How will you feel when....

It doesn't follow that being close to a river, with or without a view and moorings that you will flood. The sites of many of our riverside towns were chosen because, although they are beside a river they are on raised land that does not flood. However in the 19th century as factories expanded and workers flooded into towns, small terrace houses for these workers were often built on the flood plain. These small 19th century houses provide many 21st century house buyers with their first step on the housing ladder. It is easy if you have the money to say do not buy on the flood plain, but if that is all you can afford it is a bit different. DS started house-owning life with a floodplain railway cottage in York.

Much of the flooding that has occurred is not river flooding but groundwater flooding, where the volume of the rain has exceeded the ground's capacity to absorb it. This is the case in my village, we have small streams running through it, as do most communities, but the nearest river is 3 miles away, nevertheless we flooded in 2007 and last week, although fortunately this year few houses were flooded.

I think it is dreadful to say you cannot feel sorry for people who have lost their homes and treasured possessions just because they are well off. They will be suffering just as much emotional pain and grief as those in smaller properties. The Thames side properties that have flooded this year have rarely flooded before so everyone buying near the river how ever much or little they paid had no reason to expect floods like those we have just had.

Actually, Flickety, the two bedroomed terrace houses built for the factory workers near Rowntrees in York still cost the same as those on Leeman Road, and are up a hill, fortunately.

Though I will be upset when the premiums go up, I would count myself lucky that I wasn't one of the people whose homes are awash in filthy water and whose lives are in chaos. I find it rather sad that some people now wish to blame the homeowners for their horrible predicament.

It's no doubt unwise to buy a house on a flood plain, but no doubt this sort of land is relatively cheaper and consequently so are the houses. Perhaps it's all that some people can afford. If councils still grant permission for developments on flood plains, I feel they are just as responsible - but maybe they face the same dilemma.

I feel that another problem is that many people are now paving/concreting over their front gardens and surplus surface water can't drain into the soil. A few years ago I read that people have to apply to the council to pave their drives and, if the council grants permission, the work must be done in such a way that water can still seep into the ground. I don't know if this has been enforced but if it hasn't it needs to be.

Didn't car insurance for females go up not long ago even though statistically they have fewer accidents than men?

DN checked the floodplains for us when we thought of moving a couple of years ago, although we have stayed where we are (up a hill) for the time being at least.

If insurance is higher in certain areas for certain risk factors, why should it not be the same for flood risk?
I do feel very sorry for people who were unable to get insurance after the previous floods, if they had no history of flooding previous to that.

www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/feb/16/flood-area-defences-funding-cuts

Article about the flood defence cuts.

yes, Margaret, car insurance premiums went up for women to equalise between men and women, just as pension ages went up.
We have to be careful where we wish for equality.

durhamjen, paying a bit more for insurance, and working a bit longer are indeed a bit of a pain. Is it too much to pay for equality though. I don't think so, if we did have equality that is. But, that's another thread isn't it.

What I meant by that, iam64, was that they never work out in women's favour, when we get equality.
I do not fancy starting a thread on that, either.

The article mentions that Cameron says the government will help 'hardworking people affected by the floods'

I think the phrase 'hardworking people or hardworking families' has really run its course. Presumably if you are a lazy old biddy who likes a sitdown sometimes or spends too much time on gransnet and whose bungalow has been flooded you may not get any help.

Margaret I agree about that phrase 'hardworking families' it's trotted out a lot.

I just trotted it out on another thread ...

Agreed durhamjen, I don't want to start a thread on that either - there'd be too much conflict for a wet Tuesday mid February