1000th member coming up

[Javelin]

Thats horrible. I hoe they find someplace for mom and baby to land. they shouldn't have that stress so soon.

Sun out? Where? I have just spent the day de-organising outdoor and re-organising indoor events for a cancelled festival, driving to shoot commission photos through floods where cars were abandoned either side of dips in the road, and listening to a friend whose daughter's new house is now under 3 ft of floodwater when she is in hospital and had a baby yesterday - no home to go to now.

David

[David Kilpatrick]

My friend was actually shooting pix at our festival, and got a call from his wife (in our town) asking him to drop it and try to drive 50 miles to the flooded town. He checked with the police was told he would not be allowed to drive there - they had cordoned off the roads and were turning back cars, and evactuating parts of Morpeth. It is a lovely old town but much of it built on the banks of the river. Just been speaking to my professional association CEO, he's near Darlington (another 50 miles further south) in a village on the banks of the Tees, and he's OK, their house in on high ground but police have blocked the roads off due to flood danger and houses near the river and are sandbagged.

It may not look much, but when driving an 80-mile round trip on Saturday morning to cover two PR shots (Royal Bank of Scotland introduces Saturday opening 10-2pm) I rather stupidly followed my satnav's route instead of using the main road I would have picked, and the road was repeatedly flooded to 6" or 1ft - enough for several cars to have driven too fast into the puddles, engines cut out, and at least one 'aquaplaned' into the verge and spun round. I just took the (unknown depth) water at about 10mph and this truck clearly had no worries. This was not static water, it was like a river flowing over the road.

sproustonflood.jpg (53.01 KiB) Viewed 2258 times

Fortunately, it's stopped the solid rain so far today. Sony's launch in Edinburgh covers two days, Tuesday and Wednesday. They say:

"The dress code for the duration of the event is smart casual. Please ensure you bring sensible footwear, a warm jumper and a raincoat if you are participating in one of the Experiences."

I am not invited to the 'Experiences' (fully booked for numbers by the event organisers) but if they are rained off, I have contacts in Edinburgh who can organise the perfect all-weather alternative at very short notice, and I've let them know. I have been on things like this where the organisers just call off the activities and have no fallback plans.

David

[Javelin]

Until this year I haven't seen regular rain events so violent and lasting so long. but flooding here on a large scale is rare. I was driving from San Antonio to Dallas once. Don't remember the year.. late 90's though. I was in a rental car and the road went from bone dry to 6" of water in about 45 seconds (flash flood) some spoots were very deep.. it made for a long drive and I missed all my appointments in Dallas. there was a pickup truck in front of me full of people that flew off the road from hydroplaning (nobody was hurt badly, they rolled the truck back onto it's wheels but it wouldn't start) After I got to Dallas and was waiting for my flight the news was talking about a Tornado that swept thjrough a place I drove by/ once I got home I found out that 27 people had been killed in it.

[bonneville]

.... and listening to a friend whose daughter's new house is now under 3 ft of floodwater when she is in hospital and had a baby yesterday - no home to go to now. David

How dreadful is that Please pass on congrats for the baby from us all, and sadness for the home situation.

I spent two days and nights in the loft of our bungalow in Jaywick in Essex which was six feet under in the devasting East Coast floods of 1953. I was 5 years old and a national newspaper, then called the Star but now no longer, featured an ambulance man waist deep in water carrying me over his shoulder on the front page. I still have the proof copy that was sent to my Dad all those years ago!

I can't really relate that to the plight of your friends, but we can all image how awful it must be..

[aster]

Hi,

My best wishes for the new baby, mother and family. I hope they join with their home in the best possible condition in the near future.

Yildiz