Cumbria flooding

'Frank' is a bit of a naff name for this incoming storm...

much better when they stuck to female names

'Storm Hillary' being about to **** **** up just seems more appropriate
 
thebennyboy said:
The Environment agency boss is apparently in Barbados on holiday! He was probably already there before all this flooding started, his response to the whole thing is rather poor though.

Can't they just raise the houses up a metre or two on stilts? I know it won't happen to already built houses but it isn't impossible on new-builds. Sounds daft but pretty sure it can be done.
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There isn't much point for him to come back early other than PR as he won't be involved in the low level suttf.

As for raising the houses, it has been a recommendation for a few years that houses in flood areas should ideally be built with a garage or similar storage underneath and the actual living areas on the first floor, but I don't think any house builder has done that.
Which is odd as about half a mile from me there is a block of houses built in the 70's that are exactly that style, Garages underneath, living areas on top and that's not even in a flood area, rather I think it was done to maximise the available space for gardens (by building 3 stories with the garage at the bottom they could include a garden and garage in the same footprint as houses with one or the other).

The silly thing is such a build would probably not be much more expensive (may even be cheaper) than a house with a separate garage and likely be able to be sold as having a more secure garage as a bonus.

About the only issue with such houses would be disabled access, but that could probably be sorted out without too many problems.
 
Heavy duty kit being used in the area to deliver sandbags:-

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Werewolf said:
There isn't much point for him to come back early other than PR as he won't be involved in the low level suttf.

As for raising the houses, it has been a recommendation for a few years that houses in flood areas should ideally be built with a garage or similar storage underneath and the actual living areas on the first floor, but I don't think any house builder has done that.
Which is odd as about half a mile from me there is a block of houses built in the 70's that are exactly that style, Garages underneath, living areas on top and that's not even in a flood area, rather I think it was done to maximise the available space for gardens (by building 3 stories with the garage at the bottom they could include a garden and garage in the same footprint as houses with one or the other).

The silly thing is such a build would probably not be much more expensive (may even be cheaper) than a house with a separate garage and likely be able to be sold as having a more secure garage as a bonus.

About the only issue with such houses would be disabled access, but that could probably be sorted out without too many problems.
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If you built houses with garages underneath them almost as a sacrificial room (e.g. the actual structure of the house sat on concrete stilts and the garage walls were just cosmetic and constructed so they couldn't draw water up into the house, you lifted the services up into the actual house area and any electrical fittings in the garage could be isolated separately) then that would be great. But it would take about five minutes for someone to convert the garage into another room and then whinge when it got flooded, and the planning laws at the moment seem to be "do whatever you want" so I'm not sure it could be prevented.
 
Seems to be quite popular in France, building houses over a garage/basement. Wonder if that is for flooding or just the fashion.
Good luck to everyone facing the storm tonight :(
 
Very windy here for the last couple of hours ( Bristol Channel ), hopefully the storm has come south to give you guys a break
 
I lived in Radcliffe until I was 20, about 50m from a bridge over the River Irwell on the Bury/Radcliffe border and never ever saw anything like this. The water was always 25ft or so below road level. On boxing day, it was up and over road level.

I've seen many people I know and grew up with have their houses destroyed when the floods completely engulfed the entire area. The house I grew up in would have been hit hard. It really is shocking to see this so close to home.

My thoughts are with everyone affected.
 
Homes should definitely be built more flood resilient. Having homes on stilts might sound a good idea but you also have to remember that many of these flooded homes are situated in very strict planning permission areas, or where local communities reject anything which won't 'fit in' with the local area - something that perhaps should be changed and made more realistic with today's needs.
 
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