The Great Norfolk flood - didnt happen
Discussion
wc98 said:
HD Adam said:
Because there was a need.
The wind direction changed during the day (unpredictable at the time) and had it not changed, it certainly would have flooded.
Over 300 people were killed in the 1953 floods and although the flood defences have been built up since then, there's plenty of infirm, elderly, disabled and idiotic who live in what would be the flood zone.
Yarmouth is a narrow spit of land at best one mile wide between the river & the sea and basically at sea level.
Had there been a 9 ft tidal surge as predicted, a lot of it would have been underwater again.
The local authorities get enough stick if they don't send the gritters out on a frosty night so can you imagine the response if it had flooded and nothing was in place.
Like I said, damned if you do and damned if you don't.
all well and good, the problem these days is the met have a global warming causing extreme weather narrative to follow to try and justify the 90 odd million quid of public money they have spent on their forecasting super computer. so we now have all this fancy forecasting technology that really doesn't work. they log the number of severe weather warnings issued to justify their position , not the actual severe weather events that have been less frequent in recent years.the prevalent conditions of the last few days are nothing like those that caused the historical flooding you mentioned.The wind direction changed during the day (unpredictable at the time) and had it not changed, it certainly would have flooded.
Over 300 people were killed in the 1953 floods and although the flood defences have been built up since then, there's plenty of infirm, elderly, disabled and idiotic who live in what would be the flood zone.
Yarmouth is a narrow spit of land at best one mile wide between the river & the sea and basically at sea level.
Had there been a 9 ft tidal surge as predicted, a lot of it would have been underwater again.
The local authorities get enough stick if they don't send the gritters out on a frosty night so can you imagine the response if it had flooded and nothing was in place.
Like I said, damned if you do and damned if you don't.
anyone that spends a lot of time in or around the sea should have known the likelihood of what was forecast was almost non existent. high pressure to the south of the country, low pressure to the north, offshore wind and a peak high tide well below the maximum height possible.
there really is no excuse for this . regardless of forecasting the actual monitoring of real time conditions in the hours leading up to high tide should have been enough to put peoples minds at rest .
Listening to the BBC from Monday onwards I was pretty much guaranteed to be suffering severely negative temperatures and a lot of snow from Thursday onwards. I made contingency plans for work in case I was stuck at home, as I was sure I would be as I'm pinned in on all sides by higher ground. Nothing Thursday, not even negative temperatures. An inch of snow over night and no issues getting to work. I was still expecting more snow, but it all just melted by lunch time and nothing since. Quite warm today as well.
There's been a consistent pattern of over-egging snow events here for the last few years and the one time we had proper snow it took the BBC by surprise. They know the predictions are wildly unreliable, so why are they presented as almost fact? There's no credibility at all.
There's been a consistent pattern of over-egging snow events here for the last few years and the one time we had proper snow it took the BBC by surprise. They know the predictions are wildly unreliable, so why are they presented as almost fact? There's no credibility at all.
Moonhawk said:
Buy a house in a flood risk area - house is at risk of flooding......Who'd have thunk it 
I'd have thought the flood risk is down to the flood defences, rather than anything else. Which the Tories massively cut spending on in many areas including East Anglia.www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/government-...
Who da thunk it.
No one does bad weather like me. You are all lightweights. I didn't feel the need to trigger my much lobved and respected by thoudands Stormaggeddon thread this time.
In the meantime here is a great song that effectively conveys the power and destruction such events bring
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4C2K889u_90
In the meantime here is a great song that effectively conveys the power and destruction such events bring
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4C2K889u_90
Moonhawk said:
Buy a house in a flood risk area - house is at risk of flooding......Who'd have thunk it
certainly not the developers, planners and council who all have a responsibility to ensure that these new build areas are "safe". I would put those desperate for housing at the bottom of the "blame" list actually.
Jimboka said:
Funny how the biggest computers in the universe still can't 'forecast' the weather.
Forecasts are a waste of time.
BBC forecast snowmageddon 1700 Thurs. Zilch.
Sunny day forecast Friday - snowed.
I rate the weather forecasts alongside horoscopes ..
Weather forecasts are incredibly accurate. Pilots, especially GA, fly off those provided by MetOffice. You can subscribe for free in the aviation section and download form 215 and 214 which really show how it is. Forecasts are a waste of time.
BBC forecast snowmageddon 1700 Thurs. Zilch.
Sunny day forecast Friday - snowed.
I rate the weather forecasts alongside horoscopes ..
That plus the forecasts issued by numerous airfield and airports builds up a very detailed picture what is going on, when and where. The ones banded about on the TV after a news slot are trying to be all things to all people and open to critism.
In my experience, a person learning about weather is a fag and why would you if you have no need? However, it is a useful skill and, especially in this island country of ours, lets you plan what you are up to far more easily - again, if you have need to.
saaby93 said:
Hadnt most people realised the wind wasnt there last night so decided to stay in their houses
If the wind was up and the other factors theyd have been out
Why didnt the forecasters know there was no wind?
nobody I heard on tv/radio ventured the wind was gusting 25+ from NWNIf the wind was up and the other factors theyd have been out
Why didnt the forecasters know there was no wind?
MarshPhantom said:
I'd have thought the flood risk is down to the flood defences, rather than anything else. Which the Tories massively cut spending on in many areas including East Anglia.
Spending on maintaining existing defences has remained more or less consistent for many years - the cuts (according to this chart) appear to be mostly around the installation of new defences.
It's a bit risky to move into an area at high risk of flooding on the assumption that money will be spent on new flood defences.
Moonhawk said:
It's a bit risky to move into an area at high risk of flooding on the assumption that money will be spent on new flood defences.
If you know you have to move upstairs for a couple of weeks every few years, does it matter for a nice place next the sea/river?Trouble is health and safety dictates that if youre flooded these days you have replace everything downstairs and strip all the plaster to a foot above flood height.
Previously youd have marked it with a crayon Jan2017 flood that didnt happen
kurt535 said:
Offshore wind from NWN 20kts, gusting over 35kts aided keeping the flood tide from breaching defences.
I was on duty in 2013 when the last surge occurred, coupled with light winds allowing the high tide to flood. I can assure you when it breaches barriers there is a mad roar and the level rises in an instant. We were in full drysuit, etc and at one point I recall thinking we might get carried off our feet, such was the force of the water. Planning wasn't in place in 2013 to cope with the situation. It was a long night.
So, I wholly agree with OP, damned if you do, damned if you don't. Overall,they were right to have a plan in place. Well done to all emergency crews involved - , especially volunteer RNLI flood crews who left their civvie daytime jobs 12:00hrs Thursday to stand-to probably until first thing this morning.
You were making very valid and convincing arguments, until you went full dads army thread in the last paragraph. Are you friends with matt77?I was on duty in 2013 when the last surge occurred, coupled with light winds allowing the high tide to flood. I can assure you when it breaches barriers there is a mad roar and the level rises in an instant. We were in full drysuit, etc and at one point I recall thinking we might get carried off our feet, such was the force of the water. Planning wasn't in place in 2013 to cope with the situation. It was a long night.
So, I wholly agree with OP, damned if you do, damned if you don't. Overall,they were right to have a plan in place. Well done to all emergency crews involved - , especially volunteer RNLI flood crews who left their civvie daytime jobs 12:00hrs Thursday to stand-to probably until first thing this morning.
Some Gump said:
kurt535 said:
Offshore wind from NWN 20kts, gusting over 35kts aided keeping the flood tide from breaching defences.
I was on duty in 2013 when the last surge occurred, coupled with light winds allowing the high tide to flood. I can assure you when it breaches barriers there is a mad roar and the level rises in an instant. We were in full drysuit, etc and at one point I recall thinking we might get carried off our feet, such was the force of the water. Planning wasn't in place in 2013 to cope with the situation. It was a long night.
So, I wholly agree with OP, damned if you do, damned if you don't. Overall,they were right to have a plan in place. Well done to all emergency crews involved - , especially volunteer RNLI flood crews who left their civvie daytime jobs 12:00hrs Thursday to stand-to probably until first thing this morning.
You were making very valid and convincing arguments, until you went full dads army thread in the last paragraph. Are you friends with matt77?I was on duty in 2013 when the last surge occurred, coupled with light winds allowing the high tide to flood. I can assure you when it breaches barriers there is a mad roar and the level rises in an instant. We were in full drysuit, etc and at one point I recall thinking we might get carried off our feet, such was the force of the water. Planning wasn't in place in 2013 to cope with the situation. It was a long night.
So, I wholly agree with OP, damned if you do, damned if you don't. Overall,they were right to have a plan in place. Well done to all emergency crews involved - , especially volunteer RNLI flood crews who left their civvie daytime jobs 12:00hrs Thursday to stand-to probably until first thing this morning.
matt77: no idea, sorry
ill refrain from supporting the emergency services from herein when you're around.......
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