Just your middle of july flash flood

@Picklebobble2 I don't know about Germany and the Netherlands. But Belgium has been doing large investments when it comes to avoiding flash floods.

In the Belgian province Luxemburg, we had 200 liter/m³ in 48 hours. It's been since the 1950s that we had something like this. Before this, we had dry weather. Not warm but dry. Meaning the soil was n't soft enough to take in what it's supposed to take in.

@Picklebobble2 Remember when Whaley Bridge was evacuated because of fears that the dam there could fail???

I guess that we deserved that, too???

@HootyTheNightOwl It's the Peak District. Rain settles in the Peak District.
As much a fact today as it was 1000 years ago !

Yet more and more try and move there which exacerbates a problem already there into something bigger than it ought to be.

@Picklebobble2 I don't know what you mean by "peak districts".
But I will agree if you say that there is an issue when it comes to (and I don't know the word for this in english) removing open soil for the landscape in favor of concrete, asfalt and other hard materials. This is deff an issue.

But again, there has been massive investments since the 1990s, and our biggest issue in the last 10 years is not that there is to much water but that there is too little of it. Our ground water levels have been extremely low, there have been moments that it was forbidden for farmers to pump up water because we were running out of drinking water because our temperature is rising and our rainfall is going down.

This phenomena right now, however, is nothing we could really be prepared for. It's so unussual that it has almost been 70 year since we saw something like this. This is just extremele rare in this region. Just like the droughts we are have having for the last 10 years and the high temperatures during the summer.

@Kwek00 Do you have treatment stations for waste water and sewage ?
Sounds as though you need a new system for gathering and re-routing existing supplies.

@Picklebobble2 We have all that.

We also have nature regions that can be flooded if nescessary to relieve our waterways. We got pumps installed that pump water out of water ways to reserve batteries (if you might call it that). And our water ways have been deepened where it can, so that it can hold a larger volume of water.

And for as far as I know the Netherlands, well... they are pretty much masters when it comes to this. I can't see them not investing in this, since a large part of their land is either equal or under sea-level.

I have no idea about Germany.

But again, this situation is so rare that it just doesn't matter. This "you have to prepare for the unexpected" is just not realistic. It's also what certain people said about the situation in Texas this year, where they basically got a snowstorm that no one was prepared for. The reason why no one is prepared [i](and their infrastructure couldn't hold)[/i], is because it's so out of the ordinary that the costs to be prepared for this, can't be justified every year if this situation might not take place. As a governement, your pockets have a limit. Another aspect is that politicians can't score with spending money in overdimensioning measures for things that haven't taken place in 70 years, while other needs need to be taken care of.

@Picklebobble2 There's only so much that can be done in terms of the numbers living in the Peak District. There are only so many properties there for locals and Londoners alike... the rents are already set ridiculously high when compared to what you get as opposed to what you can get for less in other areas of the county.

Unlike the Londoners, I actually have enough of a local connection to move and live there through my family - however, it doesn't mean that I am going to.

Equally, in this case, it doesn't mean that the people of Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium deserve to suffer because of what should be a "Once in a lifetime" event. At the end of the day, these countries are doing as much as they can to prevent flooding - and this must feel like a slap in the face for them and those who are living through it or who have lost family or loved ones because of it.

There's a time and a place for everything, including looking at what could and should be done to alleviate the situation going forward - and they aren't at that point yet. Right now, they are still searching for survivors and finding their dead.

A little empathy and compassion for those who are suffering doesn't hurt anyone.

@HootyTheNightOwl I hope this is once in a lifetime. Our drought that we have been having, is pretty systematic by now. Our summers set new records every year, only this year we have been saved from that so far but now we have water. And this year we and the Netherlands suddenly got struck by a stormcell that produces tornadoes.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIjrrMo8ImQ]

These abnormal weather patterns for this region keep piling up.
The only people that are better off, are those that have vineyards. Because of the warm weather, Belgium is competing with the better wines in France.

@HootyTheNightOwl Tragic though the event is, empathy and sympathy are meaningless gestures unless you can physically get in there and be effective in helping.

Still doesn't alter the fact that this wasn't a 'natural disaster' it was totally preventable and probably avoidable.

@Picklebobble2 I can't help but think you are having a southpark moment here.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdbjw27QPJQ]

@Picklebobble2 Please tell me that you're really not as dumb as you sound right now...

@Kwek00We've known about erosion and what it does for centuries.
We've known about flood plains and why it's not good to build there for centuries.
We know what happens EVERY TIME IT HAPPENS.
And yet people are STILL doing it.
STILL making MONEY from doing it.
STILL AVOIDING doing ANYTHING about it.

And you want to know why empathy is in short supply.

@Kwek00 We have had a few tornadoes this year, too... but nothing on that level.

@Picklebobble2 You know, the first time something happens over there that isn't normal for your area. I'll still feel bad for you if you have damadge. But I'll also remind you that you should have expected the unexpected and forced your politicians to make all kinds of protections for these fringe scenarios, and that you should cheer your governement on for doing so as they subsidise all these measures with tax-payers money. You know, I'll remind you of all of that but I hope I never have too.

@HootyTheNightOwl Belgium, Netherlands and around the same time there was a big one in the Tjsech Republic too. All came from out of nowhere. But hey, we should have expected that one too. Our houses should have been better, and we should have used better material. It's all our own fault I guess. 🤷‍♂️

@Kwek00 It sounds like that.

Sometimes, this site makes me sick - especially the attitudes of some people on it.