The floods

Post by **mikepepler** » 25 Jul 2007, 10:07

And a bit more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/weather/Story ... 47,00.html

It emerged yesterday that GCHQ, the government's high-tech listening post, is supplied by Walham electricity switching station. The news has led to speculation about the reason for the massive effort that went into saving it from the floods. But yesterday a spokesman for GCHQ said it had a back-up generator.

Post by **clv101** » 25 Jul 2007, 10:42

LOL - Of course GCHQ has a back-up generator, even my office does.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 28 Jul 2007, 12:25

And my insider source from GCHQ tells me he can get a shower at work when the Chelmsford tap water gets cut off since they have their own water supply too.

Billhook · Post by **Billhook** » 28 Jul 2007, 13:54

Regarding the hit on the insurance industry, ABI quoted a figure of ?1.4 Bn of insured losses for the June event,

while for the July event they had an "early assessment" of ?5.0 Bn quoted by a BBC reporter,
and a ?3.0 Bn "projection" quoted on the Reuters website.

Given the degree of under-insuring, and of non-insuring, and of self-insuring, and of uninsured loss-of-earnings,
the actual value destroyed may well be over ?10.0 Bn.

So, given that the sums that are actually paid out will still be massive, the widespread introduction of detterrent insurance premiums has to be in the pipeline,
which must, presumably, destroy some private and business collateral.

Does anyone have a good overview of economic impacts of this including housing demand change and reparation spending ?

Regards,

Bill

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 28 Jul 2007, 14:52

I have friends who had 3 inches of water in their kitchen. Loss adjuster visited. All kitchen white goods written off by insurance company. My friends think it's madness but what to do?

skeptik · Post by **skeptik** » 28 Jul 2007, 18:48

biffvernon wrote:And my insider source from GCHQ tells me he can get a shower at work when the Chelmsford tap water gets cut off since they have their own water supply too.

Chelmsford? I was born near there - thats the other side of the country in Essex... (shurely shome mishtake - the Ed.)

GCHQ is somewhere in Glos, I believe...

Andy Hunt · Post by **Andy Hunt** » 28 Jul 2007, 19:08

I once had a mate who used to speak about his days "back in 'nam" . . . I later found out he meant Chelten'am.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 28 Jul 2007, 19:25

Cheltenham, Chelmsford, it's all down south somewhere

J. R. Ewing · Post by **J. R. Ewing** » 29 Jul 2007, 04:10

Totally_Baffled wrote:
The reason I ask is, that people seem to be pulling together quite well, despite the worst floods in history.

Yeah quite good to see looting of houses that have had to be abandend whilst flooded and then the urinating in and contaminating of the water tanks and not forgetting those who have been trying or have been getting more water bottles than they should've while on rations.

Yes it's great to know the Brits can pull together during crisis

Keela · Post by **Keela** » 29 Jul 2007, 08:06

J. R. Ewing wrote:
Totally_Baffled wrote:
The reason I ask is, that people seem to be pulling together quite well, despite the worst floods in history.
Yeah quite good to see looting of houses that have had to be abandend whilst flooded and then the urinating in and contaminating of the water tanks and not forgetting those who have been trying or have been getting more water bottles than they should've while on rations.

Yes it's great to know the Brits can pull together during crisis

I'm not so cynical. These may be the headline stories.... but the real stories I think just don't hit the headlines. If you look for them you can find comments about community spirit etc. Just the papers prefer to shock their readers with the callous behaviour of the few and actively try to find that bad spirit to report.

Billhook · Post by **Billhook** » 29 Jul 2007, 13:49

Well said Sally -

For me the bus queue is the enduring demonstration of the indispensible need for social equity for society to function -

without it, not only do the busses not work,meaning that employees don't get to work on time,
meaning that the whole competence of our businesses declines still faster,
but also children would lack the daily demonstration of respect for others and for taking ones turn fairly.

The aspect of communities' response to the floods that seemed most promising was the womens' bowser defence group -
who undertook shifts to defend their bowser from vandals and from anti-social greedy fools.

Given the predictable fragmentation of accustomed services I'd expect communities to impress upon the anti-social fraction
that their misconduct won't be tolerated -
and it's a very different thing for communities to become self-policing,
with all of the imformal channels it can put to use,
rather than conventionally policed with lawyers, courts and dubious ASBOs.

For this reason I'd expect community spirit to become self-reinforcing in the face of serious hardship.

Regards,

Bill

J. R. Ewing · Post by **J. R. Ewing** » 30 Jul 2007, 01:48

mistake, needed to delete forgot to add message.

J. R. Ewing · Post by **J. R. Ewing** » 30 Jul 2007, 01:51

Sally wrote:
J. R. Ewing wrote:
Totally_Baffled wrote:
The reason I ask is, that people seem to be pulling together quite well, despite the worst floods in history.
Yeah quite good to see looting of houses that have had to be abandend whilst flooded and then the urinating in and contaminating of the water tanks and not forgetting those who have been trying or have been getting more water bottles than they should've while on rations.

Yes it's great to know the Brits can pull together during crisis
I'm not so cynical. These may be the headline stories.... but the real stories I think just don't hit the headlines. If you look for them you can find comments about community spirit etc. Just the papers prefer to shock their readers with the callous behaviour of the few and actively try to find that bad spirit to report.

I've been working with Flood victims from the what appears to be the forgotten floods that happend in South Yorkshire and Humberside who quite a few experienced looting.

Keela · Post by **Keela** » 30 Jul 2007, 08:10

J. R. Ewing wrote:I've been working with Flood victims from the what appears to be the forgotten floods that happend in South Yorkshire and Humberside who quite a few experienced looting.

JR I'm sorry to hear of this. I genuinely believed that a disaster would bring out the best in most. I still wonder if it is a small minority who can do substantial harm to the law-abiding majority.

Surely you have come across some heartening stories as well? (Please tell me you have!)

Post by **clv101** » 30 Jul 2007, 09:11

Sally wrote:I still wonder if it is a small minority who can do substantial harm to the law-abiding majority.

Isn't that always the case?

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Re: The floods