Wild weather and the River Wey

Luckily or unluckily for us we live very close to the source of the River Wey. Now for those who have not been paying attention, "It's been raining almost non-stop in the UK for months".

Now, my foreign readers, might think that the UK is generally wet and windy, well it is, but the last few months we have been having almost biblical amounts of rain and wind (though on the upside it has been very mild for the time of the year - weather ed),  and we all think that it is time it stopped!

We have been checking the river levels daily and checking the green area at the end of our lane, known as Flood Meadows to see its water levels. Luckily for us we appear to have got away with it, so far.

What might be surprising to many, is that absolutely no houses whatsoever have been built on Flood Meadows, which is why we have not been flooded this Winter. The water has inundated (fabulous word - 9/10 - literary ed) Flood Meadows to an enormous extent, such that the paths through it are no impassable without a decent pair of wellies, or some underam length waders. It has worked as a very big sponge to spill water over the meadows and so slow the rate of flow of the river, thus ensuring that we have not been flooded. Yes, you've got it, it has done exactly what it says on the tin, and flooded, so protecting the houses downstream.

Must mention that the neighbour closest to the river is sandbagged up and has had a pump running on and off over the last week. As far as I know the house has not flooded. Chin up Anne, it is almost over, according to the Met Office.

BTW the Met Office have a really good smartphone app which I would recommend  to anyone.

What may surprise my foreign readers (well the ones in Germany and Alaska- circulation ed), is that building on the flood plain on a river is generally seen to be acceptable by both the Government and Local Councils - as they keep giving planning permission to builders to build on them.

Now as sensible folk, you might think that this is a little short-sighted, but it keeps happening. What is more surprising is that people buy the houses and then manage to get flood insurance (which is backed by the Government - so the general taxpayer ends up paying for flood reparations - shurely shome mishtake - ed)

Now, if this were Bangladesh - the whole country of which is in the delta of a number of enormous rivers, so very prone to flooding, there would be no option. But this is the UK, where we have oodles of land that does not flood. So you have to ask yourself why we do it in the UK? My somewhat cynical view is that the land is cheap because it floods, so the builders can buy it cheap and build expensive houses on it and so make more money.