The flood defences "did not fail"

Have you noticed while watching all the TV reports that mostly the rivers seem to be very shallow? I know they look good for tourists like that, but surely if they are dredged, dug a lot deeper they would hold more water and the run off would be far quicker. Not according to an expert on our local radio this morning.!! I spent some time in Malaysia as you may well remember and the drainage system there to cope with the monsoons started of as a small channel around buildings and ended up in a huge concrete channel that took it away. Look at western USA with its huge run off channels. There are lessons to be learned simple by looking around our planet and giving nature a helping hand to do what it wants to do. River maintenance has slackened off over recent years. Not good. I could go one about the years I spent at a river side water treatment works and how we managed flood situations, and sometimes how we did not! Rant over. Thanks for listening.

 

I've not read everyone's replies but this flooding is really irritating me, I feel so desperately sad for the homes/gardens/allotments/farm land & business premises etc which have been flooded .
Whilst I realise that the amount of rain we had in such a short time was not what we are used too, IF the ditches were dug out every year just like they were years ago & the rivers were dredged then surely that would have at least helped & in turn fewer homes etc would have been flooded?
Also (whilst I'm on my hobby horse ) around here the farmers along with their tractors with hedge cutters attached cut the hedges which is great, But they never clear up behind themselves, the hedge cuttings drop into the ditch, block the ditch, rot & fill the ditches! Years ago the farm workers would have cleared up & had a bonfire & then dug the ditches out by hand! I know you can argue that there's not enough people on the farms now BUT we have diggers now & in comparison it wouldn't take as long! We also have people who say they can't get a job, why can't these people volunteer & get extra benefit money? (I might have opened up a can of worms saying that ). I don't know where this will all end, best I get my spade out & make a start!! . Joking aside there does need to be some drastic action to put this right in my honest opinion.

 

"giving nature a helping hand to do what it wants to do"

 

I've had several thoughts about the flooding...

On the news, it was said that a £40 million flood defence in Cumbria had been breached. The result would cost the insurance companies an estimated £400 million in payouts. That is, 10 times as much. Chances are that the affected people will either not get insurance in the future, or, be forced to pay exorbitant premiums...Would it not have made more economic sense for the various insurance companies to have banded together, and used some of their profits to build defences that would work?

Flooding is nothing more than a problem that can be solved. To say it cant is like someone in 1902 saying man would never fly...then seeing it happen in 1903... One of the things that we do is solve problems, its the nature of us all.

Back in the 1800's, we could afford without machinery to build railways, canals. Now, with modern machines, that as has often been said "replace humans" we cant afford to....Something is drastically wrong. IMHO, of course.

 

Two points here;

• The insurers are not responsible for town planning so why should they pay for the mistakes of other bodies.
• Here in the UK insurers are obliged by law to make a percentage profit of their turnover.

 

Wait till the insurances companies start claiming land owners for not maintaining there waterways

Digging will be working overtime

 

The worst part of dealing with the major flood we endured was having to try and work with 1 of the 2 loss adjusters (1 for building and 1 for contents) assigned to us. He just fell short of accusing us of flooding our own home. How could we be blamed for The River Clyde breaking all record levels which still stand today? I just managed to stop my husband "posting" him out of an upstairs window and no I don't jest! Luckily for me my late father knew someone quite high up in the Insurance company who employed this evil person and he was removed from dealing with our claim. This evidently is extremely unusual. After our beautiful house and 2 acres of garden which I'd created had been destroyed I honestly didn't think things could have got much worse...they did. I so feel for the latest flood victims. I'll have a wee bet that all the grand words re help will evaporate pretty quickly and those unlucky souls (if they have even be able to get insurance) will be left to fight with insurance company loss adjusters whose job it is to reduce claims to the absolute minimum.