WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Stanley]

A full house at Barlic Bites.

[Tardis]

Another view of that 50 year storm

[Tardis]

I'm led to believe that the ceasing of dredging operations is included in a European Edict on protecting the environment. I'm sure someone can provide chapter and verse of this document

[Tizer]

The Environment Agency will tell you that they are obliged to follow the instructions of English Nature and they, in turn, will tell you they have to follow the European Commission's edicts. It was the same when I had my planning proposal blocked by a scattering of bat droppings.

[hartley353]

Take a look at Agenda 21. This may go a little way to explaining why agencies act contrary to peoples aspirations.

[Stanley]

Who cares what excuse was used! The reality is that they ignored local knowledge because it 'saved money' and let the drains bung up. Try doing it with the plug hole in your sink, it's as simple as that.
See this LINK for a stupid way to advocate wildlife conservation. They live in a different world than we do.
07:00. Trip switch knocked all my power circuits out. At first I thought it was a recurrence of the hair trigger syndrome I had before but after it blew again I realised that it was my El Cheapo electric kettle. It zapped the supply as soon as it was switched on. Nice to have a clear indication of the trouble. Kettle is retired, I shall be in Garlick's tomorrow morning..... My old Aga kettle is on the stove in the front room.....

[hartley353]

Probably the largest cause of power trips at work or in the home is the electric Kettle. your overload breaker may require changing as well, if it has operated a number of times before. Mum has a portable Roberts radio purchased from Garlicks 53 years ago it still works.

[Tizer]

Interesting comments from Eric Pickles...
UK floods: Government 'made a mistake' by not dredging (BBC web site, 9th Feb 2014)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26106290
Communities Secretary Eric Pickles says the government "made a mistake" and should have dredged the flood-hit Somerset Levels. He told the Andrew Marr Show it may have relied to much on the Environment Agency's advice and it now recognises that the area should have been dredged. The minister apologised "unreservedly" to those affected by the flooding.
It comes as weather and flood warnings are still in place for much of the south-west UK. The Environment Agency has faced criticism that it had not done enough to help those affected. Repeated calls for dredging were made to government departments by farmers and others in the region at least six months ago but funding was declined. The area has not been dredged - a process which removes silt from river channels so that water can flow through - since the late 1990s, according to Prime Minister David Cameron who visited the area on Friday.

Mr Pickles, who has now been put in charge of the government's flood defence, said: "We made a mistake, there's no doubt about that. "We perhaps relied too much on the Environment Agency's advice. "I think we recognise now that we should have dredged and I think it's important now that we get on with the process of getting people back into their houses, and really do some serious pumping." He added: "I apologise unreservedly and I'm really sorry that we took the advice, we thought we were dealing with experts."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, here in the Somerset Levels, the waters continue to rise - by enough that the Bristol to Exeter railway line just outside Bridgwater has flooded near where it crosses the River Parrett. The water is washing away the track ballast and there could be a possible repeat of the Dawlish track collapse. Now the Bristol to Exeter and the London to Exeter main lines are both blocked and the only possible diversion is also blocked, by a landslip at Crewkerne. Many of our main roads and minor roads and lanes are flooded, most of them having been so since Christmas. Yesterday we rescued a couple of Royal Marines who were `lost' in the Levels and had to direct them on a long circuitous route to get back to their base. One of the local roads that is closed now has big engineering gear being put in place, large pumps brought in on the back of very big trailers, and the road will stay blocked for a long time as they slowly drain the moor. The flooded roads are going to be in a bad state once the water has gone and they'll probably need more than just resurfacing - the underlying material is being gradually soaked away and washed away. Debris is washing off the fields and into drainage ditches and they'll all need dredging out. There's an enormous job to be undertaken and it's going to cost a fortune - and could have been avoided if the Environment Agency had done its job properly.

[Tripps]

Coincidences again! My kettle tripped the circuit breaker on Friday. Straight into the recycling bin. Trip to Tesco - £13 for a new one - equilibrium is restored. Can't live without tea.

PS That's a lot of trips isn't it ?

[Tizer]

TV cameraman falls in flooded ditch at Moorland on Somerset Levels...

[LizG]

Riddell fire 09022014.jpg

My daughter was in the middle of one of Victoria' bush fires yesterday. This time she made the decision to stay and defend when the townshop of Riddells Creek was evacuated. This is the view from her stable block last night. She sent her son and partner back to Melbourne first then; All the horses used to being stable were brought inside, 2 to nearly every stable. The others were brought in close to the stable block. They collected water, towells and blankets and stored them in the stables too.

Four of them fought the embers during the afternoon and evening and by 10.30 the wind had changed and the fire moved around them. They slept in shifts during the night one always keeping guard. This morning they sound exhasuted but the threat is gone. It was her birthday and one she will never forget. I have never felt so helpless!

[Marilyn]

We have been thinking of everyone facing fire threat.
I remember fire coming over a nearby hill when we lived in the country...a big long line of it...and it is a scarey sight. Luckily it was brought under control before it reached our home.

It's been a bad Summer for fires...

[Stanley]

Bush fires and floods!
Tiz, I saw Eric Pickles making his apology and agreeing that the locals had it right. Interesting that he immediately went into the excuse and blame mode, it was the EA's fault, they thought they were dealing with experts. I don't buy this for one minute. Decisions like stopping the dredging in 1995 aren't taken on a whim, they are a balance of priorities and at that time there would be people pointing out that dredging was essential long term maintenance but evidently the political need for saving money trumped the evidence against stopping. Remember at the time that the Tories were talking up local responsibility while at the same time centralising by taking control of a lot of the old local mechanisms like drainage boards and river authorities. My personal opinion is that at that time the Major government could see the end of the line and were trying to leave a legacy. Remember how at the same time they were rushing rail privatisation through?
As for the big pumps, I saw a clip of them. Did you notice that they were Dutch? Puzzling really that they are bringing in high volume pumps when there is nowhere to pump the water to. The silted up rivers are running at capacity and if they pump any more water in them they will put more strain of the banks lower down the Levels. Reports this morning that the government are going to seek advice from the Dutch and the USA.
All this debate and frenetic activity is useless. I have argued all along that while this is an exceptional season and would have been bad anyway it would not have been so bad if the rivers and subsidiary watercourses had been properly maintained because in the end what matters is how much water is getting down to the sea versus how much rain is falling. This is exactly what the locals have been arguing all along. Talk of dredging is waffle unless it is actually done on a long term basis and it can't start until the water levels go down, hopefully later this year. The bottom line is that nothing can be done beyond local measures to protect individual properties until it has stopped raining and the flood levels fall. On current forecasts this will not happen until late March or April, if then!
All this is a symptom of a deeper problem. On the first level down it is the unspoken strategy of using the Levels as a flood plain to hold water back which would otherwise threaten larger concentrations of buildings further downstream. On a deeper level it is a classic case of the unintended consequence of public service cuts exacerbated by an outside event, the very wet season. We are going to see a lot more of this in years to come triggered by the current savage cuts (40% implemented and another 60% to come). When that happens, who are the experts they are going to blame?
On another matter, this grabbed my attention, LINK. You really couldn't make it up could you. The man who is pushing legislation through Parliament to force employers to check on the immigration status of their employees finds his cleaner is illegal.

[Stanley]

I found LINK to a Daily Mail article which hits a lot of the buttons. See the reference to the 2008 EA paper on water management in the levels and further down some very practical and common sense comment. Sometimes even the Daily Mail gets it right!
I've just had what is no doubt a scurrilous and unworthy thought so I apologise in advance. Could it possibly be that flooding of some of the most desirable riverside property in England on the ten miles of the Thames below Windsor carries more political weight than yokels in the Somerset Levels? Surely not.....

[Stanley]

No salt on main roads in Barlick at 07:30. They were shot ice but funnily enough the traffic didn't seem to notice....

[David Whipp]

No salt on main roads in Barlick at 07:30. They were shot ice but funnily enough the traffic didn't seem to notice....

I saw gritting outside the Rainhall Centre at about 8pm yesterday evening; the weather was still wet, though. I suspect any salt would have been washed away.

[Stanley]

David, could well be the case. I crossed the main road at Gisburn Road school and it was shot ice down to the mini roundabout. It seemed to be better when I crossed Ferncliffe Avenue later but no sign of salt on the road.
Listening to Lord Smith laying the blame for the lack of dredging on Treasury Rules. No mention of the original decision to stop dredging and when asked about the 2005 policy document published in 2008 that recommended allowing the Levels to flood to protect other areas he said he had no knowledge of it. This was the polished performance of a skilful politician who has had time to marshall his defences. The only good news that came out of the interview was that COBRA has said that the 800% benefit demanded by the treasury for flood relief spending has been rescinded. (The rule is that for every £1 spent the EA has to demonstrate a benefit of £8)

[David Whipp]

I've reported the shot ice to the county council and police at the mini-roundabout. Been out to have a look; people flagging traffic down on approach to junction. Very dangerous with all the kids going to school.

Problem compounded there because two gulleys aren't taking water and the runoff is going right across the road.

[Wendyf]

Flicker from the wind turbine on the hill behind us filling the house at the moment, its a good job it only lasts for a few minutes.

[Cathy]

Liz, I've been thinking about Victoria the last few days too. Glad to hear your daughter and friends (neighbours ?) are all OK. What an ordeal!
Will they continue to live on the property? Something like that and I would be packing my bags quick smart.

[Wendyf]

Liz, I missed your post when I came on earlier...what a terrifying ordeal for your daughter, so glad to hear that the danger has passed.

[Bruff]

I have largely stayed out of this 'flood' business up until now, but I will make a few observations.

First, I was interested in Mr Pickles' unreserved apology offered, at least to my ears, on the basis that Government had been given the wrong expert advice. This suggests there is other expert advice available. I am left wondering where these hydrologists, flood hydrologists, flood engineers, risk management experts, geomorphologists etc etc all reside. This is an extremely complex area where mitigating measures are many and varied - it is not a simple issue (a point I will repeat below).

Second, much has been made over the past few hours of Treasure rules with respect to spending impacting on any spend set aside for dredging. This is simply the usual cost-benefit analysis (CBA) applied when it comes to public spend. Contrary to popular opinion, money is not simply hosed here, there and everywhere. Spend, depending where it is targeted, must lead to a downstream benefit. [As an aside, this is one reason why foreign aid is invariably protected - of all spend this has the greatest down stream benefit and so unless you are a real fan of wasting money you'd not chop this].

But to my main point here these CBAs are no easy task, and the Government employs rather clever economists to help the other experts with this. But it is absolutely fundamental as given the many and varied flood management interventions we could implement in an extremely complex, natural environment we must surely spend where there is greater benefit ('benefit' which I might add is again a multi-dimensional metric: persons/habitat/wildlife/farmland.....). This 'benefit' can of course be manipulated, but largely as a political and public preference exercise.

And so third, is money spent on dredging where we will get the greater benefit? I don't think anyone has said it is of no benefit, but what amount and where best done? It may very well be common sense that dredging will make the water flow faster 'cos look at your sink drain (or some such analogy), and so it'll shift all the water away quicker. But I do not see it as so binary and anyway, common sense is often wrong whether we like it or not.

Which brings me to my last point. For anyone who believes, as I do, in the very best evidence-based policy making to ensure that every pound of public money is spent wisely on what are for the most part, across all areas of public spend, exceptionally complex, multi-dimensional problems, the scapegoating of the EA by many and varied finger-pointers is regrettable and not a little worrying. Why? Well increasingly, our world and the decisions we make within it, are complex and anything but simple. Recognising complexity requires knowledge and skills - the complexity of flood management requires as I note above the skills and deep knowledge of hydrologists, geomorphologists, risk management specialist etc. Mr Pickles and his ilk do not have this knowledge and do not have these skills. Thus, in this field as in any other, when you have little knowledge you see only simple solutions and worse often lack the wherewithal to recognise the levels of your ignorance (a trait well-recognised by psychologists).

I'm not sure I relish a future where the expertise of specialists is sacrificed at the alter of ignorance, PR and the noisiest. But if we must......

Richard Broughton

[Tardis]

Bit of a car crash interview from Chris Smith on Today this morning.

Then blaming cuts, but a look at the budget suggests:

In 2012-13 the EA spent £1207.4m compared to £1166.6m the year before. It ended the year with £95.8m cash in the bank

How big an increase in spending would it take to qualify as no cut?

An observation that was made this morning: The farmers upstream have started to regularly plant maize which is havested in the autumn and the fields not planted again until the spring. This allows a great run off of soil into the river channels. This too may need to be tackled in the whole scheme of things.

[Tardis]

Problem compounded there because two gulleys aren't taking water and the runoff is going right across the road.

and yet the LCC people only just repainted the whole area and supposedly have done the drains. I should find the reference number

[Tizer]

Liz, I hope your daughter and family are safe now. The wildfire is more dangerous than our floods!

Stanley, the Dutch pumps are intended to lift water out of King's Sedgemoor Drain (a big artificial river) and dump it into the River Parrett estuary downstream of Bridgwater, effectively into the Bristol Channel. More flood defence walls are being put up on the upstream side of Bridgwater to protect the town as the water levels continue to rise.

On another matter, people might have heard Lord Smith defending the EA by using the example of the `flood defences' that the agency has been building at Steart, near Bridgwater and costing from £20 million to £30 million. This gets the locals (and MP Ian Liddell-Smith) very annoyed. If you look at the EA's own web site you find that the Steart project is a mitigation that was set as a condition for approving new docks at Avonmouth which will destroy wildlife habitat. New habitat had to be created in the Bristol Channel and Steart was chosen as the place. The project's main objective is to provide this habitat but, if the opportunity arose, to improve flood defences. However, all this amounts to is: "..the scheme will also provide better protection for Steart village and Stert Drove against flooding". `Steart village' is a few farmhouses isolated out on the Steart peninsula between the Parrett estuary and the Bristol Channel. The defence is against flooding from the sea and has no relevance to the flooding of inland areas as is happening now. It's essentially £20+ million pounds for wildlife habitat, which should be compared to the few million pounds offered by the EA last year for the protection of the Somerset Levels after the 2012/13 flooding.
http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/ho ... 80793.aspx