synergy777
05-07-2007, 05:20 PM
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/07/05/nrain305.xml
Hull is 'forgotten city' of the flooding crisis
By Richard Holt and Sophie Freeman
Last Updated: 11:43am BST 05/07/2007
The people of Hull have become the forgotten victims of the disastrous flooding which has left more than 30,000 people homeless across the country, according to the city's council leader
More than 10,500 homes were evacuated in Hull alone after it received a sixth of its annual rainfall in just 12 hours and many residents may not be able to return to their homes for up to a year.
Carl Minns, the leader of Hull City Council, has criticised the lack of attention the city has received in comparison with other flood-affected areas.
"We are the forgotten city in this disaster," he said.
"What we have in Sheffield and Doncaster is terrible and my heart-felt sympathy goes out to those people.
"But their problems have been fairly localised, whereas ours is spread right across the city. Hull also needs help."
He added: "The Government needs to help this city with a large injection of capital, otherwise this city will not recover
Quite frankly if this was Chelsea or Fulham, this would have been plastered over the front pages for weeks."
About 1,500 volunteers and council staff set off on a fact-finding mission to survey damaged properties in the city.
The council has diverted £18 million from a home improvement programme for use in repairing flood-damaged homes and a Flood Hardship Fund has been launched.
Insurers put the total damage bill from the floods at around £1 billion
As the clean-up began, a council spokesman said: "Some [residents] were forced to leave, others chose to leave.
"And now some insurance companies have said they will have to stay away for six to 12 months for the homes to be put right.
"They need to be re-plastered and re-floored and we will be short of labour to do that.
"Some residents don't have insurance so they are in a desperate situation. Some people really don't know what they should do next.
She said many people were now living with friends and relatives or had moved into hotels. There were no people remaining in the rest centres set up to deal with the evacuations. The council denied rumours that parking wardens issued tickets to vehicles abandoned in the floods. It said all tickets were suspended between 12.50pm on Monday, June 25, and Friday, June 29.
An Environment Agency spokesman, Rob Walsh, said the flooding in Hull was mainly a result of surface water unable to escape, not from rivers bursting their banks.
About 400 million tonnes of water fell across Humberside, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire. "It would be difficult for any system to deal with that," he said.
Yesterday Prince Charles toured the village of Toll Bar, South Yorkshire, which is still under two feet of water.
He insisted on using a small boat to take a closer look at the destruction. Fire officers became concerned about underwater obstructions after about 15 minutes, at which point the Prince leapt out of the boat and paddled the last few yards through the murky water, despite wearing a grey suit and brown shoes.
A firefighter observing the scene said getting into the boat was Prince Charles's idea.
"He just said, 'There's a boat, let me get in and go down'."
Meanwhile, the Met Office confirmed that last month was the wettest June since records began 93 years ago.
The 134.5mm (5.30in) of rain which fell on the UK smashed the previous record of 121.1mm (4.77in) of June 1980.
However, June was also warmer than normal. The Met Office said the mean temperature was 13.7C (56.7F) - up from 12.6C (54.7F).
There are still flood warnings in place across the UK, but none at the severe level. A spokesman for the Environment Agency said: "All warnings were downgraded on Tuesday, there are no severe warnings now."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/weather/Story/0,,2118791,00.html
Hull pleads for aid after floods leave one in five homes damaged
Flood rescue plans for Britain's worst affected city will be announced today when ministers visit Hull, where 30,000 people - three-quarters of the national figure - had to leave their homes at the height of the crisis and an estimated one in every five houses has been damaged.
Only 15 of the city's 105 schools escaped and millions of pounds will be needed to repair day care centres, libraries and leisure complexes swept by 10cm (four inches) of rain, which swamped drains, killing two people.
Every hotel and B&B in the city has been filled with families evacuated from 10,642 homes. Labour MPs have joined the Liberal Democrat-led council in pleading for an emergency package far beyond the "inadequate" Bellwin scheme of emergency financial assistance for councils.
The scale of the devastation has been masked by 10 days of other dramatic events, including the change of prime minister and terror attacks on London and Glasgow. Scenes in Hull also lacked the dramatic visual impact of South Yorkshire, where deep water has remained although damage has been far less.
In Toll Bar, near Doncaster, the Prince of Wales commandeered a rescue launch to view the flood during his second visit to the region yesterday. Firefighters said he had seen a dinghy and insisted on going along the half-submerged main street to highlight the problems.
In Adwick-le-Street, north-west of Doncaster, he queued to don protective overshoes and wash with disinfectant before visiting a leisure centre where more than 100 evacuees are still sleeping on mattresses. As more rain fell, he was praised for keeping the floods in the news - although Hull put in an urgent request that he should come and visit them too.
The minister heading the government's flood recovery programme, John Healey, will lead a delegation to Hull today, where he will be pressed for far more money. The clear-up operation in the city is the biggest in Britain since the collapse of East Anglia's coastal defences in 1953.
Hull council said that its resources had been overwhelmed and even assessing the damage was stacking up a huge manpower bill. More than 1,500 volunteers joined efforts yesterday to list priorities and find out how many people were moving back in to their homes.
"A lot of people are clinging on and living upstairs, with their kitchens and bathrooms ruined," said a council spokeswoman. "But they will all have to move out eventually so that repairs can be done.
"Insurance companies have said they will have to stay away for 6-12 months for the homes to be put right. They need to be re-plastered and re-floored and we will be short of labour to do that."
The city's cabinet agreed an emergency allocation of £18m from its housing budget two days ago. But damage to schools alone is estimated to top £100m and councillors are worried about the number of householders with no contents insurance.
The Liberal Democrat environment spokesman, Chris Huhne, toured the city and said: "The damage has to be seen to be comprehended. It looks certain the number of damaged houses will rise."
He called for the Bellwin scheme, named after the late Conservative peer and former leader of Leeds city council Lord Bellwin, to be enlarged to include capital payments. At the moment Bellwin money covers only revenue spending. Mr Huhne said: "That is going to be nowhere near enough."
Hull's three Labour MPs, Alan Johnson, Diana Johnson and John Prescott, have written to the environment secretary, Hilary Benn, calling for extra help. Mr Johnson, who will tour the city with Mr Healey, said that the Bellwin arrangements were "bound to be inadequate".
He told Mr Benn the scale of the devastation in Hull was "an appalling blow". He said: "For most local people affected, it is going to be at least nine months before their houses will be habitable again."
Prince Charles told some of the 280 evacuated locals at Adwick: "I was determined to get into a boat."
One of the firefighters trying to pump a million litres of water an hour out of Toll Bar said: "Charles just said: 'There's a boat, let me get in and go down.' He wanted to go all the way down to the shops, but there was too much stuff in the way there."
Backstory
The Great Flood of 2007 started on Monday June 25, when a month's rain fell in a day in South Yorkshire and the Severn valley. In East Yorkshire the entire average for June came down in an hour. Water overwhelmed drains, drowning three people in the initial onslaught. A Victorian dam cracked at Ulley near Rotherham, and only 48 hours of shoring and pumping saved three villages. By Wednesday vast run-off had burst banks on the Don, Hull and Severn. Some 27,000 homes were damaged. Rain continued, leaving lakes of filthy water contaminated with drain refuse and sewage. The national death toll reached seven.
did any1 see newsnight, they showed the prince charles clip with benny hill theme tune, summed it up perfectly.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/humber/6270236.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/humber/6272012.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/6245652.stm
Hull is 'forgotten city' of the flooding crisis
By Richard Holt and Sophie Freeman
Last Updated: 11:43am BST 05/07/2007
The people of Hull have become the forgotten victims of the disastrous flooding which has left more than 30,000 people homeless across the country, according to the city's council leader
More than 10,500 homes were evacuated in Hull alone after it received a sixth of its annual rainfall in just 12 hours and many residents may not be able to return to their homes for up to a year.
Carl Minns, the leader of Hull City Council, has criticised the lack of attention the city has received in comparison with other flood-affected areas.
"We are the forgotten city in this disaster," he said.
"What we have in Sheffield and Doncaster is terrible and my heart-felt sympathy goes out to those people.
"But their problems have been fairly localised, whereas ours is spread right across the city. Hull also needs help."
He added: "The Government needs to help this city with a large injection of capital, otherwise this city will not recover
Quite frankly if this was Chelsea or Fulham, this would have been plastered over the front pages for weeks."
About 1,500 volunteers and council staff set off on a fact-finding mission to survey damaged properties in the city.
The council has diverted £18 million from a home improvement programme for use in repairing flood-damaged homes and a Flood Hardship Fund has been launched.
Insurers put the total damage bill from the floods at around £1 billion
As the clean-up began, a council spokesman said: "Some [residents] were forced to leave, others chose to leave.
"And now some insurance companies have said they will have to stay away for six to 12 months for the homes to be put right.
"They need to be re-plastered and re-floored and we will be short of labour to do that.
"Some residents don't have insurance so they are in a desperate situation. Some people really don't know what they should do next.
She said many people were now living with friends and relatives or had moved into hotels. There were no people remaining in the rest centres set up to deal with the evacuations. The council denied rumours that parking wardens issued tickets to vehicles abandoned in the floods. It said all tickets were suspended between 12.50pm on Monday, June 25, and Friday, June 29.
An Environment Agency spokesman, Rob Walsh, said the flooding in Hull was mainly a result of surface water unable to escape, not from rivers bursting their banks.
About 400 million tonnes of water fell across Humberside, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire. "It would be difficult for any system to deal with that," he said.
Yesterday Prince Charles toured the village of Toll Bar, South Yorkshire, which is still under two feet of water.
He insisted on using a small boat to take a closer look at the destruction. Fire officers became concerned about underwater obstructions after about 15 minutes, at which point the Prince leapt out of the boat and paddled the last few yards through the murky water, despite wearing a grey suit and brown shoes.
A firefighter observing the scene said getting into the boat was Prince Charles's idea.
"He just said, 'There's a boat, let me get in and go down'."
Meanwhile, the Met Office confirmed that last month was the wettest June since records began 93 years ago.
The 134.5mm (5.30in) of rain which fell on the UK smashed the previous record of 121.1mm (4.77in) of June 1980.
However, June was also warmer than normal. The Met Office said the mean temperature was 13.7C (56.7F) - up from 12.6C (54.7F).
There are still flood warnings in place across the UK, but none at the severe level. A spokesman for the Environment Agency said: "All warnings were downgraded on Tuesday, there are no severe warnings now."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/weather/Story/0,,2118791,00.html
Hull pleads for aid after floods leave one in five homes damaged
Flood rescue plans for Britain's worst affected city will be announced today when ministers visit Hull, where 30,000 people - three-quarters of the national figure - had to leave their homes at the height of the crisis and an estimated one in every five houses has been damaged.
Only 15 of the city's 105 schools escaped and millions of pounds will be needed to repair day care centres, libraries and leisure complexes swept by 10cm (four inches) of rain, which swamped drains, killing two people.
Every hotel and B&B in the city has been filled with families evacuated from 10,642 homes. Labour MPs have joined the Liberal Democrat-led council in pleading for an emergency package far beyond the "inadequate" Bellwin scheme of emergency financial assistance for councils.
The scale of the devastation has been masked by 10 days of other dramatic events, including the change of prime minister and terror attacks on London and Glasgow. Scenes in Hull also lacked the dramatic visual impact of South Yorkshire, where deep water has remained although damage has been far less.
In Toll Bar, near Doncaster, the Prince of Wales commandeered a rescue launch to view the flood during his second visit to the region yesterday. Firefighters said he had seen a dinghy and insisted on going along the half-submerged main street to highlight the problems.
In Adwick-le-Street, north-west of Doncaster, he queued to don protective overshoes and wash with disinfectant before visiting a leisure centre where more than 100 evacuees are still sleeping on mattresses. As more rain fell, he was praised for keeping the floods in the news - although Hull put in an urgent request that he should come and visit them too.
The minister heading the government's flood recovery programme, John Healey, will lead a delegation to Hull today, where he will be pressed for far more money. The clear-up operation in the city is the biggest in Britain since the collapse of East Anglia's coastal defences in 1953.
Hull council said that its resources had been overwhelmed and even assessing the damage was stacking up a huge manpower bill. More than 1,500 volunteers joined efforts yesterday to list priorities and find out how many people were moving back in to their homes.
"A lot of people are clinging on and living upstairs, with their kitchens and bathrooms ruined," said a council spokeswoman. "But they will all have to move out eventually so that repairs can be done.
"Insurance companies have said they will have to stay away for 6-12 months for the homes to be put right. They need to be re-plastered and re-floored and we will be short of labour to do that."
The city's cabinet agreed an emergency allocation of £18m from its housing budget two days ago. But damage to schools alone is estimated to top £100m and councillors are worried about the number of householders with no contents insurance.
The Liberal Democrat environment spokesman, Chris Huhne, toured the city and said: "The damage has to be seen to be comprehended. It looks certain the number of damaged houses will rise."
He called for the Bellwin scheme, named after the late Conservative peer and former leader of Leeds city council Lord Bellwin, to be enlarged to include capital payments. At the moment Bellwin money covers only revenue spending. Mr Huhne said: "That is going to be nowhere near enough."
Hull's three Labour MPs, Alan Johnson, Diana Johnson and John Prescott, have written to the environment secretary, Hilary Benn, calling for extra help. Mr Johnson, who will tour the city with Mr Healey, said that the Bellwin arrangements were "bound to be inadequate".
He told Mr Benn the scale of the devastation in Hull was "an appalling blow". He said: "For most local people affected, it is going to be at least nine months before their houses will be habitable again."
Prince Charles told some of the 280 evacuated locals at Adwick: "I was determined to get into a boat."
One of the firefighters trying to pump a million litres of water an hour out of Toll Bar said: "Charles just said: 'There's a boat, let me get in and go down.' He wanted to go all the way down to the shops, but there was too much stuff in the way there."
Backstory
The Great Flood of 2007 started on Monday June 25, when a month's rain fell in a day in South Yorkshire and the Severn valley. In East Yorkshire the entire average for June came down in an hour. Water overwhelmed drains, drowning three people in the initial onslaught. A Victorian dam cracked at Ulley near Rotherham, and only 48 hours of shoring and pumping saved three villages. By Wednesday vast run-off had burst banks on the Don, Hull and Severn. Some 27,000 homes were damaged. Rain continued, leaving lakes of filthy water contaminated with drain refuse and sewage. The national death toll reached seven.
did any1 see newsnight, they showed the prince charles clip with benny hill theme tune, summed it up perfectly.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/humber/6270236.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/humber/6272012.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/6245652.stm