Looks like a Sea around the Mump

I'm now thinking, Levels?
If this place is Level, there is no way in the world it will drain.
It could be 1000ft above sea level, but if it is all the same height then its like a sump.

 

Have you been watching the weather reports? The south west is taking the brunt of the weather. Up here, touch wood, if we didn't have TVs and the interweb we'd have no idea that there was any problem. Yes the ground is wet, with some fields showing standing water, but nothing out of the ordinary for this time of year.

The south west is get battered by the weather, and even if the levels are above sea level, they are lower than most of the rest of the land, and water is kind of influenced quite a lot by gravity.

 

If the ground was impervious to water, yes. But it isn't. So as long as there is somewhere for the ground water to escape to, even if via the soil, then it will. What seems to be happening in Somerset is rainfall is topping it up faster than it can drain away. If you reduce the resistance to the water on its escape route, then maybe it will drain faster than it is replenished. Don't forget, its not just rainfall on the flooded area that's the problem. It is rainfall on the higher ground surrounding it too, which runs down. If the path of least resistance for all that water was a channel such as a river, then that's which way most of it would go. If such channels are shallow and full of mud, busted bits of tree, and who knows what else, then some of the water will still go that way, but once that becomes overwhelmed, the path of least resistance becomes open ground.

 

Like most of the Thames basin, the levels have been reclaimed from marsh land since Roman times. If you used the time travelling helicopter then London would have looked very similar to Somerset 2000 years ago.

Difference is, they gave up on dredging down here in the 1980's whereas London has had new sewers, the Thames Barrier and Boris

 

I drove my Chevvy to the Levée but the Levée was wet

 

Now all this water and effluent from the Somerset levels cess pits drain down through the soil into the water table that we are about to drink ?

Jack McH

 

Which is the point I'm trying to make, if gravity can t shift it, then no man made pumps will do the job during such a deluge.
I should point out it aint that dry around here at the moment, and the North does seem to be missing a lot of this rain.

I'm not sure how many millions it cost to build the Thames barrier, but there is no way any government of what ever colour, could justify spending that kind of money on farm land.
Sounds bad I know, but its reality.

You dont actually get any grinding power from a river that is barely flowing due to there being no fall.
How can you create fall in a river that is very near to sea level, you can dredge as much as you like, but the water level will still remain the same during a flood.

 

So you do not drink milk, eat bacon and eggs, bread, meat, cereals, pulses, cheese ???

Oh that is it FOOD comes from Supermarkets doesn't it

Jack McH

 

Is it just me or has this thread come down to Pete not having any sympathy for anyone who doesn't live on a hill?