flood watch

[BritDownUnder]

Floods can be an opportunity if it is economic. Depends if that dam that gets built costs less than the houses or farmland it is protecting or the water it collects. Usually in Australia it is not. Mankind has also done a good job of exacerbating the effects of flooding by deforestation, excessive paving, not doing contour ploughing etc.
Plenty of examples in Australia where a dam has been useful in protecting houses on floodplains but the problem they have here is that they build a dam for both flood protection and water storage and then forget to leave a margin of unused capacity to absorb some of those 1 in 100 year floods. Like Brisbane often does with its Wivenhoe Dam.

Other example from Australia could be the river near Port Augusta that empties a lake only once in a century and flows to the sea doing some flooding of properties on its way.

In my opinion, Australia should investigate using some surplus electricity to pump water from one wetter hydrological basin to a dryer one over the watershed. This was the original intention of the Snowy Mountains scheme and not power generation. Not relevant for the UK at the moment but could be in the future where water from the West may need to get pumped to London. I think there is already a scheme that has water flow to Liverpool and Birmingham from Wales but I am not sure if it is truly inter-basin transfer.

[johnny]

Floods are an opportunity ? Get a grip on reality.

Reality this very spring... I've never done fanciful, and I wasn't speculating on the idea.

[BritDownUnder]

I hope the spillway holds up this time. Shouldn't have used that cheap Chinese cement.

The Colorado is still in drought though. Rocky Mountain Trench water diversion project anyone?

[kenneal - lagger]

One disadvantage of some flood water is that is carries large quantities of silt and sometimes rock which can reduce the storage capacity of a dam.

There are also problems with pumping water from one catchment into another which is a reason why there hasn't been any progress on the north - south canal in the UK: The water in the north is soft and sometimes acidic whereas the water in the south is predominantly hard and alkaline which would cause huge problems to the wildlife especially as it was proposed to use some existing watercourses to transfer the water.

[Ralphw2]

Thousands feared dead in flooding of Eastern Libyan city.

[adam2]

Thousands feared dead in flooding of Eastern Libyan city.

TEN THOUSAND now reported as missing in flooding in Libya, that must be one the worst flood disasters in modern times.
Rescue and recovery efforts are hampered by two competing governments, neither of which seems effective.

[adam2]

About 5,000 are known to have perished in the Libyan flood disaster. With many thousands still missing it is likely that the eventual death toll could reach 20,000.

[adam2]

Significant flooding near me. I have not been flooded as on a small hill, but many surrounding areas flooded. Minehead Butlins closed due to flood damage.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-66840766
Many power cuts from water damage, and also normal random breakdowns that are taking much longer to rectify due to flooding impeding access.
A neighbours large pet dog was swept away by fast flowing flood water in the road. It was feared to be drowned, but has since turned up.
My tesco home delivery was presumed "lost at sea"
Local shortages of food and fuel as delivery vehicles cant get through.

[clv101]

Local shortages of food and fuel as delivery vehicles cant get through.

How many days has the area been flooded for it to be causing food and fuel shortages?

[adam2]

Local shortages of food and fuel as delivery vehicles cant get through.

How many days has the area been flooded for it to be causing food and fuel shortages?

Only about 24 hours when I wrote about it, and the flooding is not total. However a number of important roads were closed and "just in time deliveries" became not in time. No buses, no trains and little fuel for private vehicles.
Minehead and Blue Anchor seem to have been the worst affected areas, Minehead and the flooding thereof even made the national news.
One petrol station closed due to power cut and others ran out of fuel. No deliveries expected for a few days until roads are safer.

[kenneal - lagger]

Local shortages of food and fuel as delivery vehicles cant get through.

How many days has the area been flooded for it to be causing food and fuel shortages?

Only about 24 hours when I wrote about it, and the flooding is not total. However a number of important roads were closed and "just in time deliveries" became not in time. No buses, no trains and little fuel for private vehicles.
Minehead and Blue Anchor seem to have been the worst affected areas, Minehead and the flooding thereof even made the national news.
One petrol station closed due to power cut and others ran out of fuel. No deliveries expected for a few days until roads are safer.

Yet another demonstration of the fragility of our civilisation!

And we haven't even reached 1.5C warming yet let alone the 2 or 3C which is being predicted because governments and economists think that the economy is more important to maintain than the environment.

[adam2]

Various local figures have complained about the chaos and demanded that something must be done.
The electricity supply is STILL unreliable with recurring power cuts, VERY glad of my UPS.
Food supplies now largely back to normal, spot shortages of petrol continue.
Tesco deliveries now back to normal.

[adam2]

Severe flooding hits New York, state of emergency declared.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-can ... gn=KARANGA

[adam2]

Storm Babbet has caused extensive flooding in the UK, variously described as the worst ever, worst in living memory, and the worst in 100 years. Still ongoing, 3 lives lost.

[Ralphw2]

My ADHD child and their equally inept friend needed to get to a meeting near Stoke on Trent yesterday but had neglected to organise transport, and the friend was returning from a brief holiday in Portugal the same day. Some weeks ago my wife suggested she could drive them up, and they had simply assumed she would drop everything and take them on the 5 hour round trip without further comment. At the last minute my wife agreed to take them, even though I pointed out that the route was liable to flooding in the heavy rain. They got there ok, but on returning alone, my wife found the road flooded in the dark. Being totally dependent on google maps for navigation and having no idea where she was or ability to navigate an alternate route, she simply pressed on and was pleased that the car kept going passed other stranded vehicles with water up to the sills, and nearly losing traction in the depth. She was very pleased with herself, but I had to point out that her behaviour was deeply irresponsible.