Stopping the floods - time to think out of the box

I don't know what the answer is but building defenses to just shove it further down stream isn't it. We should never have been allowed to build homes on flood planes, in my town 45 years ago they started building a big housing development, the old folk said "its doomed, when we get a big rain it'll flood, it always has"  it took 23 years for it to happen, but it did happen. The majority of the housing estate was flooded to 4ft up the walls of the houses. It took 6 - 12 months for these folk to get back into their houses. There wasn't enough trades to do all the work, there wasn't enough housing for folk to stay in, it was awful for those affected. My heart goes out to those who have been flooded this time, sadly it will happen again.

you can't stop Mother Nature, and stopping the water at one point only causes a problem elsewhere , stop building on flood planes ,or if they do ,they should build in some sort of system to divert the excess water away from the area ,

I wouldn’t want to swap places with those affected but agree that it’s time to think out of the box. Rather than throw more money at refurbishment and trying to control the water, perhaps it’s time to consider relocation. 

There was a person from the environment agency this morning saying that flooding can never be eliminated ,and its time  buildings were made flood resistant with flooring and walls able to withstand water (solid) and electric sockets installed higher 

I have to agree that throwing money at reinforcing flood barriers will never stop flooding if there is enough rain, and there certainly has been lately.  Physical barriers just push the problem onto another part/place, it doesn't solve the problem.  Building on flood plains and water meadows was always a daft idea (but not if you consider yourself very clever and similar to Canute ).  I'm sorry I don't know the answer for those who are, what now appears to be routinely, affected but lets try the very basic stuff like not building on flood plains in the future.  The Lake District is full of lakes because of the terrain and the prevailling weather.  Living in a dry county I can tell you we had and still do have (in some places) water meadows that flood regularly, so if you are somewhere that gets lots of rain they must be needed too.  Nature is in control not humans however much we think we can rule her.

My heart goes out to those affected, for the inconvenience and heartache at the moment; future insuring/sale of their properties and some sort of solution.  I wish I had a magic wand.

We must learn to live with excess water, just as we must with other extreme conditions. I visited a coastal town a couple of years ago where the sea had a habit of invading on occasion. The ground floors are tiled throughout, without electricity, and everything in them is moveable. They open their doors to let the sea in if it floods, taking valuables to the floors above. It’s left like that until the water has receded again. No insurance for anything on the ground floor.

Perhaps we should be planning London that way, and building trains in the air rather than underground?

We must learn to live with excess water, just as we must with other extreme conditions. I visited a coastal town a couple of years ago where the sea had a habit of invading on occasion. The ground floors are tiled throughout, without electricity, and everything in them is moveable. They open their doors to let the sea in if it floods, taking valuables to the floors above. It’s left like that until the water has receded again. No insurance for anything on the ground floor.

Perhaps we should be planning London that way, and building trains in the air rather than underground?

Write your comments here...Rogher,sore point up here in Yorkshire is "London".if you can get a look at the front page of yesterday's  Yorkshire Post.

The floods that happened in Somerset in 2014 were completely ignored by the powers that be till people were literally up to their necks in water. Rising water levels were reported locally but it took weeks for anyone to actually come here and look at the reality. Then it took many many months for plans to be drawn up to improve the situation in the future. Unfortunately there are many areas on flood plains and all will suffer from time to time. Often the main reason for letting certain areas flood is to prevent damage to larger towns, down here Bridgwater was the town that took precedent. High tides, exceptional rain fall combine to create the worst scenario. Because of the El Nino effect this year we've got warmer weather, had it been cold weather we might have had rain falling as snow with a gradual thaw with some possible flooding instead of the awful deluge we've experienced. People down here have had to wait a year in some cases to get back into their homes. I feel very sorry for all the displaced folks in the north. It looks as though we're stuck with this weather till the El Nino "effect" moves away.

We must learn to live with excess water, just as we must with other extreme conditions. I visited a coastal town a couple of years ago where the sea had a habit of invading on occasion. The ground floors are tiled throughout, without electricity, and everything in them is moveable. They open their doors to let the sea in if it floods, taking valuables to the floors above. It’s left like that until the water has receded again. No insurance for anything on the ground floor.

Perhaps we should be planning London that way, and building trains in the air rather than underground?

Write your comments here...Rogher,sore point up here in Yorkshire is "London".if you can get a look at the front page of yesterday's  Yorkshire Post.

The discussion will be stopped if we bring politics into it.

York as flooded for many years, why isn't there a flood barrier same as London? or why is it that London can have money spent stopping it flooding and the rest of the U.K. Have to suffer? It's pathetic. Holland used to flood but it is rare that we hear anything about Holland flooding. They spent money digging dykes so that they guided the water away from residential areas.