Guest essay by Eric Worrall
Top British government officials have predictably blamed Climate Change for severe flooding which has afflicted England in recent weeks. But there has also been strong criticism of river management policies.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald;
London: Climate change is forcing England to re-assess its flood defences in the face of unprecedented river level surges, one of the United Kingdom government’s most senior environment officials says.
“We are moving from a period of known extremes into a period of unknown extremes,” said David Rooke, deputy chief executive of the UK government’s Environment Agency, which manages the country’s rivers.
“We will need to re-assess all the defences right across the country.”
He linked the devastating Boxing Day floods, still engulfing swathes of the country, to climate change.
“What we are seeing are record river levels,” he told BBC Radio. “We saw in the Calder Valley in West Yorkshire levels that were a foot to two feet higher that we’d seen previously. We’ve seen similar again in Cumbria and elsewhere right across the north.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/unprecedented-flooding-in-britain-prompts-renewed-discussion-about-climate-change-20151228-glw0lw.html
There is another side to this story. Local farmer, historian and author Phillip Walling provides some background on the disastrous river management policies imposed by the bureaucratic European Union, which likely exacerbated the floods (h/t James Delingpole).
It was obvious to people, who depended on the land for their living that failing to keep the rivers clear of sand and gravel would cause them to burst their banks and destroy in a few hours fertility that had taken generations to create, wash away their houses, and drown their livestock.
Last century the obligation to dredge out the rivers was transferred to local river boards, consisting of farmers and landowners who knew the area and its characteristics, and who had statutory responsibilities to prevent or minimise flooding.
But all this changed with the creation of the Environment Agency in 1997 and when we adopted the European Water Framework Directive in 2000. No longer were the authorities charged with a duty to prevent flooding. Instead, the emphasis shifted, in an astonishing reversal of policy, to a primary obligation to achieve ‘good ecological status’ for our national rivers. This is defined as being as close as possible to ‘undisturbed natural conditions’. ‘Heavily modified waters’, which include rivers dredged or embanked to prevent flooding, cannot, by definition, ever satisfy the terms of the directive. So, in order to comply with the obligations imposed on us by the EU we had to stop dredging and embanking and allow rivers to ‘re-connect with their floodplains’, as the currently fashionable jargon has it.
And to ensure this is done, the obligation to dredge has been shifted from the relevant statutory authority (now the Environment Agency) onto each individual landowner, at the same time making sure there are no funds for dredging. And any sand and gravel that might be removed is now classed as ‘hazardous waste’ and cannot be deposited to raise the river banks, as it used to be, but has to be carted away.
Read more: https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2015/12/26/what-the-authorities-wont-tell-you-about-the-floods/
What’s disappointing, is that this is not the first time the EU directive which discourages proper dredging has been identified as an issue. However, there is very little ordinary people can do to fix this mess.
The European Union, which has ambitions to bind members into a new superstate, which would include all of Europe, parts of Asia, and potentially also include Russia and her allies, is not a very democratic institution. There is no “EU River Management Official” whom ordinary people can vote out of office. While there is an elected European Parliament, the parliament is virtually toothless – it has no real oversight powers, and no power to source new legislation. All new laws are proposed by a soviet style central committee, the European Commission, which also has responsibility for overseeing implementation of the laws.
Back in October, WUWT reported how an Egyptian official tried to blame flooding on climate change, in my opinion to deflect attention from the disastrous state of local drains. The Egyptian official was forced to resign. It seems unlikely anyone in Britain or Europe will be forced to resign, because of mismanagement of Britain’s waterways.
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Of course the floods in York can be blamed on climate change. The trouble is that these ignoramuses don’t study history. If they did, then they would see that major floods often occur in the UK (and elsewhere) each time there is a solar grand minimum. Perhaps they should study the UK climate records during the Dalton grand minimum (1790-1830) or the Maunder minimum (1645-1715) and then learn about what the sun is currently doing. Even if they are not totally dumb they will see a great similarity.
Yes. there is a reason they call it a ” Flood Plain ” !
LOL
It’s nice riverfront property.
You could even have a nice canoe tie-up at your front door.
at BruceC:
The image of flooding with sign has been questioned (elsewhere) and another’s response was that even so – it looks true. Actually, no, it does not.
That’s not good enough. As posted here the resolution is low (436×414) but even so a dark border on the right side may indicate something else behind the white board. Where I live a sign on wetlands property for sale might say it is available if one needs acreage for “Mitigation” to compensate development elsewhere.
Despite being funny, unless this photo can be shown to have credibility, I’d not use it.
John, if you are trying to suggest it was photoshopped, they went to a lot of trouble make it physically integrated with the fence, when they could have just chopped off the legs and stuck it anywhere in the water.
This image is really getting to true cause of much of flooding in recent decades: urban expansion covering over farmland and countryside that used to absorb water. Many towns a cities in Britain grew up around the river. As they expand they become a massive impermeable funnel leading to the historic city centre.
Also the Foss barrier has had recurrent technical problems due to cutbacks in maintenance.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/dec/27/floods-army-called-continue-devastate-northern-england
If you are going to block a river with a barrier you’d better make sure it still works when you need to use it !!
For sake of saving some £100 million in spending there is now a £5 BILLION damage bill.
The ludicrous european bureaucracy, as Eric Worrel points out, is a major problem too.
John F Hultquist: Quite right (about the sign in the photo) I think it’s been photo-shopped. Check out the perspective of the written words in relation to the hoarding and the fencing.
John F.,
So, you actually think that the “white board” sign is a two (2) dimensional object (height & width), …. HUH?
I’m guessing the picture below is the proposed development known as Dale View, Whalley, BB7, UK. Whether it is or not, and whether or not the picture has been ‘shopped, it humorously packs its message about the UK decision to permit building on flood plains and to ban dredging and embanking.
John and Harry, it seems that it isn’t photo shopped. here is a link to the before and after photos and the location: http://thesteepletimes.com/today/wallies-whalley/
It’s a photoshop. The sign is square to the picture whereas the fence is angled.
Ah never mind, there are two signs at 45 degree angles to the fence and that’s why it appears the fence is angled but the sign is straight, because it is.. The right leg is actually not on the fence and the “dark border” on the right side is the other sign.
Well, if it is a real picture, and the low remnant swale in the background is dry, and the higher ground (birds and all) represents the edge of the ponding, then my understanding of open channel hydraulics is lacking.
Maybe there is a new concrete wall holding the water in place ….
Take a look at the rail/post shadows on the water …pretty good.
Take a look at the lower rail left of the sign … it must have been bumped loose from the post … maybe when they were building the concrete dike at the edge of the ponding….
… rail shadows are directly under, or even in back of, the fence. The sign post reflections are directly toward the “photographer” … I don’t see any fence post reflections.
There is no reflection, in the water, for the sign itself. Given the angle of the rail shadow, the sign reflection should also be visible.
For those concerned about this particular photograph here is another of the same area with similar signs. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/flooding/12073672/Housebuilding-rates-higher-on-flood-plains-as-UK-stores-up-problems-for-future.html
Of course it is entirely up to you if you believe it or not. Most people in UK would believe it as they have first hand experience of similar stupid decisions by local planning authorities desperate for property taxes from new builds persuaded by builders desperate for new building land.
Given that the remnant swale in the background doesn’t get wet even there is ponding every else, mebbe that’s where homes should be placed … cuz the low ground doesn’t get wet in Whalley.
Bruce C
A picture is worth a thousand words.
+ 1000
Magic
Auto
It’s already been confirmed as a real sign. It looks weird because of a minor optical illusion caused by the camera’s perspective.
https://www.google.com/maps/@53.8213938,-2.4212206,3a,75y,147.48h,79.3t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sy9mBo2qIYDK9LR2CCwwKhA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
Yes, the sign is real. The water is fake. The remnant swale extends to the right and then shows in the background. No water … same elevation … “up stream”.
Use google earth or similar and check ground elevations (The signs can be seen not only from road view, but from satellite view).
The two photos in the steeple times are taken from different angles (about 30 degrees) … this hides the elevation differences and indicates the wrong tree line.
People lie to show that their side is “right”. AGW adherents do the same thing.
Read all the comments about this so-called flooded field.
If you still use this photo as portrayed, your skeptical credentials need an update.
Samual C. Cogar, about the word “board” – No, sorry. My many years of using a “white board” caused a, I think it is called, brain fart.
MacDonald and Black compiled a list of floods in and around York since 1200.
There’s been a few.
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02626667.2010.508873
Sorry, there can’t have been because the flooding is unprecedented
+1
At least the rivers were able to reconnect with their flood plains. They must be feeling very happy and satisfied.
Thanks for that link. The paper is quite revealing. I wonder what the flood height peaked out at this time.
I sat on a regional Flood defence committee of the Environment Agency for many years. The overwhelmingly largest proportion of EA staff do an extremely difficult and often dangerous job, in what are, by definition often extreme conditions.
The political Elite at the top (e.g Lord Smith-a Labour place man) are the despair of the staff who were often employed by the (usually excellent and local) river boards that the EA replaced.
There are a number of related problems surrounding flooding, most of them enumerated elsewhere. First is that farmers are often eager to drain land on the uplands which means the water isn’t being impounded and injected into the soil (marshes/bogs) but instead go straight into the upland river system which brings great quantities of silt quickly into the lower river system, where people live.
The population of the UK has expanded exponentially over the last 200 years, as has freehold property ownership and valuable possessions. The results are that people want their property protected and not even want flood water to come into their gardens or roads. Ironically, many of the most desirable houses have been built on flood plains, so water can’t be diverted there in times of floods and the buildings themselves represent an impermeable barricade so ensuring water goes straight into drains, gutters and the river system.
Due to pressures for house building, adequate flood defences are often overlooked in favour of political expediency. Here is a development site adjacent to York. It is a fllod plain earmarked for 650 houses. Worse, it is now known to be the site of the FIRST battle of 1066 and therefore has great historical value as well as being of practical value..
http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/9964955.Concern_over_floods_at_Fulford_homes_site/
Take into account that the Govt HAS reduced flood defence money (I was on the committee that subsequently had to shelves schemes) and that we persistently fail to maintain them properly and do daft things like allowing pumping stations to be built in areas vulnerable to flooding, and in total the end results can be clearly seen in the TV pictures.
There is no evidence that when taking a historical perspective, rain events are any worse than they were in the past . However, with many more people living in unsuitable areas and wanting to protect THEIR homes and properties, even at the expense of those properties previously unaffected, then severe flood events are bound to affect many more people than in the past.
As one final point, the EU directive which forbids the use of dredged spoil to top up the banks as it is ‘hazardous waste’- as always happened in the past, goes hand in hand with the directive on protecting flora and fauna. A water vole for example might be afforded more protection than people.
This issue has had the side effect of drastically reducing dredging to protect flora and fauna, which conversely has become ever more necessary as farmers drain the uplands, sending silt into the river system…..which is where I came in…
tonyb
Unprecedented means since the invention of television. If it ain’t on tape, it never happened.
this is not the first flooding in England due to lack of dredging. How about Somerset Feb 2014?
How Somerset Levels river flooded after it was not dredged for decades
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/weather/10644101/How-Somerset-Levels-river-flooded-after-it-was-not-dredged-for-decades.html
Cameron knows full well the problem is lack of dredging:
A spokesman for the FLAG group has got hold of meticulous rainfall records for the area around the Parrett and Tone for the last 20 years.
They reveal between December 1993 and Febuary 1994 around 20 inches of rain fell – five inches less than during the same time this year.
A spokesman for the group said: “So roughly the same rainfall but far more flooding now.
“What has changed? Dredging seems to be the biggest obvious difference between then and now.”
David Cameron, who visited the area earlier this month, has promised regular dredging will commence once flood water subsides.
Speaking during his visit, he said: “The pause in dredging that took place in the late 90s – that was wrong.
“We need to get dredging again and I have said when the water levels come down and it is safe to dredge we will be dredging to make sure that these rivers and ditches can carry a better capacity of water.
“There are lessons to be learned and I will make sure they are learned.”
see theeuroprobe.org 2014 -017 From the Somerset Levels to the EU to the UN to the Club of Rome
The damage caused in York has number of causes
1) The Environment Agency has been ignoring repeated calls by local residents to dredge the Foss and Ouse. From 1727 to 1996 the Foss was regularly dredged. Then the Environment Agency took over and stopped dredging.
2) The pumps at the Foss barrier failed just when they were most needed. They had previously operated well with higher levels of flood water and the RAF had to air lift in spares which leaves some serious questions to be answered,
3) The Environment Agency chose to LIFT the barrier emplaced to protect the city centre from flooding claiming that it was forced to do so by the pump failure.
4) Warning was inadequate partly at least due to the failure of the flood defences so home and business owners were unable to protect their goods and properties.
5) Their was indeed prolonged heavy rain but this has happened before. In 1987 when heavy rain threatened the city the York Flood Group under the control of the City council met and took actions to minimise damage, The Foss barrier was lowered and the pumps ran continuously for 12 days protecting the City centre from the high River Ouse levels
Under the control of the Environment Agency there was little done that was positive. York City Council had to step in at the last minute and reconvene the York Flood Group after the EA sent this alert over Twitter at 10 PM
“severe flood warning for #riverfoss. Waters entered Foss Barrier building which could cause electrical failure. We’ve lifted the barrier”
The EA seems to be a completely useless bunch of green meddlers who spend millions creating nature reserves but ignore people. Time for them to go and the old drainage boards who were locally accountable to be reinstated,
The UK Environment Agency were following the orders of their EU masters who in turn were following UN Agenda 21 Chapter 18. This was no series of accidents by blundering nincompoops, it was a deliberate series of actions taken over a long term with the express intention of flooding areas regardless of, or even because of, people living there. The Environment Agency are ‘Making Space for Water’ and in crowded Britain that can only be done at the expense of people. It is totally disingenuous of Prime Minister Cameron to waffle about money anyone can waste money; it is the result that counts and the result was abject failure by the Conservative ‘government’ to protect the people of the North. But they are merely ‘following orders’ from the EU. So do not expect the situation to get any better while UK (and US) administrations are in thrall to the UN and ‘global warming’ apparatchiks.
The Environment Agency document on Making Space for Water (which explains the rationale behind the plans for deliberately flooding the UK, creating wetlands for the wading birdies and raising the flood plains) mentions Climate Change fifty-nine times and dredging once. It’s as though the author scores points for dropping in “Climate Change” and subtracts penalties for “dredging”. I cannot tell if this document, and the myriad like it emanating from the EA, are simply exercises in creating paper to create the impression of complying with UN Agenda 21 while not intending to implement it, or if it represents current policy by the EA, the RSPB and the Climate Change Steering Committee. After the Somerset fiasco Dave Cameron made all the right noises about re-instating the dredging, but I don’t know if this happened or was confined to Somerset. Perhaps Baroness Young could explain.
Well global warming is supposed to cause droughts. That’s what gubner moonbeam Brown tells us in California.
g
And, as has been demonstrated so many times in the past, Governor Moonbeam doesn’t have a clue,
It seems “Climate Change” is the new political expedient. California has been ignoring its water deficit for over 50 years now, allowing massive real estate development projects on the one hand and bowing to environmental groups who refuse to allow watershed development capable of serving it. New homes bring in tax revenue and dams cost money; the equation is very simple.
California has been in a perpetual state of water shortage for at least 50 years. I remember the drought of ’75 and now we’re in the drought of ’15 and absolutely nothing has changed other than that the EPA has laid claim to virtually every body of water in the country larger than a mud puddle and somehow this is “progress”.
I’m probably more environmentally aware than most but California’s environmental policies are leading to a disaster. Unless infrastructure necessary to support the population already here is actually planned for, it will end up being built haphazard in crisis. Absurd decisions will be made in conflict with effected parties instead of in co-ordination with them. While these goons waste time and huge amounts of money on a fantasy the call “climate change” what was once called the breadbasket of the country is turning into a fallow desert. Anyone who thinks reducing California’s CO2 emissions is an effective way to address the State’s water shortage has been sniffing glue; Cap and Trade scams don’t build dams or aqueducts. It’s lunacy alright, brought to us by the Head Lunatic himself. Thanks Gov. Moonbeam.
I have received this email about 30 times???Mick G
From: Watts Up With That? To: mickgreenhough@yahoo.co.uk Sent: Saturday, 2 January 2016, 18:04 Subject: [New comment] British Officials Blame Climate Change for Floods #yiv2125074472 a:hover {color:red;}#yiv2125074472 a {text-decoration:none;color:#0088cc;}#yiv2125074472 a.yiv2125074472primaryactionlink:link, #yiv2125074472 a.yiv2125074472primaryactionlink:visited {background-color:#2585B2;color:#fff;}#yiv2125074472 a.yiv2125074472primaryactionlink:hover, #yiv2125074472 a.yiv2125074472primaryactionlink:active {background-color:#11729E;color:#fff;}#yiv2125074472 WordPress.com Bartleby commented: “And, as has been demonstrated so many times in the past, Governor Moonbeam doesn’t have a clue,It seems “Climate Change” is the new political expedient. California has been ignoring its water deficit for over 50 years now, allowing massive real estate” | |
I have received about 30 copies of this email?????
A letter in The Times today quotes Horace Walpole writing to a friend in 1748: “The weather is excessively stormy but has been so warm and so entirely free from frosts the whole winter that not only several of my honey-suckles are come out, but I have literally a blossom upon a nectarine tree, which I believe was never seen in this climate before on the 26th of December.”
I have a little homework exercise for someone in York. When I was last there, in the early 1980’s, there was a pub on the riverbank, with the flood high water marks carved into the wall. It went almost to the ceiling, and if I recall correctly, way back into the 1600’s. I do not suppose someone wants to go and take a photo, comparing the level of the current floods.
Nice blog Paul Homewood.
Yes!
For anyone wondering, this is the Paul Homewood blog (linked in above article): https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2015/12/26/what-the-authorities-wont-tell-you-about-the-floods/
So, in order to comply with the obligations imposed on us by the EU we had to stop dredging and embanking and allow rivers to ‘re-connect with their floodplains’, as the currently fashionable jargon has it.
==============================
allow rivers to ‘re-connect with their floodplains’. PC speak for FLOOD.
see theeuroprobe.org 2014 -017 Flooding of the Somerset Levels to the EU to the UN to the Club of Rome
For those that don’t mind a longer read (Somerset Levels) …
http://www.eureferendum.com/www.eureferendum.com/documents/somerset008.pdf
This is exactly what you would expect from the UK’s Environment Agency, a top heavy, highly bureaucratic, organisation stuffed full of activists, long on greenie theory and short on experience and management skills.
You are being far, far too generous to the UK-EA
Much worse than that. It’s run by the eco Taliban.
see theeuroprobe.org 2014 -017 From the Somerset Levels to the EU to the UN to the Club of Rome
There are two basic points to be made about the present flooding in England.
Firstly, whilst there has been excessive rain in certain parts of northern England, the episodes have been caused by a particular and repeated set of weather (not climate) conditions affecting limited areas, instead of being spread around the country, as would be normal at this (wettest) time of year. In fact, we in the south east have not experienced any unusual amounts of rain at all, and October and November were, if anything, drier than normal.
Secondly, as Paul Homewood via his excellent notalotofpeopleknowthat site has repeatedly demonstrated with facts, even these flooding and rainfall events are not, as so often stated in the British MSM, “unprecedented”. In fact, historical records – in some instances going back over 150 years – show many such episodes in the past (and long before the AGW scam was ever hatched).
The likes of the BBC and the Met Office are having a global warming feeding frenzy over these rains. Really, however, they should hang their heads in shame and check the facts out first.
Indeed, Mr. Magness.
1. Failure to apply proven-effective basic engineering principles, e.g., dredging rivers.
and
2.
One such historical record is a letter written by one in a good position to know the facts and with no motive to l1e about the subject:
(Source: The Collected Letters of C. S. Lewis, HarperCollins (2007))
Yes I have just written to one of the journalists:
Dear Nick
Re: Your story: Unprecedented flooding in Britain prompts renewed discussion about climate change.
Your story should first look at the most immediate reasons that cause flooding, like the perfect storm that builds to give heavy endless rain, which you should firstly examine in terms of the weather, rather than jumping in and blaming climate change. Instead of the usual suspects as sources who will always blame climate change, you should also consider likely mismanagement factors, like the operation of dams, locks etc. To illustrate, in an area where I live, the Queensland floods of 2011, and in particular the Lockyer Valley floods that were significantly devastating with many deaths. Green Senator Christine Milne said the flooding was due to global warming and the compliant news media reported it this way. The real causes: the physical effects of huge rainfall, so much so that the sea level fell around Australia as it rained and rained on the interior where the inland lakes hold the water, which then takes months to run back out to the sea. This was caused by heavy rain in the La Niña event of 2011 – 2012. This was the real cause for the record floods, similar to the wetter La Niña cycles in Australia in 1974, 1975 and 1976. Then there are factors like development and deforestation (unlikely I suppose in West Yorkshire): but in the Lockyer Valley floods instance, the overflow and operation of Brisbane’s Wivenhoe Dam upstream was the real reason. These reasons are based in logic and fact and the Queensland Floods Inquiry has since testified to this in public hearings. News-writers have a responsibility to develop logical research and clean story-telling strategies, effective in explaining such emergencies with accuracy. Journalism must provide simple analysis and demystification in these matters. Instead, journalism output continues to remain fixated on the deleterious and mysterious atmospheric effects of greenhouse gases, with scant mention of all the usual environmental problems associated with heavy industry, logging and big paddock agribusiness.
Regards
David
David Blackall BSc (Agric), Dip Ed, MA (Jour), PhD
PO Box U82
Wollongong University
Wollongong, 2500
Gmail: dblackal88@gmail.com
Mobile: 0414 838784
Profile: https://ris.uow.edu.au/ris_public/WebObjects/RISPublic.woa/wa/Staff/selectPerson?id=9689&group=4123
Nadjunuga Wildlife Refuge: a University of Wollongong Master of Science field station: http://www.nadjunuga.com/
Screen Lost Innocents of Kashmir: http://www.cultureunplugged.com/documentary/watch-online/play/52318/Lost-Innocents-of-Kashmir
2011 World Premier: Raindance Film Festival, London.
2011 North American Premier: Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal (RIDM).
2012 Kashmir in Poetry Festival, Genova.
2012 Genoa, with Naseem Shafaie’s poetry.
2013 IN THE PALACE International Short Film Festival, Bulgaria.
(((applause))) — sure hope your letter gets the attention it deserves, Dr. Blackall.
Whoops…and then you’ve got flooding in the Northern Territory in an El Nino season
Mind you, in the NT it’s not just the water that’s a problem
http://www.ntnews.com.au/news/northern-territory/croc-takes-pet-dog-in-floodwaters-at-daly-river/news-story/67b5a22e4b3f6545773c9d7292e90468
They use that word (unprecedented) a lot … I don’t think it means what they think it means.
Here in California, they’re blaming the unusually cold weather on Climate Change. Also a long drought. But on the East Coast, Climate Change has brought unusually mild weather and in England, extreme flooding.
That CO2 sure is powerful stuff!
CO2 causes weather! In a warming world, the East Coast will warm up and the West coast will be dry and cool – or something else! AGW predicts anything!
Careful…nobody mentioned CO2…
Reblogged this on Public Secrets and commented:
Say it after me, kiddies: “There is nothing the Dread Demon CO2 cannot do. Nothing.” I wonder what they think caused changes in flood patterns before the Industrial Age?
Don’t worry, the floods will soon be adjusted away.
… and the recent ones are shown unprecedented.
Can you make energy out of CO2 ??
It seems to have all of the necessary ingredients.
Oxygen , Carbon, what else do you need ??
g
Hydrogen. That’s the supposed plan for Mars. The Sabatier reaction. You take the Hydrogen with you but the C)2 is in the atmosphere. Once you are going it makes propellant in the form of methane.
4H2 + CO2 –> CH4 + 2H2O
The water produced by the reaction is then electrolyzed to produce oxygen and hydrogen; the hydrogen is re-used to produce more methane.
Liberal socialists never think or care about the consequences of their actions…all they worry about is feeling good about themselves today !! To hell with everybody else, the end justifies the means !!
Plus, they’re not liberal, nor are they socialists. Just phonies.
Question for the English readership:
Is the Govt. getting away with blaming it on “Climate Change” or are the people not putting up with it?
If the picture is anywhere near representative, the damage must be incredible. It will take years to dry out, repair and rebuild, and pay for it all.
Out here in The Colonies, the scant news we got is that the rains were heavy but not unusually so. That makes the flooding completely preventable, and if current policies continue, will become routine.
Just in time, Kate at Small Dead Animals shows us this:
The Department of Energy and Climate Change issues –
Instructions for Opening an Office Door – A Civil Servant’s Guide
For Real
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3374788/How-use-DOOR-amazingly-patronising-guide-civil-servants-avoid-mishaps-entering-leaving-rooms.html
Now you know.
….ROTFLMAO……
I particularly like the last instruction:
“Avoid carrying loads, including laptops and hot drinks, through the doors whenever possible. ”
Apparently you should leaves these things outside of the door you are going through and pick them up when coming back through, if they are still there. Or perhaps they meant that one should open the door first instead of trying to go through it.
That’s why they have revolving doors. I went to a hospital in Geneva that had a revolving front door. Not a door that you could revolve, but a door that revolved continuously. I would guess that an able bodied person could enter the door for 95% of the cycle. If you were paying attention, you never ever had to stop. You just walked in.
Of course, those persons playing on their finger toys, would have some problems. The hospital staff had some problems getting out those doors; they were trying to time their exit to sumultane with the ignition of their fag. Talk about addiction.
But sometimes, they walk right off a cliff, or into a train; which solves their problem.
A guy named Charles Darwin wrote a whole book about the phenomenon.
g
Best line
“Perhaps it’s those responsible for producing this ‘advice’ who should be shown how to use the door.”
There is a bold notice on the wall of the toilets in the public servants offices where my brother works in the UK that says “To save resources, please try one swipe up, one swipe down and one across to polish”! (And some wag has written underneath “‘Also remember to press flush button hard, as it is a long way to the canteen!”).
Considering all of those accidents involving doors, surely we can agree on the need for sensible door controls including door registration and buyer background checks. We can’t have all of these doors falling into the wrong hands. Think about the children…
Kipling said it best…
“The Saxon is not like us Normans. His manners are not so polite.
But he never means anything serious till he talks about justice and right.
When he stands like an ox in the furrow – with his sullen set eyes on your own,
And grumbles, ‘This isn’t fair dealing,’ my son, leave the Saxon alone.
“You can horsewhip your Gascony archers, or torture your Picardy spears;
But don’t try that game on the Saxon; you’ll have the whole brood round your ears.
From the richest old Thane in the county to the poorest chained serf in the field,
They’ll be at you and on you like hornets, and, if you are wise, you will yield.
Soon … please soon…
Kremlin report – end 2015
Neit Comrade! You are mistaken, there are no floods, there can be no floods. They were not officially prophesied:-
Met Office: Arctic sea-ice loss linked to colder, drier UK winters
Retraining of UK retards is becoming easier, under the new scientific regime, a whim can turn a positive into a negative without even a quizzical raising of an eyebrow. And now, thanks to our Met Office Comrades, we have evidence that they may actually accept black = white?
Whilst the ‘elite’ and their officers are on board there is concern should they ever be collectively asked to react to a change. Once sold they see no alternative! Doesn’t it really take you back to the good days Comrade! Enjoy!
Link did not work:-
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/mar/14/met-office-arctic-sea-ice-loss-winter
Flooding can’t be used as a metric.
Rainfall seems much more indicative of storm extremes.
I should point out that the Sydney Morning Herald is a left wing rag that was once the broadsheet of choice but is now a sad little tabloid spreading climate alarmism. It is no longer a credible source of news and would relish such rubbish from the Green Left British government.
I’m convinced that [i]government’s kowtowing to climate change[/i] is really a great way for them to [i]“redirect the heat”[/i] of being lousy forward-planning civic ministers. Its so much easier to cite, [i]“oh, oh, we’re having totally unprecedented rain and flooding, and gee, entering a period of unknowable extremes”[/i], than to fess up to what’s really going on.
Which is, [i]“profiteers and opportunists have continually put pressure on local ordinances and civil engineering best practices to build ever deeper onto flood plains”[/i]. By hauling out the cheery war-paint, feathers and juju beads, the [b]guilty[/b] civic smurfs are free to blame [i]civilization, global warming, the Americans, processed food junkies, wanton childbearing responsibilities, and the Church[/i]. And open a fresh packet of bickies, make another pot of tea, and settle in for a multi-month debate and position paper writing campaign.
Oh sure! How about that dry streambed over yonder that sometimes has quite the flash-flood every once in a blue moon? Think the nice parking lot is a wee bit too close? No? Well … think again.
Its very popular to blame [u]all[/u] on the [u]unfixable[/u].
And do nothing about the real problem: stupid civil engineering practices.
[b]Goat[/b]Guy
With all respect to Coleridge:
Concrete, concrete everywhere and all the drainage shrink; Water, water everywhere nor any place to sink.
You should use angle-brackets, not square brackets, for your tags.
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v30/n15/james-meek/when-the-floods-came
Someone from California please correct me if I’m wrong …
It seems to me that I’ve been hearing this kind of stupidity from California for decades. It goes along the lines of: We can’t do ____ because a ____ might have a nest within five miles.
I had hoped that this crap would have run its course as the baby boomer hippies aged out of the activist population. Sadly, it seems to be accelerating. WUWT?
I have a partial answer to my own question.
A doctoral student at the University of Waterloo has done a study testing people’s individual receptivity to bull****. (Sorry to be indelicate but the study actually uses that word a lot.) The basic idea was to see if the test subjects could tell the difference between statements that might actually be profound and statements that contained randomly generated bafflegab.
The study found that some people thought a lot of randomly generated stuff was profound. The researchers had some possible explanations.
This paper is interesting because it goes counter to a lot of studies that suggest that Republicans are stupider than Democrats. This paper suggests that the easily-led tree-hugging activist hippies are actually stupider than the general population. (OK, that’s my own interpretation.)
link
Former hippies are now university professors. Forward, comrade!
Commie; it’s called gobbledegook. They give a prize every year to the best practitioner of how to say nothing in a lot of three dollar words.
I guess it’s called the Bullwer Lytton prize.
g
Some years back a road improvment project on the main highway north out of Wellington was stalled while the Department of Conservation spent NZ800,000 moving 1000 native worms. Also along the same highway further north the route was diverted around a block of land because the local native tribe believed a spirit lived there.
The mind boggles.
Iceland carries this to the extreme. You can’t build almost anything unless you check with the elves. link Projects have been abandoned because the elves caused the construction equipment to break down as well as causing all kinds of other accidents. The vast majority of Icelanders refuse to deny the existence of elves.
I am a CA native, born in ’51 in L.A. Now live in San Diego. California used to be a very Conservative (large “C”) state. Even Jerry Brown’s Democrat governor Pat Brown was conservative. We produced the best CA governor and president in decades: Ronald Reagan.
After him, California went to hell in a handbasket and has now been controlled by hard-Left legislatures and governors for many years. We’ve been so overrun by illegal aliens that many of us call it Mexifornia, and the Left in power does all possible to pander to them.
I’m outta here as soon as I can afford to do so.
Hope that helps.
O/T but quietly amusing …
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/dec/28/wellcome-trust-defies-campaigners-to-increase-investment-in-fossil-fuels
{Grin}
Has a Bill McKibben quote which is {Double Plus Grin}.
Yeah, B. McKibben, Mouthpiece for Big Wind, is hilarious (not! — barf, okay, I see the humor…. barely, heh).
Here’s another funny one from your sickening-but-good-to-know article, Jeff (FL (seriously, thanks for sharing)):
Lol. “Take away that patient’s intravenous nutrition — we just heard (“scientists say“!!) that salt and sugar taken with water can kill you!!!”
Precautionary Fallacy irrationality is understandable from uneducated laypersons, but, medical doctors??
{{Note to Self: DO NOT HAVE ANY MEDICAL PROCEDURES DONE WHILE IN THE U.K..}}
(likely to cut my arm off so I won’t get arthritis in my elbow someday — and yes, this medical metaphor ridiculing the Precautionary Fallacy has been done many times (and much more aptly, too — just am not going to the effort to search for one of those great comments) on past WUWT threads…)
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(in case one of S. M0sher’s sock-puppets shows up):
The Precautionary Fallacy, i.e., “we don’t know this is a problem, but, just in case, let’s take drastic measures to deal with it,” is a reason to do or to not do ANYTHING. The concept has, thus, NO usefulness. It is cited only by simpletons or by those who would fool simpletons.
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Thank — you — Jeff (FL) for providing the wonderful soapbox!
stepping down, now……. and, off home I calmly go ….. IN MY INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE-POWERED CAR!!! Bwah, ha, ha, ha, haaaaaaaaaa!
{Bumper sticker:
SAVEFEED THE PLANET…. actually, no, no bumper stickers on my car, just a license plate frame that says:FREEDOM
ROCKS! }.
#(:))
Well I’m glad you enjoyed that post. Can’t be near as much as I enjoyed your reply though. 🙂
I was born and raised in the UK but emigrated to the U.S. many years ago. Still browse news from Britain.
By the way … rather awesome photos from my real Celtic homeland ……
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/waterfall-formed-reservoir-reached-35500-10659607
The rainfall is nothing to do with AGW, it’s a result of the UK Met Office deciding to name storms. Could’ve told them that was a bad idea. 🙂
I guess you and others are aware that The Guardian have been running this Divestment Campaign for several months now trying to get Wellcome and also The Gates Foundation to divest fossil fuel stock holdings.
I like Wellcome’s response – a not too subtle two-fingers gesture to the greenies. {That’s the British equivalent of a middle finger … but with emphasis :)}
The Bri Health Service is actually pretty good – particularly in emergency situations. Don’t believe for a moment that the ‘spokespersons’ are anywhere near representative of the entire medical profession in Britain. The Guardian habitually tries to enlarge the apparent support for its advocacies by assuming their favorite quote vendors speak for the masses.
Anyway as we edge close to the end of 2015, not too bad an outturn in the climate wars this year and we can all look forward to Marrakesh in 2016.:)
Have a happy New Year … you and everyone posting here.
Thanks and to you Jeff (FL).
Glad you were entertained, Jeff in Florida. 🙂
I hear you about British physicians. I would venture to say that MOST of them are just fine. Still, it was fun to — (((shudder))) — wide-eyed-stare (O.O)… helpmeineedadoctorandimintheuk!!! — exaggerate a bit — lolololol.
Wow. You sure changed your climate. I grew up in Washington State, USA (and have visited several hydropower dams but NEVER saw (not on TV, either) such a spectacular sight as you shared; thank you for that amazing sight) and am having a hard time with the too-warm-all-the-time climate where I am now (it is coolish in winter when it should be COLD; it is hot in spring when it should be MILDLY WARM; it is BRUTALLY HOT in summer when it should be WARM; and it is HOT (hot, I say! ugh) in the autumn, then…. warm…. then…. it is winter (back to coolish). But! You know what the GREAT thing about this lousy climate here is?? NO RAIN (most of the year). I hope you like where you are!
And your culture… Wales is pretty special. Hope you get to visit once in awhile. My great-great-great grandfather, Evan Richards, Warehouseman (occupation on a public document I saw), emigrated in the early 1800’s from Cardiff, Wales:
“Land of My Fathers” (Welsh national anthem – “Hen Wlad Fy Nhdau”)
As I gaze at these beautiful photos, my eyes fill with tears (probably because they look a lot like the Puget Sound, Wash., region, too (sniff)). My great-grandfather was a young man when he left Wales never to return. He must have thought of such scenes often and often throughout the rest of his life as he made his way from the U. S. east coast to finally end up in Wisconsin. So far from home…
Huh. Maybe, that is why I love to sing so much! 🙂
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU!
Janice
#(:))
Hi, Janice.
As a British physician, I can reassure you that most of aren’t as bad as you think. Nevertheless the Lancet and BMJ have been taken over by advocacy. The Lancet is is run by a journalist, which explains some rather odd articles in it (remember Andrew Wakefield?).
Unfortunately the EU is run on the precautionary principle as a matter of official policy
ur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=URISERV%3Al32042.
In the case of the EU, adherence to the Precautionary principle to prevent some possible disaster in the future leads to catastrophe in the present!
Dear Dr. Saumarez,
Thank you for taking the time to reassure me. I’m sorry that my use of exaggeration above made you feel the need to defend your colleagues. I hope that in the future I will remember (thanks to you and to Jeff above) to include a qualifier, when it is merited, about the non-offending majority of whatever group I am lambasting. Please, let me assure you, that I really never thought that many of your British medical colleagues were nincompoops. I am highly confident that, the majority are conscientious, bright, competent, professionals. And the are minority are the ones who create nearly 100% of the problems (or write ridiculously inane articles for Lancet). It is because of the mess that Government Medicine as an entity is, that I would, indeed, feel very uncomfortable having any major procedure done in the U.K. — not because of poor quality physicians, but poor quality hospital equipment, anti-biotic availability, and the like. Lol! I need not worry! By the time my name comes up “Now serving…” on the queue, I won’t NEED any more help!
You have my admiration both for completing a demanding course of study and for persevering in your practice under increasingly difficult circumstances (unless you just started out…, then, best wishes and hang in there!).
Respectfully yours,
Janice
”Climate change” has become the politician’s friend, insofar as it has become their excuse for their failing to take appropriate action to establish preventative measures to minimise the damage of the inevitable floods, storms etc.
Here on Irish national TV we have a programme that looks back at events in years gone by. ”Reeling in the years” it’s called, with the Steeley Dan title track. It happened to show a clip of a news report on Global warming from 2006, where the reporter told us we would have warmer summers and very little rain in the future. He was reliably told this by the ”worlds leading climate experts” So far, this year, our winter has been milder than the summer and currently we have had storm after storm with plenty of flooding. Just sometimes, you wish they got it right.
Happy new year everyone.
Eamon.
Happy New Year, Eamon! 🙂
The Paris Climate Agreement has completely abolished all forms of climate change, extreme weather, and sea level rise for now and for all time. Flooding can no longer be blamed on climate change because climate change no longer exists.
Swamp land in Florida comes to mind.
I do recall the past flooding analysis done in the same country came down to lack of dredging. Similar type maintenence problem happened in Detroit with city drainage if memory serves me.
Canada had no issues across the river with such (same exact weather) because they maintained their drainage system properly?
Just sayin…..
Wallowa County is ripe for this kind of disaster. By forcing all the water into the main river channels and closing off the side creeks and streams that had been the headgates for various irrigation routes, annual runoff scrubs away carefully made and “protected” gravel nursery beds and is now overrunning made to look natural but really just “pretty” river meanders within a few years of such stupidity.
The latest stupidity: What was once a solid reinforced cement stepped dam that fish could easily jump was torn out and replaced with oh so carefully positioned boulders that they say will “work as well as the cement dam did”. What they don’t understand is that a torrential runoff will toss those boulders this way and that like a rubber ducky in a child’s bathtub.
Give us our irrigation streams back, rip out the fish screens, let the water pretty much run year round except during harvest, and put the dam back in.
Idiots.
Pamela,
Central Florida, especially Orlando, Fl. was built upon a swamp. It rains nearly every day in the summertime and we have always had to be careful of how to take care of the water when we get heavy rains. We sometimes get a hurricane (none in 10 years now, but they will come again) after prolonged rains have left the ground soaked.
We have all sorts of codes and laws about “retention ponds” and controlling water runoff. I bet half of our “lakes” are really large man-made retention ponds. As much as I hate crediting the local government for anything, I must admit that Orlando has done a pretty good job of planning for the rains that always come.
By the way, there has been no “global warming” in nearly 20 years, but if there ever is any how could we tell here in sunny Orlando where it is going to be a wonderful 86 degrees F today with a partly cloudy sky? If we get any “global warming” then the night temp might only go down to 70 rather than 68 on a day like this. Horrors!
~ Mark
CAGW is an intelligence test.
Quite revealing what it turns up.
We are governed by fools and bandits.
Possibly because power has been centralized at the federal level, leaving councils impotent and irrelevant.
No one in their right mind, wants to serve on council, because you can do so little.
The kleptocracy works best from the capitol.
Climate Change?
Well the floods are caused by Englands climate, that much is true.
The current weather being a normal variant of that climate.
So what was the “change”?
Other than irresponsible nitwits holding office?
“We are moving from a period of known extremes into a period of unknown extremes…”
Trans.: “We are moving from the past to the future” Well, Duh!
That’s extremely confusing.
Once one knows that something is extreme, does it still remain unknown?
@Dawtgtomis – are you implying the future is unknown or extremely unknown?
I mean, I know that sometime in the future I’m going to post this comment.
Here comes the future.
*hits “post comment” button*
Whoa! It’s in the past now!
Interesting point there JohnWho.
The only way one can have known extremes, are those extremes that have happened. Are unknown extremes more extreme than the known ones? We don’t know…yet…
Sorry, can’t leave this one alone.
This must be a fallacy of some kind.
It’s also the opposite of what Obama did during the elections. He advertised Hope and Change, but nobody asked what he hopped to change. They gave him a Nobel Peace prize based on their belief that whatever changed would be for the good. They had no evidence to back this assertion, yet they believed it wholeheartedly.
So here we have an unknown future with unknown extremes. We don’t know if they are going to be the same, lesser or morrer extreme. (I know, I made up a word 🙂 ).
I guess this flooding must be a 19-year delayed reaction, since there has been little to no global warming in as many years. Oh, but climate change is to blame… sorry… my mistake.
I get your point of course FJ, but there might be some ironic truth in it. If you look at Dan Pangburn’s research, he makes a strong case for taking a time-integral of solar activity to describe warming, which suggests the climate has a kind of memory (I’m sure there’s a better description than that). In other words, the effects of some climate drivers may not be manifest at the same time they occur, but may slowly accumulate and dissipate.
It won’t be long till they are seeing an unusual amount of usual stuff and blame CO2.
It’s abnormally normal, Steve Oregon. Spooky…
Cue X-Files music.
I have been complaining everywhere I can about this (I’m from England). I will it will make no difference but we can’t do nothing.
The politicians, the BBC and Sky and other media have all been framing a narrative that these “storms” are a result of climate change. The BBC and Sky have been doing interviews on tv and radio for days where they frame the narrative because the only questions asked (other than what’s happening on the ground) are about climate change.
Whole interviews day in day out without any mention of, or questions about, land use, water management, El Nino, dredging of rivers, etc. And of course, the elephant in the room which must never be mentioned even indirectly, the 2000 Directive from the EU regarding Water and River Management which would explain to anyone in minutes the change of policy that took place shortly after the Environment Agency was formed – and what a disaster it has clearly been.
I “know” it will make no difference……..
That is too bad. Why is it that I can track the water vapor trail from the El Niño right past my house in Dallas, see the beeline it makes to Ontario, and then from there dropping rain off Newfoundland and proceeding over to the UK. The pattern repeats every couple weeks…
In Holland the dredging of the Delta ( which is pretty much 30% of the low lands NEVER stops. Do they get floods, of course but rarely are the Dutch standing around blaming any thing, they just mitigate the damage and keep on dredging.. It’s kinda important you know. The environmentalists in England are squarely to blame including their mouth pieces in their parliament. My brother just yesterday the Brits are in Holland buying pumps, dredges and other tech to cover their ass.