Cardiff at risk from "New Orleans" style flooding?

[Col_Buendia]

Just seen this.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5279796.stm

As we're listed at the top of the list they give in paragraph 3, how worried should we be?

I mean, there's only so many dinghies that you'll find in an emergency in Barry Island.

[LilMissHissyFit]

I live nice and high up in Caerfilthy.
Urbs at mine if you get flooded out, swim to Llanishen and we'll come fish you out:D

[Dic Penderyn]

:eek: :eek: :eek: WORSE THAN THAT IT LOOKS LIKE NEWPORT MIGHT GET HIT!! :eek: :eek:

[LilMissHissyFit]

Tragic

[Dic Penderyn]

:p
I feel safe in the knowledge that myself and all my neighbours in this fine, fine, city would have no problem colonising any/all of the surrounding towns & villages.
;)

[ddraig]

more importantly COL WHAT ARE YOU DOING ON THE INTERNET!!!?!?!?!
:mad:
and when's safe/convenient to come and have a looksee?
:)

[softybabe]

more importantly COL WHAT ARE YOU DOING ON THE INTERNET!!!?!?!?!
:mad:
and when's safe/convenient to come and have a looksee?
:)

...maybe he's on the night shift :p :D

[Udo Erasmus]

On a more serious note, many homes in Barry were flooded over the summer and the occupants haven't received a single penny in aid from the Welsh Assembly and there is a campaign for justice that deserves support of everyone (in England the government provided compensation).

Nye Bevan called socialism the language of priorities. Therefore, it is clear that Plaid and Labour are very far from socialism. In the Vale of Glamorgan, the ruling parties in Wales support £14 billion being spent on war, on weapons of mass destruction and carnage, on taking young men from the poorest estates in the UK and sending them out to murder other people for oil and power - and yet not a single penny found for working class people a stones throwaway whose homes have been destroyed by floods.

That just shows how obscene the existing set-up is and the necessity of organising on every front for democracy and liberation.

[lewislewis]

Compensation for flooding is the preserve of the Department for the Environment , Agriculture and Rural Affairs (Defra) which is a department of the Westminster Government, not the National Assembly for Wales.

Of course, the Assembly should do something about drainage etc though, and works are in fact being planned as we speak.

[Udo Erasmus]

I think you may be wrong on that or at least that's not the line of the government. They gave some financial aid to English areas hit by flooding but declared that areas in Wales were the responsibility of the Welsh Assembly. Local councillors in Barry have been demanding action from the Assembly:

Either way, a small area of Barry was quite severely hit and has been generally forgotten - Welsh Assembly politicians should at least be fighting for some aid on there behalf.



Flood victims still waiting for help
Aug 18 2007 by Matthew Aplin, South Wales Echo

No cash for Barry while England gets £6.2m fund

A FLOOD-HIT community in South Wales is still waiting for cash despite the Government announcing a £6.2m recovery fund for affected English authorities.

Floods devastated parts of Barry, in the Vale of Glamorgan, last month – but the Welsh Assembly Government has yet to confirm any financial help for the area.

Meanwhile in England, the Government has announced almost £2.5m for councils in Gloucestershire badly affected in the July floods, out of a fund of £6.2m.

Today, as politicians called on the Assembly Government to stump up some cash, residents demanded action.

Cath Scanlin, 43, of Gibbonsdown, Barry, was left devastated after her detached house was ruined by the deluge of torrential rain.

She said: “I think it is absolutely appalling. There could be as much as £70,000 worth of damage to my house.

“There are at least 37 houses I know which were severely affected by the floods. I just don’t know how our area is being ignored.”

Councillor Richard Bertin, whose Barry Court ward was one of the areas worst hit in the UK, said: “There has been a lot of damage to houses across my ward and any help we can get would be most welcome.

“We are looking to the Welsh Assembly to step in and help the area.

“I know that some residents in my ward did not have any house insurance and they are really struggling.”

A Welsh Assembly Government spokeswoman said: “The Welsh Assembly Government has an emergency financial assistance scheme which offers financial support to local authorities for unexpected occurrences such as flooding.

“We have been approached by only one local authority, the Vale of Glamorgan, for assistance following the severe weather conditions under this scheme to date.

Barry was one of those areas affected by intense rainfall and a number of properties including schools were directly affected.

The Vale of Glamorgan council has raised the issue and this is being taken forward with the local council.

One of the schools affected in Barry is the St Richard Gwyn RC High School which is a voluntary aided schools. 85 per cent of the costs of emergency repairs and roof replacement resulting from the severe weather conditions will be met from the Welsh Assembly Government’s voluntary aided schools capital programme, which contains funding for such emergencies.”

[lewislewis]

I did not know of the existence of such a fund. I'm glad to see the Vale of Glamorgan council (Lab-Plaid-Independent coalition) has applied for this assistance and I hope it will be granted soon to alleviate the suffering in that area.

Perhaps it is a similar issue to footh and mouth. Compensation was offered under UK Defra rules, but then withdrawn (for electoral political reasons) and branded the responsibility of the Assembly Government.

The drainage improvements I mentioned were real though, google it and you might find Jane Davidson mentioning them recently.

[lewislewis]

I have to say though i'm not terribly excited by the performance of the One Wales government so far. Mainly due to events beyond their control such at the very tight budget, but generally just the fact there haven't yet been any exciting new policy initiatives, just a continuation of previous rule.
However i'll give it time and see what happens over the next few years.

I'm also unsure about Plaid nominating peers to the House of Lords, although it might let Wales down legislatively there are principles at stake here. Under current party rules Plaid members don't join the House of Lords (they can do so in a personal capacity if they want, only Dafydd Elis-Thomas has so far), but some of the leadership now want Plaid to have official Lords in there to scrutinise the legislation relating to Wales. It'll all be up to the grassroots vote on Saturday.
There is also a resolution on St. Athan being voted on, on Saturday.

[llantwit]

I hope the St Athan Legislation has all the facts, then, and isn't just a rubber stamp on a thoroughly misleading version of ahwt the project will look like.
Be interested to see the resolution if you've got a copy Lewis. Especially to see if it talks about the privatisation of military training, the arms industry links of the Metrix consortium, and the fact that the 5000 promised jobs are a big fat smelly red herring.