35 replies to this topic

[John Drake]

This sort of thing makes all our moaning about the weather in the UK look a bit trivial.
http://www.bbc.co.uk...canada-20150748

[Johnoco]

Sam Burgess is in NY at the moment. Been tweeting about it. I heard the hurricane ran away from him!

[JohnM]

In that case, we should have sent my ma-in-law, too! However, she was preparing for Halloween.

[Hornetto]

[Saintslass]

This sort of thing makes all our moaning about the weather in the UK look a bit trivial.
http://www.bbc.co.uk...canada-20150748

Oh, I dunno. I think we have had some pretty severe flooding over the last decade. Remember that village in Cornwall? The one in which the river tore houses away and took cars end over end through the village? Or the floods in Northern Ireland one year when their subway was flooded to the same degree as the NYC one has been (ie up to the subway roof, creating a lake along the entry road). There has been so much flooding in the UK during the last decade that I'm sure there are many instances where the water destruction has been as obvious and awful as it has been in NY/NJ. We just haven't had it happening in a major city which has lots of wooden buildings located its outskirts.

The worst of it in NYC IMO was when the generator exploded and set a fire storm going. That was truly horrific. From reports I get the impression that the area had been evacuated. If so, well done to the mayor and those promoting the evacuation.

Edited by Saintslass, 31 October 2012 - 12:45 PM.

[Wiltshire Rhino]

The swell created by Sandy is due to reach our shores next Thursday/Friday. I hope to catch a few good waves.

The loss of life from Sandy is terrible but one of my first reactions on news of a hurricane is to check the surf report. My priorities are probably a bit off but I do love surfing.

[fieldofclothofgold]

We got away quite lightly in Philadelphia region,tre's blown down etc.Mainly due to us being quite a distance from the coast

[l'angelo mysterioso]

the loss of life, injury and damage already caused in the carribean by this hurricane, seems to have attracted less attention for some reason. 60+ people lost their lives.

That is not to minimise the effect this disaster is having on the people of the US of course.

The most sophisticated, advanced and one of the largest city in the world and a vast hinterland surrounding it being brought to a halt in this way and the consequences of it make us realise how little power the human race has over nature.

[Saint Billinge]

Oh, I dunno. I think we have had some pretty severe flooding over the last decade. Remember that village in Cornwall? The one in which the river tore houses away and took cars end over end through the village? Or the floods in Northern Ireland one year when their subway was flooded to the same degree as the NYC one has been (ie up to the subway roof, creating a lake along the entry road). There has been so much flooding in the UK during the last decade that I'm sure there are many instances where the water destruction has been as obvious and awful as it has been in NY/NJ. We just haven't had it happening in a major city which has lots of wooden buildings located its outskirts.

The worst of it in NYC IMO was when the generator exploded and set a fire storm going. That was truly horrific. From reports I get the impression that the area had been evacuated. If so, well done to the mayor and those promoting the evacuation.

Indeed, we have had our share of flooding. I remember the huge downpour in Llandudno some years back which left a terrible mess. Some people were still living in temporary housing two years on.

[Saintslass]

Indeed, we have had our share of flooding. I remember the huge downpour in Llandudno some years back which left a terrible mess. Some people were still living in temporary housing two years on.

Yep. And almost every town in Cumbria has been flooded over the last couple of years. Wasn't it Workington where one of the bridges was washed away and they were pretty much cut off? That was last year. And Cockermouth, when the river turned into a torrent of water through the streets. Where was it that the side of a house was shown on TV collapsing and being washed away? That was in Cumbria I think. And then was it in Wales this year where the caravan parks were flooded and people had to be winched to safety as they were located among hills. And what about that weird event, I can't remember where it was. Maybe that was Wales too. I think it was as a result of that two full days of rain we experienced. A torrent of water came down from the hills surrounding the village, washed through all the homes and then disappeared down the hill leaving wreckage in its wake.

I've lost count of the destruction we have endured over the last few years with floods and storms. Flash floods, that two days of rain, rivers bursting their banks. What about that storm which whipped up so much foam from the sea off I think it was Scotland (but it might have been the north east) that the buildings looked like they had been covered in snow? That was this year too.

I don't think our complaints about the weather look at all trivial, the more I think about it! All the floods and storms we have had of late have kind of merged into one, there have been so many. And not without loss of life either.

Edited by Saintslass, 31 October 2012 - 09:13 PM.

[gingerjon]

We've had nothing to compare to the damage caused by a hurricane and it's embarrassing to try and pretend otherwise.

[Cherry and White]

parts of new jersey had 295mm of rain from this storm alone, we had 366mm in the wettest summer since 1912.

[Saintslass]

We've had nothing to compare to the damage caused by a hurricane and it's embarrassing to try and pretend otherwise.

Nobody is pretending anything. The OP suggested that superstorm Sandy (it wasn't a hurricane by the time it hit land in the US) made our complaints about our weather look trivial by comparison. I argued that point. I don't think it does.

[getdownmonkeyman]

Has Sandy continued up the coast towards Canada?

[Severus]

Nobody is pretending anything. The OP suggested that superstorm Sandy (it wasn't a hurricane by the time it hit land in the US) made our complaints about our weather look trivial by comparison. I argued that point. I don't think it does.

You're kidding surely. 60 dead in the Caribbean, 32 in the US. No weather that we have can compare to this.

[JohnM]

We've had nothing to compare to the damage caused by a hurricane and it's embarrassing to try and pretend otherwise.

on the evening of the 31st Jan, 1953, In England, 307 people were killed in Lincs, Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex. 19 were killed in Scotland.

see http://www.open.edu/.../the-flood-1953


see http://www.britishpa...nshire-flooding

[Bedford Roughyed]

Has Sandy continued up the coast towards Canada?

Yes

[Bedford Roughyed]

In terms of natural disasters we do tend to get away with it lightly (not diminishing any deaths of loss of property).

In the USA the East coast has hurricanes, west coast earthquakes and volcano's, real droughts in the south (dustbowl) and real (metres deep) snow in the north.

The UK by it's position tends to avoid the worst of the weather and is geologically stable.

Disasters seen round the world show how lucky we are. (19000 dead in Japan, Huricanes in USA, etc).

How many people ever think about having 72hrs of food and water stored like is commonplace in some countries?

[Severus]

on the evening of the 31st Jan, 1953, In England, 307 people were killed in Lincs, Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex. 19 were killed in Scotland.

see http://www.open.edu/.../the-flood-1953


see http://www.britishpa...nshire-flooding

Would the death tolls be similar today?

It is a little poor taste to compare death tolls to make a point (I'm obviously guilty of this). The UK has never experienced weather like hurricane Sandy.

[Saint Billinge]

It's not about comparing hurricane Sandy to what we experience, more to do with the fact we do suffer from some awful flooding that goes beyond moaning about the weather. A policeman died as a result of the bridge collapsing in Cumbria. Whether it is one death or forty, it's sad for the bereaved.