To add:

[sparkindarkness]

I don't think all the news has made it clear, but this doesn't happen.

No, really. This is NOT a flood area. It NEVER floods here. Seriously. This whole area is completely unprepared for this.

Let me repeat - THIS IS NOT A FLOOD area. We got a full MONTH'S worth of rain in less than 24 hours. This is the third flood in living memory in the area - the first of which was a bad water main. The second of which? Was about 2-3 weeks ago.

Not a flood area, then 2 in one year caused by frankly unbelievable weather.

Some pictures (stolen from Wyrdrune and the BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/humber/content/image_galleries/floods_250607_gallery.shtml?1) of what has happened in the region.

Comments

[jennaria.livejournal.com]

!!!

Jesus H. Roosevelt pole-dancing Christ. That's...dear heaven. :crosses fingers for you:

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

It is astonishingly huge isn't it?

[semiotic-pirate.livejournal.com]

all I gotta say is good luck. don't go walking around uncautiously, you can never tell what is beneath the water. store potable water and other emergency items for a while if you can. don't get trapped in your attic if the water level keeps rising - rather keep an axe in the attic and know where you can break through if necessary. get a nice big floaty donut to float around in.

again. good luck.

<-- is used to flooding, lives in CT, with continually flooded areas of the state with lots of surface water to begin with.

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

I'm not going out at all if I cna help it. That water's all yucky. I'm having a holiday. I have a great excuse not to go to work. I'm going to have flood holidays! We have alcohol and lots of snacky stuff and we should eat it all in case the power goes off or it will spoil. yes, yes we should

I doubnt water CAN get high enough to reach even the upper stories, to be honest. Not unless the Humber bursts its banks and if it does there won't BE a humberside any more.

[fadethecat.livejournal.com]

o_O

That has definitely gone beyond the "heavy rubber boots and a good umbrella" stage.

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

it has reached levels that are completely unexpected. We're not taslking, oooh it's a little wet,. WE';re talking OMG someone call Noah!

[fadethecat.livejournal.com]

If I see any pairs of animals wandering around lost, I'll let them know where to go. But technically, Noah should've gotten off his butt and built the ark by this point already. Possibly it's under a tarp somewhere?

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

Well, maybe he can't find enough contractors and is a lazy bum this time round? I suppose he could ahve off board motors now at least. I want a speed-ark!

[amynnah.livejournal.com]

Holy Jesus tap-dancing Christ on a pogo-stick! O.O

Spark, please be careful! PLEASE! ::hugs::

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

*hugs* I'm staying inside. So long as my bricks and mortar are fine then I will be. We have supplies to last a couple of weeks if we have to. I'm going to stay as out of it as I can

Okay, the British are officially weird.

[gnarlycranium.livejournal.com]

What gets me about those pictures is that half of them are full of people splashing around and SMILING. Surfing, windsurfing, -swimming-, pattering about in galoshes, standing proudly outside their flooded homes/businesses looking like they're having a big fat vacation. There's probably RAW SEWAGE in that water, you know. The town has not suddenly become a huge water park of fun and bunnies.

Re: Okay, the British are officially weird.

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

What? You expect us to be UPSET by the world crashing down? Pish posh! It's stiff upper lip time! We'll go paddling in the sewage and damn the diseases, dash it all! There is a mentality that the worse things are the jollier you have to be, or at very least pretend it isn't happening. It's a kind of defiance against fate. If the apocalypse was decided tomorrow half of Britain would have a party and the other half would pretend it wasn't happening


But yes, they are idiots for dancing in it - that water IS contaminated and NOT safe

Re: Okay, the British are officially weird.

[gnarlycranium.livejournal.com]

That being the case, I would've thought they'd be standing around in the water smiling with TEA, but there is nobody having tea in any of those pictures. Hmm..

Re: Okay, the British are officially weird.

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

Well, we've been giving lots of tea to soaking wet firemen today.

It's sad, but that sounded far sexier than it was

Re: Okay, the British are officially weird.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

Well, I do have to add that although it's definitely a flood, and can be a huge problem in a place so unprepared for them, this honestly is nothing compared to what happens in other places. I mean the houses aren't underwater, looks like you can still drive a car a lot of places, it's not actually washing tress away, etc. When it looks like this, then you stop smiling.

Re: Okay, the British are officially weird.

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

It's nearly unheard of for Britain to have natural disasters on that scale. The last was Boscastle - it's just very very unusual.

We never have hurricanes, never have a real tornado, no tidal waves, no earthquakes, snow is very rarely more than a few inches deep except in Scotland - we're just very blessed when it comes to mother nature's fury

[procris.livejournal.com]

It's kind of clear that it never, ever floods up where you are, since people are letting their kids out in it. They clearly have NO idea what is floating around in that water. Besides tiny biological things that would be happy to eat your brain, there's quite probably a good deal of snakes and the like. At least you don't have gators up there.

How long has the water been high? Do you guys have basements? The dry-out is going to take Months if it gets in your walls, and then there's mold...

[mandragora1.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, there's sewage (which people keep on being told about, and apparently the smell gives it away anyway) but snakes! Grinning away. I mean, there may possibly be a (very few) snakes, but they're not going to be poisonous.

The only poisonous snake we have in Britain is the black adder, and I don't think they're found in Hull. Even if they are, they're rather shy and retiring and unlikely to actually kill anyone. A small dog maybe, but not even a small person.

We don't have anything dangerous to humans left in Britain (besides other humans, obviously). All dangerous creature have long since been obliterated. Even the wasps aren't really threatening, unless you happen to be allergic to wasp stings (bees can sting but will only do so if really, really provoked).

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

People are just in such denial "it's rain water" NOOOO! The DRAINS have backed up. What goes in the drains? Well done! But they're not going to give up and at least they're smiling and not bitching

No snakes :) We have a sensible country when it comes to wildlife. Adders are only found in a few small rural areas in the south I think.

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

People are stupid, the radio has warned them about the sewage. But... it's unusual. And ther eis an element of the unusual that brings out the carnival in us. I kind of like that we have a mentality that treats a crisis as a festival. But it is short sighted.

Thankfully Britain is lacking in snakes The poisonous adder, our only dangerous snake, is near extinct and is pretty pathetic as far as venom goes - more like a bee sting than a snake bight.

The water has been that high for 3 days now and shows no sign of abating. Most of us don't have basements at least, but it will get inm the air bricks and that will be hell. I'm not sure if water can get in brick walls, I think that's more a wooden house thing (there aren't any wooden houses in Britain, or not that I've ever seen). But I understand the council has specialists that can remove the smell.

[gnarlycranium.livejournal.com]

Water will seep into any crannies in brick walls that it can, depositing nasty mud as it goes. It will get into floors too-- pretty much any house that gets the bottom floor inundated will need the carpets replaced if not the whole flooring ripped out. Um... if the floor is wood, anyway. The whole concept of 'no houses made of wood' is pure alien gibberish to an American, ALL buildings here are pretty much constructed of nothing but plywood taped together. Anyway, if there IS wood, it will soak up the water, mildew sets in, making for nasty smells for a good long time to come.

And now I have the blackadder theme song stuck in my head, too.

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

Aye, it will leave a smell in brick but it's relatively easy to remove.

99% of all houses in Britain are brick. I, personally, would be a little uncomfortable with the idea of a wooden house... it wouldn't feel substantial.

That song is pure ear worm. And now I have it stuck too *sigh*

[logophilos.livejournal.com]

I'm really hoping you and yours will be okay and that you won't have to leave your house. It's very worrying for all concerned.

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

Thank you. So far we haven't had to leave the house :)

[thisdaydreamer.livejournal.com]

It never fails to amaze me how many people walk and drive through flood waters. Don't they know that's how people die in floods?

Gah! We get flash floods fairly regularly here in Virginia, and the folks around here have not learned that lesson.

Stay safe, my dear. That looks like a nasty situation.

Wow, while I typed that, a story about the flooding in Texas came on, with exactly the warnings that I referred to above. Along with shots of people ignoring those same warnings.

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

Well, the flood wasters aren;t moving that fast here, they're largely just standing water. But it's still unwise, they don't kinow what the water conceals, to say nothing of how dirty it isa.