I'm ok. I'm dry, I have electricity (at the moment) and a mobile phone signal (sometimes), and I live on top of a hill.
Many weren't so lucky. RAF Rescue helicopters came from Scotland (a long way away, for non-Brits) and Suffolk (also a long way away) and were lifting people from buildings. Many roads became fast-flowing rivers and two people died. Z has had no power for over 24 hours, C lives in a building which had 3 feet of water outside, trapping her and others in. People in a housing estate in Middlewood have been evacuated and their homes are completely wrecked.
We are under an Environment Agency 'Severe Flood Warning' and homes up the hill from me had no power, while my local supermarket had to keep staff and customers overnight as noone could get in or out of the flooded carpark.
'They' are waiting for a dam to burst between Sheffield and Rotherham, and have closed the motorway because if it does burst, it would not only flood the motorway but would clash with 270,000 volts of electricity in the form of pylons. A million litres of water an hour are being pumped out of the reservoir by firefighters.
More rain is expected tomorrow - who knows what will happen. It's all anyone can talk about.
BBC Pictures of South Yorkshire floods here.
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7 comments:
Glad to hear you are OK Pippa. We had some flooding in our garden, but fortunately nowhere near the house. It's all a bit surreal, isn't it?
It is - the whole thing has been so bizarre. No warning, no idea it would happen, then suddenly complete chaos.
32,000 people still without power, 24 hours later!
Holy crap! I had no idea; been at work and then entertaining the wee one all day. I work for an energy company and we did have a lot of emergency calls today but all I can do is put them straight through to the emergency centre... and not one of them mentioned flooding! *shakes fist*
Glad to hear you're okay!
I was brought up on the old Hyde Park Flats, for a few weeks each year the winds would start.
Us kids called it flying season. The wind used to come over manor top and pickup speed as it came down the hill, by the time it HIT the flats it was strong enough to send tin cans spiraling up into the distance. I dont know if the wind speeds were ever calculated but it would be interesting to find out.
Anyway as a kid we used to wear large coats, stand at the top of Sky Edge hill, open up and away we flew.
As we got older it became less effective, so we hunted spots where the wind picked up (namely the wet red brick floor area outside the lift facing the hill) that created a bottleneck and where the wind was at its strongest.
We would get sucked in and be catapulted out the other side using our oversized coats as wings, the wet floor meant you could ski
through it, if you were lucky.
So I guess my point is this, even if you live in the high grounds and are free from the flooding.
PLEASE DONT GO OUT WHEN ITS A STORM, ITS THE WIND THAT IS THE UNSEEN HAZARD.
I literally had to chase n catch an old lady flying down East Bank Road, the wind took had taken her whilst her husband was clinging onto the car for dear life.
Glad to know you are safe n sound though, and my heart goes out to all those that have lost and suffered.
Oh dear goodness!
I'm relieved to hear you're safe. Stay that way (please?).
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