also lost power and many roads, railway lines and properties were flooded. Emergency crews in the West Midlands were inundated with calls after the rain swept in at about 2100 BST, affecting an area from north Gloucestershire to south Shropshire.

A spokesman said it was a "local emergency" and priority was being given to the most vulnerable people affected.

Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service received more than 300 flood-related calls in just a few hours. Firefighters in Shropshire responded to 136 incidents, in one of their busiest nights for years. A spokesman called it an "extraordinary night".

Two Shropshire communities have been cut off - on either side of the River Severn at Hampton Loade - to the south of Bridgnorth. A road has been completely washed away on the Highley side of the river, isolating up to 50 people.

Ambulance crews reported seeing water levels up to the height of car doors in Ross-on-Wye. Severe flooding also led to the closure of large sections of an historic steam railway, after landslides blocked parts of the track.

Two-thirds of the Severn Valley Railway in Shropshire and Worcestershire were closed when two weeks' worth of rain fell in 45 minutes. In some sections embankments were washed away completely, leaving the rails suspended in mid-air.

The Severn Valley Railway runs regular passenger trains pulled by steam locomotives between Kidderminster in Worcestershire and Bridgnorth in Shropshire. Elsewhere, residents in parts of east Kent were spending the day mopping up after a night of storms brought flooding and power cuts to thousands of homes.

Kent Fire and Rescue said it took more than 400 emergency calls in a three-hour period on Tuesday night.

Paul Turvey sent in this photo of a neighbour's flooded basement

Malcolm Dyer, from New Romney, said he watched helplessly as four inches (10cm) of water washed across his living room. "It came in like a stream," he said. "There was nothing we could do."

Another resident Paul Turvey, who lives in East Street, Dover, said his street "became like a lake" shortly after 2000 BST on Tuesday. He sent pictures of a neighbour's basement kitchen in which a fridge was "floating across the room".

EDF Energy said the storms had damaged overhead cables, leaving some 2,000 customers still without power. The areas that remain affected include Worth, Shepherdswell, Deal, Richborough, Hawkinge, Sarre and Wingham. The company said it was "working hard to restore power as quickly and as safely as possible."

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/43068000/jpg/_43068843_floods_dover_203.jpg http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42402000/jpg/_42402666_redcar.jpg

So this is why the SouthWest U.S. is in a drought. U.K. give us back our rain!

 

[FatDino]

Southern Ontario is in a serious drought too. Can we have some rain, please?

 

[cloudy]

Thunderstorms here as I type this. In the morning, ffs. This has been the weirdest summer.

 

[rgraham666]

We got about an inch of rain here in Toronto yesterday. Flooded my back yard for a bit.

Sending good thoughts to our Brit contingent.

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

Four and counting. My guess is within 12.

Best wishes, Brits. I have a canoe, but it's too distant to do you much good. Rather dry here too for a couple weeks.

 

[Chantilyvamp]

lol, well we did think we might be in need of a boat today. The rain was letting up and it was crashing out of the gutters all around all of the doors. From my experience around here it doesnt take to much to start some of the roads flooding. Get a whole lot of people start panicing and hitting the store for groceries.

 

[English Lady]

I'm up in t'hills so I'm okay, it's been pretty dry today with just weo short downpours, but my heart goes out to all those in flooded areas -what an awful thing to deal with

 

[Vermilion]

It's getting pretty soggy here, but we're in a second floor (that's third floor to you Yanks) flat (apartment), so I reckon we'll be alright for a while.

I'm going to blame him

x
V

 

[English Lady]

It's getting pretty soggy here, but we're in a second floor (that's third floor to you Yanks) flat (apartment), so I reckon we'll be alright for a while.

I'm going to blame him

x
V

No, no, blame this lot instead

http://film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2128300,00.html

 

[matriarch]

I've been watching the news....it looks pretty bad in the south of England and in parts of Wales..........a few weeks ago it was up north, with Yorkshire suffering badly, now it's our turn.

The wife and I have our monthly trek northwards to visit the oldies - pop's birthday - and the news on some of the roads we'll be using isn't good. Not looking forward to it.

 

[Vermilion]

I've been watching the news....it looks pretty bad in the south of England and in parts of Wales..........a few weeks ago it was up north, with Yorkshire suffering badly, now it's our turn.

The wife and I have our monthly trek northwards to visit the oldies - pop's birthday - and the news on some of the roads we'll be using isn't good. Not looking forward to it.

yup. drove the M69 today and it was verrrrry splashy...
x
V

 

[Goldie Munro]

Im dry and snug at home but hubby is stranded in Bristol - no trains until tomorrow.

 

[oggbashan]

It's the cricket

It's the only way England can win cricket matches - get them washed away by the rain.

I think that the MCC have overdone the rain dance this year.

Og

 

[SeaCat]

Damn Cats, Take care okay?

Now some hints from one who has been in flooding.

While the water is there make sure to wear your damned Wellies. (Yes my father called them that. I just call them Barn Boots.)

Keep your feet dry. If you can't keep your feet dry then make sure they are dry for at least a couple of hours each day. (You don't want to dal with the reults if you don't do this.)

Do not drive on flooded streets. You don't know how deep the water actually is. (I don't care if you have a Land Rover set up for deep water. Deep flowing water will move it just as easily as it will an Austin Mini.)

Keep your papers, Cell Phone and Smokes in Ziplocks to keep them dry.

If your house is flooding go to the circuit box and using something like a dry wooden spoon shut of your electricity.

Boil your drinking water.

As for the aftermath when the water is receding, I can give you some links with great information we use here for Hurricane Aftermath.

Cat

 

[matriarch]

It's gotten worse overnight.....massive flooding in Gloucestershire, Oxfordsire, Herefordshire, Warwickshire. The town of Tewkesbury completely cut off. No drinking water for hundreds of thousands of people. And there doesn't seem to be any let up in sight, more rain over night.

It's been raining where we are for 24 hours non stop now, thank goodness we aren't in any fear of flooding, it's those poor people who live right along the River Severn and the Thames, England's biggest rivers.

My heart goes out to them.

 

[3113]

It's gotten worse overnight.....massive flooding in Gloucestershire, Oxfordsire, Herefordshire, Warwickshire. The town of Tewkesbury completely cut off. No drinking water for hundreds of thousands of people. And there doesn't seem to be any let up in sight, more rain over night.

It's been raining where we are for 24 hours non stop now

24 hours non-stop?

I think we're gonna need a bigger boat.

We in the U.S. wish we were near enough to help. I hope you're getting assistance from other countries there across the channel. Try to stay dry and safe!

 

[S-Des]

No, no, blame this lot instead

http://film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2128300,00.html

OK, that's the funniest thing ever. Can you imagine the first person to notice?

Take care of yourselves over there. I've had to live through a number of floods (I grew up at the intersection of two large rivers), and they just suck.

 

[English Lady]

It's gotten worse overnight.....massive flooding in Gloucestershire, Oxfordsire, Herefordshire, Warwickshire. The town of Tewkesbury completely cut off. No drinking water for hundreds of thousands of people. And there doesn't seem to be any let up in sight, more rain over night.

It's been raining where we are for 24 hours non stop now, thank goodness we aren't in any fear of flooding, it's those poor people who live right along the River Severn and the Thames, England's biggest rivers.

My heart goes out to them.

My heart does too, it really does.

S-des, I'm up in the hills, so I'm safe, thank goodness.

 

[poppy1963]

Prayers and a candle lit for those hit hard by these storms/floods. I grew up in a flood-prone area and know what it can be like. Just awful. Here's to drier weather soon!

 

[matriarch]

24 hours non-stop?

I think we're gonna need a bigger boat.

We in the U.S. wish we were near enough to help. I hope you're getting assistance from other countries there across the channel. Try to stay dry and safe!

Just one of the reports that have been top of the national headlines. The main BBC evening news, ITV and Channels 4 and 5 are all leading with stories of the flooding with their head reports wading thigh - and higher - deep in the flood waters, pointing out where it's worst...the man who stood in his garden and watched a canal barge rise 15 feet in the air on the rising river at the bottom of his garden....the police van that broke down on its way to rescue people, the cars and caravans abandoned at a Tesco gas station as the flood water from the river, suddenly overflowed the banks and they all took refuge in the Tesco store....the couple who's wedding went ahead with the waiters/waitresses serving the meal in the wellington boots (galoshes).

Some of the stories have been lighthearted, others have been heart breaking as victims view the devastation in their homes as the whole ground floor and all their possessions float around in a disgusting soup of flood water, sewage and rubbish born along on the waters.

So very, very sad.

 

[Lisa Denton]

While the rest of the US is in a drought, Texas, which has like been in a drought for 5 years, and we are still on water rationing from last years terrible drought which had all the lakes way down, only because nobody could expect this and hasn't recovered from the shock and removed the water rationing restrictions, has been flooding for weeks, no, months.

It is dry and sunny today, but it freakin rained for prolly a month straight, everbody got flooded, you couldn't drive down the streets some days. All the lakes came back up to pre-drought levels, it stopped raining for a week, then it started flooding every day for a month again. It finally stopped, but all the lakes is way over what they are supposed to be, and this is our (supposed to be) drought season.

I can help our british friends. Now, like Cat said, TURN OFF THE GODDAMNED POWER TO YOUR HOUSE after it gets flooded. That way when the power company gets the power going again it won't burn your house down from appliances sitting in water and shit.

We learned lots of stuffs, now, when you get a river of dirty water running through your house, you don't have to clean off the stuff you can salvage, just drag it outside for the next torrential downpour to wash it clean.

Buy some swimming fins and keep them under your bed, even if you don't get flooded they are great for those role playing nights when you go muff-diving.

Hope this helps - keep your feets dry.

See ya, Lisa.

 

[oggbashan]

They are forecasting heavy rain for my area tonight.

However I'm on a hill overlooking the sea. Any floodwater would go straight past my house into the sea 10 metres below. The storm drain outflow is opposite my house and can be quite spectacular in heavy rain.

Off to bed to sleep soundly knowing that while some of my extended family are affected, my immediate family are safe from floods (if not other weather events - middle daughter's house is still waiting a new TV aerial following a lightning strike 10 days ago).

Og the dry-shod

 

[Nirvanadragones]

It seems to be worse near the coast. Where we stay (Hertsfordshire) there has been heavy rains (our swimming pool overflooded) but not much destruction.

We're currently in Nottingham. It's worse here, but also not as bad as in certain parts of the rest of the country.

 

[matriarch]

CBS News

Washington Post

The Guardian

Financial Times

The Telegraph

The picture in the Telegraph report is of a man who had to be rescued by boat to be taken back to hospital after a post-op relapse.

BBC news on line