The rain has apparently been falling in large amounts in the Lake District and surrounding areas, and there are many flood warnings in place in this area, and also down into North Wales and South West Scotland, in areas such as Dumfries.
The Environment Agency has done some preparatory work by clearing river channels to encourage water to flow freely.
Some areas have experienced a month's worth of rain in less than 24 hours, and many people have had to be evacuated from their homes.
Apparently the town of Keswick is virtually cut off.
The Environment Agency has done some preparatory work by clearing river channels to encourage water to flow freely.
Some areas have experienced a month's worth of rain in less than 24 hours, and many people have had to be evacuated from their homes.
Apparently the town of Keswick is virtually cut off.
First thing I did was to put BBC NEWS Channel onto the laptop screen (don't forget that you need a TV license to watch this channel live online....) and caught an extended report from two reporters who were in the area. Decided to see what I could get from the various networks...
So did a TWITTER SEARCH (Visible Tweets was down at the time)
First thing was to search for "river level rising"
Led me to @AnnabelWeir who mentioned checking the river rising and had an exchange with a user called @cragchris who led me to shared photos in an online gallery: some very useful images from Linda Mellor of the area around Blencow Bridge.
It was obvious that the Police were trying to keep people away from the flooded areas: "disaster tourists" for their own safety....
Another tweet led me to a hashtag search and tried #cumbria
This led to a whole new range of people to follow and see what they were talking about, and it was possible to identify a range of effects that were happening "live"....
- Bypass from Kendal to motorway closed
- River levels rising and sandbags going into place
- Accidents on other roads blocking them
- Ullswater overflowing onto nearby roads and causing obstructions to vehicles other than 4x4s
Can also follow the Environment Agency on Twitter @EnvAgency for all the latest updates on the situation in Cumbria and elsewhere.
Update
Sadly, it appears that at least one life has been lost as a result of the flooding.
Also, in a report in 'The Times' there was this snippet about the cancellation of the World's Biggest Liar competition which had to be cancelled, but when the organisers rang people up to tell them, they didn't believe them...
As with other events that happen "live" in the media, there is now a chance to "have your say", and this was one comment made on the floods, that could form the basis for a discussion or "talking head" type statement...
ROBERT BROWNE wrote:
Travelling by train in the UK it never ceases to amaze me how industrial the "landscape" is. There is so few trees, ditches, hedgerows, forests all these things are natures sponge.
Farmers have been allowed to devastate the landscape for the sake of a few more acres of land, ridiculous! Then it rains and all hell breaks loose. Less concrete, more trees put back the hedgerows the solution is not building walls around places, that is a joke. Put the trees back it will work!
Farmers have been allowed to devastate the landscape for the sake of a few more acres of land, ridiculous! Then it rains and all hell breaks loose. Less concrete, more trees put back the hedgerows the solution is not building walls around places, that is a joke. Put the trees back it will work!
The GA has produced a FLOODING section on its website.
Comments