Just a quick note about the Thames flooding. Here are a couple of snapshots taken yesterday evening of the Thames about a 15 minutes walk from where I live. They were taken with an iPhone. I live in Ham which is near Richmond Park. The Thames always looks awesome and beautiful but it can cause a lot of distress and chaos. Billions of gallons of water race by at 15 mph only feet from you.
Hundreds of homes are being evacuated along the Thames in places like Purley, Staines, Wraysbury and Shepperton. The Thames has burst its banks west of London, which is upstream. There have been countless government warnings urging people get out because there is a threat to life. People are seeing their homes severely damaged. Their homes will possibly become uninsurable (or they’ll pay much increased premiums) and unsaleable if this really is an example of global climate change which is what a senior employee of the Meteorological Office has stated that it might well be. People who just bought their home, having finally got onto the property ladder are seeing their dreams shattered under tons of water and mud or worse, raw sewage.
Many people are leaving their home with their cats and dogs but many others are staying because of looting. This is not very British, you might think. You’ll have to think otherwise I am afraid. People just move upstairs and get around on boats and tractors with trailers. In typical British stiff upper lip style they carry on as normal (well, not really) and treat the road as a river, and substitute the car for a boat.
The truth is that if this is permanent climate change it will change the way of life for hundreds of thousands of people in Britain who live on low lying land including flood plains. The Somerset Levels in the West Country have been flooded since Christmas. These are flood plains as I see it. One has to ask, should people be living there? Thus far the answer is yes but now it may be the case that people will gradually migrate from these once attractive places to higher ground.
Properties along the Thames are extremely desirable. Often they are large detached houses worth many millions of pounds. They are actually on the banks of the river, within a few paces of it. Beautiful but now it is bad. Some of these majestic mansions are flooded. Their value slashed, I suspect.
How is this relevant to cats? Well it is because when a family evacuates a home they take their cat or dog. A cat may need rescuing having hidden somewhere or is trapped. There may be loss of life. Fortunately cats are good natural swimmers when forced to do it.
People understand what is going on and that probably makes it easier to accept and adjust although it is a nightmare. However, for the domestic cat who has to live in a strange place with a mass of disruption, noise, confinement and uncertainty it is the sort environment that can cause ill-health through stress and other hazards. The cat is more vulnerable I feel under these extreme circumstances particularly as their “owners” are extremely stressed themselves. Perhaps many cat caretakers will place their cat in boarding catteries. They may stay for a long time. For many cats living along the mighty Thames, this is a frightening time.
Such a lot of water, all it’s been lately is floods, how come so much I wonder, is it global warming or is it silted up rivers or is it more rain than ever, whatever it is it’s awful for people who’s homes are full of dirty and often stinking water. Your photos show the devastating effect of water so well Michael, I just hope, as everyone else does, that cats and dogs and little furry things are being kept safe, especially cats who really don’t like to get wet or to have changes in their routine. I’m glad you and Charlie are well above the water level, keep dry.
don’t tempt me to hope that happens just for a bit of action – it sounds too good: “The final collapse of the once great British Empire due to flooding” no less.
I don’t hope for it but in this day and age I guarantee you most of the younger generations probably WANT collapse and ruin since they have NOTHING to lose.
God I HATE Cameron and that slimy disgusting Teresa May. Truly an awful political party. They are all about making sure the elite in London get what they need at the expense of the rest of the country. I hope Scotland separates and succeeds as a perfect revenge. I also think that this Tory party have the ‘divide and conquer’ attitude. They are ripping up the country into separate groups/classes. They are taking money from people who don’t have it and giving to those who have too much already. It’s like the medievil ages.
Basically the whole country used to be run and managed in a sort of North v South thing and now it’s the whole of England versus the Rich in London. All the public money and private wealth is going to these arse holes.
In 2013 Londoners enjoyed public investment of £2,731 per head, far more than the north-east received which was a measly £5 per head. I can’t believe that – I just read it this morning. We are all sick of right wingers because they create so much hate and unfairness in the world. Just because they have good jobs and they are healthy means they can be all right wing or republican – I bet you every republican/conservative tard out there would change their mind in 10minutes if they lost their job and suddenly got very sick and it WOULD SERVE them bloody right. How a society deals with it’s vulnerable is a major part of the true measure of it’s sustainability.
David Cameron even LOOKS just like alot of the pricks I went to school with. What total twot – he really looks the part doesn’t he. He is exactly what everybody hates about England (except for those who own houses in London as part of their investment portfolio – of course they don’t even live there – who said London was for Londoners anyway – it’s not) – the old colonialist emipire mentality. Cameron wants England to be the big player – but slowly it’s just starting to look like England is punching above it’s weight (Trident for example – or billions in ‘aid’ that ends up in the pockets of 3rd world elite) and it should maybe start giving a bit more money to the poor and a bit less to the rich to balance things out. OTHERWISE there will be a complete collapse of everything and war. Why can’t they at least do a better job of pretending to care about the poor.
I’m not suprised the Swiss voted on immigration caps. This is another huge problem with Europe. Too many countries joining who aren’t ready and alot of people unhappy about having their jobs taken and wages forced lower. At least Switzerland is a democracy – the people decide. Not just the political classes and the rich. The vote is a good thing. Because it won’t ever happen – but it will force everybody to confront the fact that there is a serious problem. If a few other countries gave it to a vote they would also vote similarly no doubt. There’s too many problems – I have to just stop caring.
Agreed. We are hopeless on weather. We could better and we got lazy and complacent again. More could be done and we should building homes on flood plains for a start. I bet a few house builders are worried having bought land for house building that is doggy.
You can feel the icy wet of dusky London in them. I can.
Great comment DW because nature is just doing what it does and we should respect it much more. Nature will be the undoing of humankind. We almost totally disrespect it.
I live not far from where the photos were taken but I am safe, I believe. I am probably about 15 feet above the water level. The Thames barrier is up. This is a huge structure designed to protect Central London. If the Thames breached its banks there there would be chaos and Britain would have another financial crisis.
Yes, the government and the quangos messed up, got lazy, assumed everything would be OK and then along came extreme weather which is what they should have been prepared for at all times. Excellent poster. We don’t believe in politicians do we? I wonder why.