batrabill

Not sure why you need to be so aggressive. There are silver linings in most things. My garden is currently a vast quagmire and our mooring is underwater. We “Norfolk natives” are perhaps able to have a more nuanced view than you suggest. Having clarity about what is wrong and who can actually do anything about it is really valuable. For donkeys years it has been all John Packmans fault. A bit of grown-up reality is a good thing. I suspect the EA have been rather pleased that BA have caught the flack for everything that has gone wrong for decades If there is to be any serious attempt to reduce flooding in the future it will be EA that will lead. The drainage board have already announced they plan (by 2025?) to replace most of the pumping stations around us. If the creaking sewage system is to be improved it will be Anglian Water. So that’s where the pressure needs to be exerted. We will see what the modelling the EA does this year tells them. If Duncan Baker continues the pressure there may be movement.

Perhaps there’s a silver lining in the current flooding. A little understanding of the reality. It’s starting to appear that the BA are not responsible for all evil throughout history. BTW I thought the guy from the EA wasn’t smug at all, he seemed to be the only one who really knew what he was talking about. We should all worry about his “1953” point. It’s hard to get your point across when much of the audience have already decided the flooding is because the BA haven’t dredged enough between Stokeby and Yarmouth

From The Broads Society Latest rainfall and river flow summary from the Environment Agency paints a astonishing picture of how wet the UK is. Over here in the East of England we have received over 220% of the "normal" rainfall for February with a week still to go. That's an EXTRA 10 tonnes of water per acre per day that our drains, rivers and pumps have had to cope with. Read the full report here https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65d7657b87005a001a80f85b/Rainfall_and_river_flow_summary_14_February_to_20_February_2024.pdf #broadssociety #wetwinter #broadsflooding

IDB https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/24110578.norfolk-broads-pumping-project-begin-amid-flooding-crisis/

.

So, Ive sat through it. I offer a summary for those that haven't got 3 hours Feel free to argue if you were there or have listened 1. This years flooding is very largely due to unusually high rainfall and higher tides though October - Jan 2. Herring Bridge - there is no evidence that it has been a significant factor 3. We recently missed a massive surge event where there was huge surge which coincided with low tide - if it had coincided with high tide it would have caused a "1953-type" event. Yikes! 4 Things WILL get worse due to Climate Change 5 The Bure is adequately dredged. John Packman says that the most significant pinch point is the bridges just past the yacht station. 6 The sewage systems of several places cannot cope with the flooding that we have now and WILL come, and I didn't hear anyone say there is a plan to deal with that. 7 There seemed very little planning for a worse future, but there is a study being done this year which will model ways of speeding up the outflow from the Bure. 8 Every time the idea of just dredging the Bure deeper was raised everyone from the agencies looked really uncomfortable. The EA say that the amount of dredging to make a difference is huge.They keep pointing out that tides work in both directions, and they always say that the salt incursion problem could be made worse. Killing a lot of fish is plainly a possible consequence.

For those who haven't seen this From Duncan Baker - they're live-streaming the meeting. For those who havent got Facebook, there's lots of parking. LIVESTREAM DETAILS - PUBLIC MEETING ON FLOODING Tomorrow’s public meeting on flooding will be livestreamed to my Facebook. So if you want to keep up with what's going on from the comfort of your home you can. There is no link, simply come onto my Facebook page at 18:45 pm just before the meeting starts and you will see the video appear. My team will be monitoring the comments of the livestream so they can pass on questions to the panel, so if you watch from home you can still contribute. The livestream will then be saved to my Facebook and can be played back. My team will also be taking minutes of the meeting so you can catch up after the event if you miss anything. As a word of warning, we are expecting a huge turnout. We have a hard cap on 150 spaces so I urge you to please only attend personally if you've been affected or have a positive contribution to make. We have several car parks being utilised, including the Barn for disabled and less able people, the Methodist Church, the Windsurf, and the Pleasure Boat. My team, laid out in the picture attached, will be on hand to help everyone on the night. We look forward to an informative and productive meeting.

Bucket, the meeting on Friday at Hickling may shed some light on this. There must be within EA the data on average river heights at all locations - so someone must know the answer to the question if the rise is everywhere or more in the Northern Broads. Re the Bure Hump. The shallows at Stokesby have been there for a long long time. I think there is a hard bottom, so it's not a sediment problem, so I don't think anyone is claiming that is the Bure Hump, or that it has changed in recent times. On a recent thread I posted the depth maps for Yarmouth to Stokesb, from EA and there wasn't a specific area where it was shallower - ie in that data there was no visible hump, other than some shallowing at Stokesby. Recently the problem has been described by those who think there is a Bure hump as something along the lines of " a shallowing from Stokesby to Yarmouth" this is due to lack of dredging in some eyes. Frustratingly, there must be people in the EA and Ba who have the data. I think when a BA hydrologist did come on here some years ago he didn't support the Bure Hump theory. Cant find his contribution. I think he pointed out that shallows stop the incoming tide and specifically salt incursion. So dredging the Stokesby - Yarmouth stretch may have other consequences.... One thing I am absolutely certain of, that river systems are complex and simple solutions are hard to find.

That does seem to be the case. However, it is because the fundamentals have changed. Weather and tide.

Worth a read. https://www.broads-society.org/post/climate-change-and-the-broads-what-s-at-stake

Frankly, you (you know who you are and not just Mr pseudo-scientific), deserved that. You take ideas from people you like without any examination. Show me where you have scrutinised the Bure Hump? But someone you don’t know posts real observations, not conclusions, and you behave like cult members having their faith questioned. Shame on you.

So:Broads-River-Tidal-Gradients-OctDec23-v-10-Year-Averages (2).pdf \https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/659fdb61e96df50014f844a3/East_Anglia_Water_Situation_Report_December_2023.pdf

I think the original FB poster would like to respond - he has some "pseudo-scientific" data.

If it wasn’t for those pesky boaters! You’ve rumbled him. It’s obviously John Packman laying a false trail!

Original Post is a reply to a piece on the bridge on The Broads Society page. https://www.facebook.com/broadssociety