Up here in Cumbria.

[Frenchy]

I live 2 miles from Workington and fortunately we are quite considerably above sea level, with the bridges being down it is going to cause major road chaos this week.
The bridges that have been affected are/were substantial sandstone structures to put things into perspective.
Rain has stopped for now but the wind is really getting up which will also cause problems, more heavy rain forecast for this week so we will batten down the hatches !
Both the 944's are safely tucked away.
I will be in my own bed tonight but feel soorry for the people who won't be for a considerable amount of time.

 

[ukmastiff]

There is very little good spin you can put on a thing like residential flooding. The only positive thing I can think of is that you will see true old style British community spirit like you havn't seen for years. Neighbours who have never even spoken to each other will suddenly help each other out and not forget it. Long term it will probably bring a lot of people together.
I have genuinely spared many a thought for folk up there including the officer at Workington , it sounds like a cliche but it does make you think how fortunate you are yourself.

Regards Mas

 

[mike220]

yeah, feel for the people affected and hope they can get back to normality in time for xmas. No matter where you are - there's just nowhere set up for that volume of water to fall in such a short space of time. Can't wait for someone to bang the drum about how it's my large engined car causing these bad storms via global warming though [8|]

 

[Frenchy]

Along with the Chinese economy being driven by coal powered power stations !
By the way i work in the Nuclear industry which is much cleaner than in previous years by a massive amount, did you know a fair lump of southern England is powered by French nuclear power.
My everyday bus is a 4x4 Disco which does near enough 40 mg on a run and 30 ish knocking about...............hope the green mob don't get to know where i live [:-]

 

[graham.webb]

Glad your cars are safe, Frenchy. In the 2007 floods I had the battery out of mine when the water came up...luckily it was fully charged by then, but getting it back in with a non operational (electric) tailgate was a bit desperate in the dark and the rain! We were then able to move it to a friend's house.

Good point about Nuclear...the French have invested long term in non fossil fuel generation. Result: a secure supply and lower energy prices. And not only do we buy electricity from them, we'll have to buy the generation technology from them too, I gather. BTW France and Germany are busy investing now in wind generation...every little helps, and the politicians' hope of just one grand solution is a simpleton's view.

You'd think at least one politician might have asked "what do we do when the gas runs out?"

 

[Hilux]

BTW France and Germany are busy investing now in wind generation...

What a waste of time, effort and money.

It takes at least a constant wind speed of 8m/sec to make them viable in any way shape or form. This can only be found north of Scotland and miles out to sea so for Gordon Brown and the gormless hapless believers of Saint Gore to keep building them where they are is a waste of money that could be used in researching the use of alternatives like coal (of which we have a couple of hundred years supply) or building Nuclear.

It is ENERGY that is the key issue today for who will care about global warming when the power runs out!

Good point about Nuclear...the French have invested long term in non fossil fuel generation. Result: a secure supply and lower energy prices. And not only do we buy electricity from them, we'll have to buy the generation technology from them too, I gather. BTW France and Germany are busy investing now in wind generation...every little helps, and the politicians' hope of just one grand solution is a simpleton's view.

You'd think at least one politician might have asked "what do we do when the gas runs out?"

To quote (badly) the UK`s leading authority on energy......................

"The govt is due to close 15 coal powered stations in the next few years so as to attempt to meet the UK`s agreed emissions targets yet there are no plans to replace them. For each Megawatt of wind power generated we need to build a power station that also is capable of generating that Megawatt for what happens to us when the wind doesnt blow! "

What we need is a politician with b*lls who is happy to stand up and declare this global warming scaremongering for what it is. All they do is go along with the huge industry that has sprung up, driven mainly by civil servants who are very choosy about who they listen to.

The arctic ice cores tell a different tale completely as does the fact that the worlds biggest ever industrial expansion and Co2 output (during and after the 2nd world war right throught to the massive industrial boom of the 50`s and 60`s) actually saw global temperatures drop over that period!

The earth has been warmer, the ice caps smaller but the ONLY correlation accurately made with regard to global temperatures is the suns activity which for the last 20 - 30 years has been particularly active.

Ironically its activity has just dramatically ceased so watch this space for global cooling.

PS: The suns activity was particularly low during and after the 2nd world war []

**************************

S`wat I believe and I wont listen to any other argument (just like the global warming band wagon)

 

[Mike_Pollock]

What I like is the UN's Committee on Global Warming (or what ever its called) is there to prove its OUR fault, not to investigate if it exists!
Mike

 

[macandsue]

Having just watched Inside Out- the local news programme from the BBC, I feel the coverage broadcast to the country as a whole was played down somewhat.
Who could envisage floods as fierce and as fast as a tsunami, after over a foot of rain fell in one day, or the water level in Lake Windermere would rise by seven feet. The destruction is nearly unimaginable. Pictures taken in daylight do not reveal the true horror of the situation.
Our thoughts are with you all. I hope you saw the message from David Baker which sent good wishes from your colleagues in Lancashire, which are reiterated here. Let us hope the four inches of rain promised over the next 24 hours, decide to fall somewhere else.
Above all please stay safe.

Sue & Mac

 

[Frenchy]

Cheers Mac and Sue,
Yep saw that message from David Baker, more rain coming this way tomorrow hopefully it will not be too heavy.
The wind farm thing is just something to appease the greens IMO, they are not very efficient and a total blot on our beautiful landscape.
A huge windfarm is being constructed off our coast at Robin Rigg, i wish all the land based ones were removed and stuck out there.
Nuclear ! we ended up buying technology and equipment from the French to vitrify nuclear waste, a British engineer came up with the concept and was poo poo'd the French saw the possibilities devoleped it and flogged it back to us.
Our country is full of first class nuggets ! but you already know that.

 

[TheFiend]

I am a fellow resident of Workington, but my 944 doesn't have the luxury of getting parked in a garage, but the old girl survived the storms...... Pity the same can't be said for my internet connection - The bridge collapse took a main telephone cable out, and a lot of people in the area lost their phones... my connection has just come back on after being off for 4 days!

Use the old girl on my daily commute to the good old nuclear dustbin, but with me working shifts I don't get stuck in the massive tailbacks that day-workers suffer![]

 

[graham.webb]

Fair enough, Hilux, but I can't believe the French and Germans are all totally wrong about this!?

I just feel that in the UK we're settling in to enjoy the academic argument while others have been getting on with it for years!

Even if wind power only makes a small contribution it's better than nothing.

As I said...every little helps.

 

[944Turbo]

Trouble with wind power is you still need another source of power for when the wind stops and nuclear, coal etc. is not an instant switch on, takes a couple of days (or more) to get up to capacity, The power is very difficult to store (though the welsh pumping water scheme is clever) so you have to use it.

The Falklands have wind power three fairly big windmills (though they say they need 12 to supply all the energy needs in Stanley a population of 2,500 with little industry. It is ideal Very windy 90% of the time and they generate their power with diesel generators so pretty much an instant start when the wind stops.

Tony

 

[Suffolk944]

There many reasons for climate change, some natural but the science does point to man made emissions contributing significantly to it. The exact amount temperatures are going to go up is a matter of conjecture as are the exact consequences but sorry saying that human activity isn't contributing and that its all made up in some sort of conspiracy is living in denial.

When the energy runs out Wind/waves will be part of the answer but as already stated they are limited as to how much they can deliver. Interestingly, while the Chinese are currently building huge numbers of Coal powered power stations, this is in fact a short term measure as they have very limited reserves of coal. Rather they have embarked on an immense programme of Wind Turbine construction which is a few decades time will be capable of producing a huge amount of power. We may well be buying our electricity from Beijing sooner rather than later !

Another possible solution is "Clean" coal powered stations which would suit the UK as we still have plenty of it, but you still end up burying the nasties underground (hopefully safely but who knows ?). In theory Nuclear is the answer, its technology has moved far beyond that associated with the various disasters of the past and is also now far more efficient. In theory at least its possible now to have small local reactors no bigger than a small house each supplying an individual town, but how many folk would be comfortable with that ?