Water supplies begin to return but not here yet

Huge relief as new floods did not materialise after rain which was less than feared - and it is great news that progress at Mythe has been good - water is starting to be pumped again - for the majority of homes reconnection is still several days away as 1,200 miles of water pipes still needed to be re-filled and water will not be drinkable initially.

Photos: bowser spotting! The first pic of 2 bowsers outside the Slavery Arch and Mathews Way (an area which by all accounts still has water).

All this is a little ironic as this area finally gets its bowsers - some in places they were meant to be but others seemed to be extras plonked down even in places which apparently have water. At least we'll have use of them for a while and we still don't know how soon water will return.

Meanwhile volunteers were being sought to man the bottled water give-aways in the area.

How high did the water flow?
Evesham: whole town centre submerged up to one metre under water, but water peaks in many places were impressive. Norms for British Summer are 50 to 70 cm above the sea level but in:
- Worcester 5.30m
- Upton-on-Severn 5.93m
- Gloucester 4.92m

How many properties flooded in Gloucestershire?
550 Tewkesbury
200 Stroud
125 Cheltenham
1,350 Gloucester City
Many farms and businesses also effected - across the country this summer monsoon-like conditions have done £5 billion of damage to 50,000 British homes and businesses.

Who lost power?
Castle Meads substation left 48,000 homes without power for a period of time while Walham which supplies 500 to 600,000 homes was just saved by temporary flood barrier just 5cm higher than the water.

And water?
350,000 homes without water and many hundreds of bowsers - how many I'm not sure we'll ever know as they appeared in some places they weren't meant to and never got to other sites. Some rarely got refilled while others remained pretty full.

Where did the word bowser come from?
Read Mollys article here and stuff about resilience of communities.

Who will pay for flood prevention measures needed?
Consumers are expected to foot the bill for flood prevention measures, yet the water companies have failed to invest enough in infrastructure, such as drainage systems, which could have lessened the impact. This could be hard to bear when coupled with other facts like:
- almost half of Britain's flood defence systems are not up to the required standard. Infact since 2000 there have been 25 separate reports from government bodies and parliamentary committees advising how to reduce flood risks and the way they are handled. Yet despite this, the National Audit Office has revealed that only 57 per cent of Britain's flood defence systems are in ''target condition'';
- funding for these systems is almost £200 million below necessary;
- the Government has been warned repeatedly that the UK does not have the capacity to respond to a major flood;
- fire fighters and Armed Services were initially forced to stand idly by while agencies squabbled over who was responsible for what.
- under a deal with the industry regulator, Ofwat, the water companies were supposed to spend £4.3 billion on infrastructure in 2005-2006. Instead, in a cost-cutting exercise, they invested only £3.4 billion.

It has all contributed to the current chaos and confusion: made all the more infuriating by the fact that when floods last created chaos, in the autumn of 2000, the shambolic response was heavily criticised by the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which said such mismanagement could only be resolved in future by giving overall responsibility to the Environment Agency. It was never done.

At least most can claim insurance?

The local paper had someone whining that if these floods had happened in a Third World country then there would be a massive fund raising effort and the Government would be sending wads of our cash. A little out of perspective perhaps?? Yes the floods have been hugely traumatic for many and there is no way I wish to belittle the loss of a home but mercifully few lives have been lost - the vast majority of people will get their carpets and fridges back on insurance - very few have apparently not got some sort of insurance - in contrast millions have been hit by floods in SE Asia - over 650 dead and 452,000 homes flooded in China alone.

Click on 'floods' label to see more about floods locally.