Hi Sanji, terrible isn't it? I'm in West Yorkshire and it's bad enough here, sister-in-law lives at Woodsetts, just outside Sheffield, and they have it bad too. Interesting link, thanks for sharing, Linda x

We live in a village south of Doncaster and while all the headlines are showing the devastation in Sheffield, Rotherham and surrounding areas, ( and I really feel for all those affected), no mention was made of what was happening in North Nottinghamshire where I live. We flooded on Monday night..the second time in 10 days. Our local school is closed until further notice, the pub flooded and in our town, most of the shops are shut and both Morrisons and Asda are flooded out. My 15 year old son on work experience at the local sports centre is working a 12 hour day today as it has been set up as a shelter for people evacuated from their homes earlier today. When we began flooding on Monday, our neighbour phoned the fire brigade who were too swamped with calls to come out, we were told there were no sandbags left anywhere and to basically fend for ourselves. Rob and I combined with 4 neighbours and dug our own channel from the flood water into the local canal to divert it away from our houses. We have since been told we shouldn't have chopped up council property ( we had to cut a hole in a fence to get to the bank to dig..but at least we cleared the nettles up for the council!) and luckily, it did work and our properties only have minimal damage. We are on high alert for tonight as the nearest town is under 3 feet of water and when high tide arrives on the Trent is classed as utmost critical point.
Despite all this worry and stress, i feel incredibly lucky so far as there are people alot worse off than we are including friends of ours.

Sanji I am surprised you did not contact me. You know I am a canoeing coach.

I could have had a paddle down for a cuppa. I have a couple of spare canoes and can give you some lessons.

Best wishes

fwh

Although this is not essentially a Holiday related topic, as an exception I will let it run its course.

MarkJ HT Mod

Those photos are really shocking.
Once over you only ever heard of flooding in foreign climates.
A collegue and I were supposed to be visiting a well known Rotheram nut factory but have had to cancel as some of the roads are rivers.

Whilst my comment is a bit of light banter there is a serious side to this where members of HT need to consider how they may help.

Sanji points out that some people are cut off besides having to cope with homes that may be flooded.

What happens when you have booked that dream holiday and go on Saturday?

Expressions of sympathy are all very well, but when you are in danger of losing a large sum of money that you have paid for a holiday they do not really solve anything.

What do the insurance company say? Will they pay out, or do you need to dig out your home insurance? What if you do not have any?

Yes we can always see a funny side to a disaster. Indeed we need to do so as a means of raising our spirits in dark times.

What I would ask of any members who have some specialised knowledge of the insurance market have they any advice? Can they please help?

By all means express sympathy but please let us not replay previous disasters. The people affected now have enough to cope with.

And going back to my light banter mode I am taking orders for groceries delivered by canoe.

fwh

I have a feeling people who have to cancel their holiday due to being unable to get to the airport will lose their money as the insurance companies do not pay up when circumstances are "an act of god"

we are from sheffield, high green to be exact. we live on a hill so weve been very lucky, down the road is chapeltown they have been flooded twice in nine days. two roads have collasped near us making it a long journey into sheffield. i work for the council (road sweeping), one of my areas is winn gardens they have had it bad. i go away four weeks on monday to malgrat with ferris coaches, only hoping i can get to my pick up point. good news now is the M1 has reopened.

Hiya FWH

Yes I'd be interested to know who is going to pay for a cancelled holiday due to an "Act of God"....or how the TO's are dealing with the customers affected.
I'm sure there's more than me who lives in South Yorkshire who is a member of HT and anyone trying to get to airports like Humberside, Doncaster, East Midlands, Leeds/Bradford or Manchester from certain villages, would have no chance.
Anyone going to Manchester Airport on the Pennine Express would not have been able too, as the service was suspended with Sheffield Railway Station under water.

Anyone arriving at the above airports would not have got home and I guess the only thing they could have done, is book into a hotel, that's if there were any rooms available at the inns because most places were full from people who just couldn't get home from work....but what would they do if they had no credit cards and had arrived home with very little money.?
3 days later and it would have been me.

They've forecast more rain this week-end..... let's pray to god that they have got it wrong.

Sanjiiiiiiiiiii

Without reading my holiday insurance I cannot say what the exact cover is.

I do know that I am covered for missing a flight - Back in May I thought at one point I might need it. Massive traffic jam delayed us.

I suspect that one thing to come out of this will be what insurance cover people really have. From TV tonight they were saying many people do not even have home insurance.

It does seem to be an area that some people tend to skimp on.

Go for the cheapest cover and hope for the best.

fwh

I live in Hull, and although the water has gone from most areas here now, more bad weather is forecast for the weekend (Sat night - Sun morning). We're going to Turkey from Humberside on Sunday afternoon. Hope it isn't as bad as it was Mon/Tues, or I can see us having a lot of problems just getting to the airport!

ive had part of my house flooded and i live in warwickshire, this was about 2 weeks ago, ive had all the damaged contents removed now, de humidifiers in place , some of my walls will need the plaster removing to help dry it out and im going on holiday in less than 2 weeks, although roads are clear now i am concerned leaving my house for 3 weeks with my son to look after it in case any more floods should happen and having these de humidifiers running whilst we are away, i know i wont enjoy my holiday as much as i normally would due to worrying about whats going on at home, but im not going to cancel it

Can't help wondering how Sanjiii and other members in Yorkshire got on during and after the floods. Please Mods, allow replies to let us know. Although not a strict holiday post, we feel many of the posters are our friends through posts on the forum but can't P.M everyone and not everyone would like to be P.M'd. I genuinely feel for those affected and would like to know how they fared.

Hello Helen
Sanji did write about her experience of the flood and several people replied. It was end of June and titled 'floods' in this forum.
Sue

Merged to existing topic..... will allow a couple of days for discussion after which members can discuss it in our chat rooms.

MarkJ HT Mod

Hi Helen
First of all, I would like to say a very big thankyou for just thinking about us, it is nice to know that there are people out there who care.
It has been a miserable place to live, some people have lost everything apart from the clothes that they stood up in and the stench of raw sewage hangs like acrid smoke in certain villages. The waters receded to leave everything covered in contaminated sludge.

Without sounding as though I'm boasting, I have given large amounts of clothes away to these victims after a clear out of mine and David's wardrobes some of the clothes were too big for me anyway and I strive never to fit in them ever again, so it was a good incentive to pass them on.
Tensions are running high, some didn't have insurance when they should have had and others couldn't afford the premiums, some couldn't get insurance even if they wanted too because of the location of their homes and each case should be judged by their personal circumstances.

My garden was wrecked, but I didn't take any photo's as I knew they wouldn't be allowed in here, but a garden compared to what some people have lost is not worth the worry and David has put most of it back, but we are missing all the bedding plants and the soil that was washed away.
I was annoyed that priority was given to council homes for the allocation of sandbags because the council did everything to try and limit the damage to council properties and people like my neighbours on a private estate were pushed to the back of the queue I presume that the mentality of it all was that we would be more likely to have insurance.

Anyway, I was lucky and regardless of who or what is to blame for this disaster, I can't help but feel sorry for these people.
Their wretched lives will take some putting back together again and some will not get back into their homes for many months, maybe even longer"¦ok, you can buy a new TV, washer and fridge etc, but you cannot replace personal things like photo's of your family or video's of your kids growing up and regardless of your personal status in society, these personal things are what help to make a family "a family" with memories to hold on too and now they have been destroyed for ever.

I've never seen anything like it in my lifetime, I can remember (as a child) the rivers bursting their banks and overflowing into the flood plains, but this really has been unbelievable and quite rightly classed as the worst disaster in peace time history since WW11.
Thankyou once again for thinking about us, it is extremely comforting to know that some people in HT take cyberspace friendships seriously and it goes beyond just passing on information.

Today it is raining quite heavily, it seems as though these people haven't been punished enough.

Sanji

I feel for people who have had photos and other irreplaceable things damaged. photos can be sorted out. Scan wrecked ones in to a PC, use Photoshop to remove the muck and then print off new ones. An all in one scanner, copier, printer will do if people don't have scanner. Got that off Extreme makeover Home Edition, the New Orleans special. Ty got a van with scanner, PC and printer in the back. People took their wrecked photos and got new ones back. Some photo places can restore photos as well. Hope this helps someone.

Hi Sanji,

seen your post and shocking photos, we have some friends at wakefield and they have been telling us how bad it has been.

hope that everything gets back to normal for all affected very soon.

take care.

Eifion.

dear sanji so sorry to hear about the floods in your area. i hope the sun comes out for all of you . thinking of you xx keep your chin up xx