Worst weather etc etc "Since Records Began"

[carbore]

Hello,

Looking at a headline today I saw this interesting fact re flooding

"More than three-quarters of our flood records start in the flood-poor period that begins in the 1960s.

"This matters because we set our flood protection in terms of return periods - the average number of years between floods of a given size.

"We have probably under-estimated the frequency of flooding, which is now happening, as it did before the 1960s, much more often than we are used to."

So When people say your 4x4 has caused the climate chaos and its the worst weather since records began remind them how short those records are! I always sort of imagined it would be say since around WW1 time but this is quite surprising.


Whilst im not a Climate Change denier and dont like to pollute/waste etc I am also a man of logic and science hence detest this constant pseudo science that is accepted as fact and you get hammered if you disagree, especially as its now just a excuse to throw away all you old stuff and buy new green "sustainable stuff".

[Wireless]

If you visit some of the old Public Houses in Ironbridge, or indeed some of the Museum Buildings, you'll note that there are several water level plaques indicated for flooding on the sides of the buildings during the 18th & 19th Centuries.

Many of these are several metres above the worst flooding recorded on the River Severn during the 20th Century or more recently, so you do have a point about historical data, plus there's probably some backhanded business arrangements that have been agreed in recent decades about where it's profitable to eliminate the flooding risk to build a lot of the new housing and estates on flood plains.  Mainly because such severe flooding is outside the experience of living memory, even if it is cyclical over much longer periods.  This is why millions are stupid enough to live in coastal regions prone to tsunami, on the sides of volcanoes, or in Earthquake zones.

Flooding is something we will experience in the UK, and this is why I live on top of a hill.

[Lord Shagg-Pyle]

I couldn't agree more. As long as developers continue to build new estates on flood plains for that 'lovely river view', there will be flood problems.

[Tommo]

its not just that even on hills when vast areas are covered with concrete or tarmac or buildings the rainwater runs off straight into the river instead of being absorbed into the ground.

[DEANO3528]

Much the same applies to the weather records which are only reliable for the last 150 years or so.
But when did the Gov't, Antis etc ever need reliable facts and statistics to tax/hound a group out of existence?

[thermidorthelobster]

Homer: Oh Lisa, there's no record of a hurricane ever hitting Springfield.
Lisa: Yes, but the records only go back to 1978 when the Hall of Records was mysteriously blown away!

[crazymac]

LOL, I live on the side of a hill, about 100 ft above sea level. (I look out over the sea!) on one side of the valley which is about half a mile wide

From the road my drive rises about 20 ft to get to the house. (some would call it a steep driveway!)

When I 1st bought the house, I phoned for house insurance, to be told that the house is on a flood plain, so insurance would be £1500 a year!!

Absolute tosh! I told the operator that "when Noah starts building his boat on my drive I'll worry"!!

The next company I phoned said no problems with flooding in the area and insured me for less that £200! Never had a problem since and no flooding in this area EVER!