Poor, poor Germany

Greta
By the time people feel it, it will be too late.
I believe we have passed the point of no return.
Now our lungs ( the Amazon forest) is emitting more CO2 than it is absorbing. As we know when your lungs are stuffed, your in trouble and that’s just what we are in now.?

The countries involved will receive grants from the EU Solidarity fund that helps countries affected by natural disasters. We received 60 million euros ( I need to check that figure) after the 2016 floods after initially refusing it. Which doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t donate money in some way if only to show that we care. But no money can take away the horror that those people have faced. Strangely enough I was only thinking of Boscastle the other day. It was the first time that I was aware of an unusual natural disaster happening and it hit me hard because I had lived there at one time and several people I knew were caught up in it: not locals but friends who were holidaying there at the time. When my own village came close to flooding I was shocked by how fast the flood water moved and realised that homes that weren’t actually flooded were still damaged because sewage and water from the drains was pushed up into the houses. I felt so helpless.

Such a tragic loss of lives and homes.
Such severity can never be forecast.
I hope they get lots of practical help.

timetogo2016

I don`t remember any country helping us out when we had floods,and we have had some hum dingers ie yorkshire/shropshire/london to name but a few.
I feel for them of course,but Germany isn`t a poor country,far from it.

... when we had our flooding episodes, we were entitled to apply to the EU Solidarity Fund, a fund which grants aid money to countries suffering substantial damage from 'natural disasters'.

Accountants KPMG estimated the damage cost at around £5 billion, which entitled us to apply for emergency help. The Fund is aimed at the uninsurable costs of natural disasters.

Cameron's government refused to apply for the aid.

In 2007, the Labour government requested aid from the Fund and we were given £134 million. The then Conservative opposition welcomed the move, but criticised the Labour government for not requesting it sooner.

These are verifiable facts, and not government bashing.

I can't think of much worse to happen to anyone! It is so dreadful. My sympathies are with them. There will undoubtedly be collections for them and I will dontate.

Apologies. I have littered that post with inverted commas.

dragonfly46

Apparently meteorologists forecast this and say everyone should have been moved out of the area but it was ignored.

This is not what I read.
I understood there was a prediction of "extremely heavy" rain but that the computer modelling is not strong enough yet to be sufficiently accurate over "extremes".

"Computers are not powerful enough to accurately project the severity of those extremes"

"Computers are fundamental to weather forecasting and climate change, and computing will underpin the new climate science “Bible”, from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) next month."

Maybe we will get "super" international computers after this and the USA

Not here dragonfly46, the city of Liege was evacuated and other places too.

Apparently meteorologists forecast this and say everyone should have been moved out of the area but it was ignored.

MerylStreep

Lemongrove
There’s no such thing as a subject that can’t be turned into a conservative bashing.
Having said that: your very smart, I bet you can think of one ?

I think the only person who has taken this over to the "Conservative Bashing" topic is you and your friend. You appear to have nothing to add to the topic except for some nebulous attack on other members.

As for other countries not helping us, timetogo2016, we were, of course given millions on EU grant aid while we were still part of it.

They will, of course, rebuild. They have done it before but this time they have Covid to cope with and, even if only for our safety over the virus, we need to ensure they get back to as normal a life - with Covid protection.

The UK and EU offered immediate help, as reported briefly on the national news. Some practical aid (personnel and equipment) was accepted by the affected countries from their nearest neighbours.

The best thing we can do to help anyone affected by climate change is to take it seriously and campaign for awareness and action.

I didn`t know that threexnanny.
Thank you for the info,which i shall share.

Yes, threexnanny, the Dutch have a lot of expertise in this area and were willing to support us despite the fact that we are a wealthy country.

Surely we must all now accept that climate change is a reality. Unfortunately some still deny it. I believe it's not enough to tell people about the danger, they actually need to feel it. It looks as if more and more of us will do just that.

Here in Belgium the rain just never stopped for about 4 days, it was torrential the only time I have seen rain like it was during a monsoon in Thailand.
Luckily we live on a hill the road and pavement were just a river, running down to a large square with an underground car park. The cars were floating in it.
Good friends are flooded out, their garage is used as a musical instrument workshop by their son, it is completely flooded.
In a local news sheet yesterday it was pointed out that the UK never asked for help from the EU if they had it would have been given.
Sun shining today hope it continues, garden is waterlogged.

They have extensive loss of life for such a develpped country.
And in the case of Germany, I read that their emergency services were overwhelmed so couldn't get enough helicopters etc to everyone.

Just thought we could send (or at least offer) some troops. Maybe that's naive but I don't think so.

TIMETOGO you may not remember it, but the Dutch were very quick to send equipment and expert help to Somerset when there were floods a few years ago.

This seems so dreadful when we are basking in sunshine but, of course, it could so easily have been the UK. It is the position of the jet stream at the moment.
I felt for all of those affected but especially The Netherlands, so much of which is low lying and reclaimed land.

Extremely worrying.
Fires again in the States, floods in Europe, plagues of mice in Australia and Covid.
It seems Biblical.

Would it be wrong to criticise any Government that would not offer practical help if required? Especially if not offering help is linked to some political disagreement?

And in this case, the current Government, and the current political disagreement?

As a country we should send our condolences. A message from QE11, Boris etc.
I thought that was all done yesterday along with an offer of any help needed?
Of course we don't just ignore the tragedy. It's mainly Germany, Belgium and Holland.

Well, as long as Brexit isn’t mentioned anytime soon Meryl I shall be thankful.

Lemongrove
There’s no such thing as a subject that can’t be turned into a conservative bashing.
Having said that: your very smart, I bet you can think of one ?

I don`t remember any country helping us out when we had floods,and we have had some hum dingers ie yorkshire/shropshire/london to name but a few.
I feel for them of course,but Germany isn`t a poor country,far from it.

Good post Mamardoit
It’s tragic for those who were swept away in the floods and their families and condolences from the government have no doubt already been sent, plus offers of any practical help am sure, but it’s only certain areas ( in all the countries the floods went through) that were affected and they are all affluent countries not third world ones.
Nobody should turn this sad event into yet another Conservative government bashing exercise.....it’s unworthy to do that.

The loss of life is tragic. None of us would ignore a neighbour in immediate need. Communities come together and provide safety, food, shelter in the aftermath of something like this. I live in an area prone to flooding and that is what happens here. We all feel sorry for the people affected but we can do nothing that will make any difference now. Germany, Belgium, and the NL are rich countries. They will rebuild just like communities in the UK and anywhere else does after events like this.

As a country we should send our condolences. A message from QE11, Boris etc. I would think that would be all we would expect if the situation was reversed.

What do those who think we should do more think that we should do given that there is nothing we can do to save lives?

Biscuitmuncher

Germany is hardly a third world country !

Would you ignore a neighbour?