Whilst I have every sympathy for anyone affected by the flooding

Do you know how many houses have actually been flooded in the Somerset levels where all the furore has been caused over the last few weeks?

Answer - less than 40.

Best quote of the last day or so was "Eric Pickles would be more use as a sand bag"

 

At least Pickles didn't beat about the bush. He had no hesitation in stating the obvious - a massive contributory factor to the flooding was the lack of river dredging.
Whether or not 'only 40 houses have been flooded' is a moot point. Standing water becomes polluted and can cause problems to man and beast.

 

When theres an issue in the South it gets highlighted more as they whinge about it every second of the day, up here when it happened there wasn't this much media attention

 

Eric Pickles has made a despicable intervention into the issue. For purely political reasons he has blamed "experts" for the flooding. In fact there was agreement that dredging was needed last year but treasury restrictions prevented money from being used. The government have now released a pot load of money to do the dredging which will probably only have a minor effect anyway.

 

Just think about what this shower did to our communities, without the rain.

 

Agreed. The flooded land is below river level. Most of the water that caused the flooding on the levels came from the sky, not the rivers. Water won't run uphill.

 

If 40 houses in Barnsley were flooded it wouldn't even be mentioned on the news.

 

Think back to 2007 when Hull flooded amongst other places closer to home, all we heard on the news was the worry they'd have to cancel Wimbeldon and then as soon as the south flooded a little bit 2/3 weeks later it was none stop flooding news about how terrible it is for them.

 

across the South West of England & Wales there are a site more than 40 matey

just look on the BBC and look at all the arial shots of various places... I can see a damn site more than 40.

 

Like Doncaster

 

Re: across the South West of England & Wales there are a site more than 40 matey

No it is definitely only 40 houses in Somerset !! Plenty of farm land as well, but only 40 houses in SOMERSET which the thread states.

 

This is worth reading:

With much more rainfall on the way in the coming days across all parts of the UK, this winter is certain to end up one of the wettest ever recorded.

The level of coverage in the media of the resulting flooding across the UK has been virtually unprecedented in the last few weeks.

The pictures of extensive flooding in Somerset, and the battering our coast has received, particularly in Cornwall, have been breath-taking.

But it is worth putting the current flood in context, and as distressing as it is to be flooded, the number of properties affected in the south of the UK is tiny compared to other floods in previous years.

For example, up until this weekend the total number of properties affected by floodwater in Somerset in the last few weeks is 40.

But during the coastal surge in early December last year, 688 properties were flooded along the Yorkshire coast alone, and according to the Environment Agency, flood defences protected 66,000 properties in the Yorkshire and Humber area at that time.

Since last week, between 800 and 900 properties have flooded in the UK, primarily in southern Britain.

Although this number may rise significantly in the next few days, particularly with the Thames now at record levels in relatively highly populated parts of Berkshire and Surrey, it is still comparatively small compared to the last big flood to hit the UK.

That was In June 2007 and far more people were affected; in the Yorkshire and Humber region alone, a staggering 23,479 homes were flooded, along with 3,718 businesses.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/paulhudson/posts/UK-flooding-put-in-context

 

Not seen many Farmers crying over it, too busy compiling their big compo claims from DEFRA and they'll still get their handouts from the European Agricultural fund , subsidised fuel and insurance and no doubt charging the local authority through the nose for using their Tractors to ferry people about

 

Bloody attention seeking south!!

 

200 houses flooded in Hull in December, Spurn Point is now an island but the Thames rises an inch and all hell breaks out. People have been losing their homes on the East Coast every week for the last few years but the London media don't give a chuff. Let the South disappear into the sea ,we can always join an independant Scotland
http://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/Floo...NLI-lifeboat/story-20344915-detail/story.html

 

Have you seen the Thames Valley today? Clearly not.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26111598

 

You can't fail not to see it ,its on the chuffing news every 2 minutes

 

First bit of sun in the summer and they'll be talking about droughts and water shortages

 

Now I wonder what proportion of the NATIONAL flood protection budget will be spent protecting homes in the Thames valley?

 

EA Map of flooded houses as of a few days ago

http://ow.ly/i/4wAkU/original