Thames Valley

[JenniC]

Just watching the news and so upset for all the poor victims of the danger from the Thames. I live in Surrey and luckily we are not affected and are probably far enough away not to be. My heart goes out to them and my thoughts are with them all... Keep safe.

[jay-ell71]

How I agree. Parts of Gloucestershire are suffering too, it is too dreadful. I can't bear to watch the News at the moment. All of us who are not affected by this horror, are very fortunate indeed. It makes all the everyday irritations we experience, very small beer.

[GillD46]

Indeed.

My husband is trying to get back to Wales from London, but all trains from Paddington have been cancelled because the line is under water. It's really awful.

[Gill W]

Whole swathes of the country are now under water - it's terrible, and it's going to get worse before it gets better.

More rain is forecast. Indeed, it's raining heavily here at the moment.

[Boris+]

Hi Gill,

Hopefully your husband can get home by coach instead? They must surely put on alternative services?

Meanwhile, having long since been a committed sceptic where things are published by the media, this morning I watched a reporter and press photographer on tv trying to stress the depth of water in a particular location by standing in what would normally be the gutter of a road/street. Obviously if it is a properly constructed road then the crown of the road will be higher than the gutter - and as we could clearly see the grass verges green but soggy looking - but not submerged, why did the reporters have to stand in the deepest bit in order to remark how high the water was reaching on the side of his wellies?

One thing I would like to see - and it really wouldn't take very much effort or cost is a product with a concrete base (or fillable with sand) and then a pole rising from the centre with height markings, and that way anyone trying to go along a road which was flooded would instantly have a means of seeing exactly how deep the water was at that point. Obviously these would have to be located at the sides of roads and streets - and then if necessary people could walk in the centre of the road (also being better able to judge the road centre using the markers as reference).

I did see also on tv someone who 'had to be rescued' because they had 6 week old puppies. There was one boat for the couple and the puppies, and another boat for the parent dogs. Now then, when I was young I can clearly remember that dogs can swim, and also this couple could easily have carried the puppies - the 'rescuers' were only pushing the boats through water which it was easy to see was marginally calf-deep, so why this misuse of manpower and facilities I wonder?

Em

[Gill W]

Hi Gill,

Hopefully your husband can get home by coach instead? They must surely put on alternative services?

Meanwhile, having long since been a committed sceptic where things are published by the media, this morning I watched a reporter and press photographer on tv trying to stress the depth of water in a particular location by standing in what would normally be the gutter of a road/street. Obviously if it is a properly constructed road then the crown of the road will be higher than the gutter - and as we could clearly see the grass verges green but soggy looking - but not submerged, why did the reporters have to stand in the deepest bit in order to remark how high the water was reaching on the side of his wellies?

One thing I would like to see - and it really wouldn't take very much effort or cost is a product with a concrete base (or fillable with sand) and then a pole rising from the centre with height markings, and that way anyone trying to go along a road which was flooded would instantly have a means of seeing exactly how deep the water was at that point. Obviously these would have to be located at the sides of roads and streets - and then if necessary people could walk in the centre of the road (also being better able to judge the road centre using the markers as reference).

I did see also on tv someone who 'had to be rescued' because they had 6 week old puppies. There was one boat for the couple and the puppies, and another boat for the parent dogs. Now then, when I was young I can clearly remember that dogs can swim, and also this couple could easily have carried the puppies - the 'rescuers' were only pushing the boats through water which it was easy to see was marginally calf-deep, so why this misuse of manpower and facilities I wonder?

Em

It's a road! It shouldn't have standing deep standing water at any point, gutter or not! What do you expect them to do, stand in the middle of the road and report that everything is fine, when clearly it's not?

People love their pets. If the pets weren't rescued too, people would refuse to leave them, and then we'd have people stranded for possibly weeks in the middle of dirty, stinking sewage-ridden water. Surely it's better to rescue these people in boats, than have them wade through this filthy water with all the attendant risks to health. These people's lives have been turned upside down - at least let the have the solace of their pets.

I know you are alright up your hill, but just try, for a moment, to put yourself in the victims position, and imagine how you might feel. Cut them some slack, for heavens sake!

[Boris+]

Hi Gill,

Sorry - but that's an unfortunate sort of request! You see when we got 'flooded' after the initial shock - and this was quite a Mrs Bouquet moment - we almost instantly decided to try and look on the bright side and accept 'the challenge', and regard the situation as an opportunity and not a threat.

QED it was planning head screwed firmly on, quiet determination to do our best to resolve the situation as quickly and economically as possible, positive attitude - and for us it was a bit of hard work and we got through it quietly and systematically. No emotion (after the first 4 or 5 minutes).

Go on - have a little giggle at me, it was quite funny at the time - we had gone to an empty property so that a survey could be done as we were selling the property. The previous time (just a few weeks) we visited the house in question all had been fine, just a little dust, but everything absolutely in show house condition. So, we arrived, and the surveyor arrived and came along the driveway just as we got out of the car. We opened the door to the outer hallway, and stepped in on to the really lovely pristine carpets ......... SQUISH it went then SQUELCH - so there I was pratting about like Mrs Bouquet on steroids or asteroids or whatever ...... I looked back that evening and giggled fit to bust. It was just so funny.

So, yes I understand what you are saying Gill, honest - but I don't think that puppies have to have a boat when the water is not all that deep, and I most certainly think that the pet owners who are younger than me could have walked along with the parent dogs swimming or padding. The dogs were a large breed, and the parent dogs would probably have been able to have their paws on the floor.

So - what would I do? I would roll up the trouser legs, put on the welly boots, find the silliest hat possible and ruddling well get on with it.

Sorry Gill - but that's exactly what I have done in the past, and I fully expect in a similar situation to do the same again.

Em

[Gill W]

Well, I glad you were so stoical about it

But I still feel that people who have been flooded out of their only house, with entire swathes of the surrounding countryside under water, and likely to be submerged for the foreseeable future deserve some sympathy and shouldn't be made to wade through sewage infested water for some considerable distance, if there was a boat available

[GillD46]

The risks of walking through the water are many fold. Not only the health risk, but when water logged, manhole covers often rise and float away, making walking where you can't see through the water positively lethal.

I feel desperately sorry for the people affected and am quite sure would be positively devastated myself.

Regarding the rail closure last night, NO COACHES were provided, but by taking a circuitous route, my husband managed to get back via an 8 hr journey, only to find his dad died not long after he left him at the hospital

[oldbluefox]

Sorry to hear that Gill. That's dreadful on all counts. My sympathies to you and your husband.

[GillD46]

Sorry to hear that Gill. That's dreadful on all counts. My sympathies to you and your husband.

Thank you.

[Jean W]

So sorry to hear your news GIll. How very sad.

Our deepest sympathies to you both.

[Boris+]

Hi GillD46,

Firstly - that's disgraceful (the trains etc) if your husband was in possession of a ticket then I think that the train company should have done something; and I feel so sorry that your husband had to endure that journey.

But as to the other news you posted - it's very sad, and all the more so as your husband was in the middle of a hellish treck at the time.

Does that mean that he'll have to treck all the way back immediately - beware of the impending tube strikes please.

Best regards - Em

[GillD46]

Yes, we need to go back for the funeral, which they have managed to get permission to delay until Thursday. We will drive this time as we won't be coming back the same day.

[Boris+]

Gill - do they still have those pesky yellow variable speed limit cameras on the route you'll be taking?

Take care.

Em

[cornmillgirl]

GillD46 - Very sorry to hear the sad news about your husband's dad, particularly after his arduous journey to get home, you have my sympathy.

[cornmillgirl]

Its awful for all those people, I cannot imagine the devastation now but also when the water recedes.

I wonder why there has no fund been set up, like when we have an international disaster organised by DEC, I would be happy to donate some
money to help these people.

I hope David Cameron sticks by his word this morning that the Government will do whatever it takes to help.

[oldbluefox]

Apparently they now have flood tourists turning up in their 4x4s and ignoring the 'Closed Road' notices to photograph the devastation, causing a bow wave which goes over the sand bag defences. They should be fined.

[david63]

Apparently they now have flood tourists turning up in their 4x4s and ignoring the 'Closed Road' notices to photograph the devastation, causing a bow wave which goes over the sand bag defences. They should be fined.

Better still confiscate their 4x4s and let those "awash" use them to get around.

[david63]

I wonder why there has no fund been set up, like when we have an international disaster organised by DEC, I would be happy to donate some money to help these people.

Not wishing to trivialise this disaster, and I know that if such a thing was to happen to me I would be devastated, but in the grand scheme of international disasters this is pretty low down the list when compared to the cyclones, earthquakes and tsunamis that other countries have suffered in recent years.

[Gill W]

Gill, so sorry to hear your news

[JenniC]

My thoughts are with you Gill x

[The Tinker]

Sorry to hear your sad news x

[emjay45]

I'm sorry to hear your sad news Gill.

[suespud]

Hi Gill,

Sorry - but that's an unfortunate sort of request! You see when we got 'flooded' after the initial shock - and this was quite a Mrs Bouquet moment - we almost instantly decided to try and look on the bright side and accept 'the challenge', and regard the situation as an opportunity and not a threat.

QED it was planning head screwed firmly on, quiet determination to do our best to resolve the situation as quickly and economically as possible, positive attitude - and for us it was a bit of hard work and we got through it quietly and systematically. No emotion (after the first 4 or 5 minutes).

Go on - have a little giggle at me, it was quite funny at the time - we had gone to an empty property so that a survey could be done as we were selling the property. The previous time (just a few weeks) we visited the house in question all had been fine, just a little dust, but everything absolutely in show house condition. So, we arrived, and the surveyor arrived and came along the driveway just as we got out of the car. We opened the door to the outer hallway, and stepped in on to the really lovely pristine carpets ......... SQUISH it went then SQUELCH - so there I was pratting about like Mrs Bouquet on steroids or asteroids or whatever ...... I looked back that evening and giggled fit to bust. It was just so funny.

So, yes I understand what you are saying Gill, honest - but I don't think that puppies have to have a boat when the water is not all that deep, and I most certainly think that the pet owners who are younger than me could have walked along with the parent dogs swimming or padding. The dogs were a large breed, and the parent dogs would probably have been able to have their paws on the floor.

So - what would I do? I would roll up the trouser legs, put on the welly boots, find the silliest hat possible and ruddling well get on with it.

Sorry Gill - but that's exactly what I have done in the past, and I fully expect in a similar situation to do the same again.

Em

Of course I have no idea the circumstances of "your flood"......but to say " roll up the trousers,etc ect" is really insulting to those people who have had their homes under water for days and even weeks now, with no signs it will end soon.
I find your attitude flippant and lacking in compassion , again !!