Flooding

[GrahamB]

What an awful experience. I hope they rspond insurance company responds well.

On a brighter note, your dad's OO stock should recover after a wash. One of our club members gets old abused OO locos going by leaving them to soak overnight in a bowl of soapy water!

Your dad's motorbike should be fine also, just drain and flush all the fluids. I'd also refill the oil tank(s) and then leave for a week or two. Check for any water contamination before starting. For the petrol tank, I'd turn it upside down with the filler cap off for a couple of days to let any moisture drain. Refit and then fill totally with fuel to prevent rusting.

[PLD]

Remembering only too well the 2007 flooding in Hull, you have my absolute sympathy. 

We were extremely lucky - the water showed how much the levels vary in one street. We had water around 2 inch deep in the conservatory which is about 10 inch below the level of the main house, and 8in deep in the shed & garage. Directly opposite on the other side of the street, they had 6in+ of water throughout and at the lowest point halfway down the street it was up to 18 inch deep.

At the other side of town, the new posh hosing estate built on what had always been flood plains was completely devastated...

We lost a couple of items of furniture in conservatory and the shed needed a new floor, but it was extremely fortunate that everything stored in there was in plastic "Really Useful Boxes".

At the time I was supporting the NHS emergency control team so was in the office all day not knowing what was going on at home. A colleagues partner was among the fire service team who tried to rescue an individual who had got stuck in a storm drain and sadly lost their life.

[Graham]

Sorry to hear this @Tank , as I am driving around Beford at the moment the amount of water around is a real worry.
Hope all gets sorted by the insurance for you.
all the best
Graham

[Newportnobby]

At the other side of town, the new posh hosing estate built on what had always been flood plains was completely devastated...

Misnamed but probably correct under the circumstances

[dannyboy]

So sorry to hear of the problems Chris. Like some other members of the forum, we fortunately live near the top of a hill. After a period of heavy rain, we see lots of the low lying fields under water - there are a lot of streams and rivers round here, which all feed into the many lakes. I remember once that the 'main' road I use to take Louisa to work was flooded and closed for two weeks, necessitating a 10 mile detour, but, as I said, we are fortunate living where we do. I hope all is sorted out for you soon.

[keithbythe sea]

So sad to hear about your terrible flooding Chris. Hope that everything gets sorted as soon as possible.

[Firstone18]

What an awful and upsetting experience for you all, I do hope the insurance company sort things quickly. I am fortunate living on high land, but going to the Kempston show on Saturday, I could see much evidence of flooding around the east side of Buckingham, and the west side of Bedford.

[zwilnik]

Hope everything gets sorted quickly Chris. I'm lucky enough to have avoided being flooded out, but have ended up marooned for 2 weeks during the big floods around Newcastle in 2007. The house we were renting was built up above the ground enough to just (only just) keep the floor level above the water level, but we had to rush around and fill all the air brick holes with plasticine before the predicted flooding. Our roads were all cut off for a week or so and the stench of the rotting fields around us after the water eventually receded was pretty bad.

[Tank]

Thanks for the messages everyone.  It seems that some of you have had experience of it yourselves!

The insurance assessors had a look last Friday, and really weren't interested in recording much.  It seemed to be a visit to make sure it was genuine.  They took some photos of my two sheds, and the handful of items in those, but said that the garage was 2-3 days work!  We called the insurance company and I've said that I'd do it myself.

So, I completed the list last night, and there is a LOT! So, the next task will be a spreadsheet and renaming the hundreds of photos to match up to that.

[Tank]

That's terrible - hope you get sorted quickly.

( do you live in an area known historically for flooding and there has been much more water than usual? or have they made changes to the protection /constructed new roads etc. (removing natural sumps &c. ) recently?)

Best, Colin.

The road is known for localised flooding from surface water.  The roads around us are quite big hills.  Sadly, some flood alleviating works that Croydon Council did last year have not worked, and have made it worse.

The contractor for the substation inspected their partition wall, that collapsed, and they will be looking at installing flood protection for the substation, which will hugely help out property.  I can't wait to see what they have planned, and I hope it's just as the contractor described to me yesterday.  This of course won't stop the road from flooding, but should stop most of the water entering our property.

[Bob Tidbury]

You will have to build a huge wall round your property Boss and a lift to get over it, steps would be no good for me I have enough trouble going upstairs to bed every night .
Bob

[cmason]

The road is known for localised flooding from surface water. 

Big problem in a couple of places I have lived here in Japan, where flat land in towns and cities is at a premium such that it gets built over with housing or even just converted from rice paddies into tarmacked car parks but with sometimes insufficient consideration given to additional drainage to replace the natural soakaways of the former fields, especially in teh suburbs. The results when there is a heavy downpour or a typhoon I guess you can imagine....

Colin.