Sorry, I've been silent for a while - busy getting back from Jamaica, going back to work, then staying at home as the flood waters rose! I've been lucky where I live, but the surrounding areas have been almost devastated by flood water from the river Severn. Until we had no water, I didn't realise how much I used in a day... loads of businesses in Gloucester and Cheltenham have had to close because of lack of water, and the University of Gloucestershire where I work has been closed this week too.
The problem came after we had torrential rain on Friday (20th July 2007), which caused the rivers Severn and Avon to overflow. This flooded the local water treatment plant which cut off the water for Tewkesbury, Gloucester and Cheltenham, plus the surrounding areas. People's houses have been ruined and many have had to stay in refuges because they have nowhere to live.
It's amazing really, it's really brought it home to me how much we all depend on water and electricity in this country. I knew that climate change was a reality, but it always seemed to be something that would happen in the future - not now. But it's happening! It's made our trip to the Footstep 11 conference all the more important.
Well - other news... on Sunday 2nd September the four of us (Lucy, Katie, Anesta and myself) will be giving a presentation about the conference and our experiences there. It should be interesting, and will give us a chance to give some feedback about what we've learnt.
That's all for now, but I'll be updating the blog again soon!
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2 comments:
I'm sorry but did I just read that correctly. Are you seriously trying to suggest that the July 07 floods were connected to climate change???
Actually, yes. I'm not claiming that it's been proven beyond all doubt, but it does seem likely. Correct me if I'm wrong, but more extreme weather conditions are a symptom of this. Take a look at this web site from 2001: http://www2.glos.ac.uk/cccf/report/workshop/flood.htm
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