RogerH Posted October 4, 2020 Report Share Posted October 4, 2020 Hi Folks, I've just been watching the BBC weather. It is not good in France/Italy. Rivers are not just breaking their banks but taking the banks and everything on them away down the river. Houses collapsing into torrents of water. One house still had people in it. Quite terrible. Roger Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Peter Cobbold Posted October 4, 2020 Report Share Posted October 4, 2020 Hi Roger, Yes, its no good anymore saying that village has never been washed away in hundreds of years. Huge cloudbursts are becoming the new norm. We live alongside a hill stream that drains about 20 acres of pasture 300 feet above us. The speed of its response to heavy rain is astonishing. We have started to take countermeasures, but even those wont likely cope with a 1 month of rain in 24 hours. https://supertrarged.wordpress.com/2015/11/12/concrete-canvas-ditch-lining/ Peter Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ianc Posted October 4, 2020 Report Share Posted October 4, 2020 That is very impressive, Peter - great deal of work, but I am sure it will be worth it. There seems no end to the rainfall at the moment and a great many people in various parts of Europe will be hit very hard - and not for the first time. Best wishes, Ian Cornish Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Peter Cobbold Posted October 4, 2020 Report Share Posted October 4, 2020 2 minutes ago, ianc said: That is very impressive, Peter - great deal of work, but I am sure it will be worth it. There seems no end to the rainfall at the moment and a great many people in various parts of Europe will be hit very hard - and not for the first time. Best wishes, Ian Cornish Hi Ian, CC isnt cheap, there's £1500-worth there, but easy to transport and quick to install. A day's work. Since then we have hired a bigger digger and driver to raise berms to try to deflect a big flood that exceeds the stream bed capacity, but I think it may need more. Rain runs off dry sheep pasture as if its concrete. There are 'dams' of rocks and dead trees further up the stream and if they slide in a storm we will be in big trouble. Impossible to access with machinery, except maybe a spider-excavator. I'm reading up on stream stabilising techniques. Or maybe a family of beavers could do the job for free. Peter Quote Link to post Share on other sites
james christie Posted October 4, 2020 Report Share Posted October 4, 2020 Well folks, we live in the corridor where Alex hit the west of France in the early hours of Friday morning. Although the worst of the gale only lasted 1 1/2 hours the havoc wreaked was considerable. For those interested in such things, the barometer dropped from 1000 to 970 mb in 3 hours and locally there were gusts recorded of 186 kph or 90 knots if you are if a nautical mind. A particular feature, apart from uprooted pines and cedars, was huge branches of oak and ash trees being snapped off high up in the canopy - as they are still in leaf. Fortunately most of the damage is material rather than human The experience is not one I should like live through again. Our garden is a battle scene but there is a bonus as the bill for fuelling the wood stove will be reduced for the next few years. Don't bother coming to Brittany to buy a chain saw - they've gone the same way as toilet paper earlier in the year! james Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Peter Cobbold Posted October 4, 2020 Report Share Posted October 4, 2020 We have had gales that have left oaks and ash on the edge of the wood unscathed, but have twisted 10 inch trunks to topple crowns in the middle of the wood. Quite well known to foresters apparently, trees dont like turbulence. Makes for good habitat. Peter Quote Link to post Share on other sites
barkerwilliams Posted October 4, 2020 Report Share Posted October 4, 2020 Haven't seen concrete canvas used domestically, only in military rapid-build inflatable bunkers where it is an impressively "instant" material. But I often wondered about ditching but as you wrote it is not cheap, though with difficult access as you seem to have it must be particularly cost effective. With it's smooth sides if you have much of a fall on the ditch it will have an impressive discharge speed at the bottom. Alan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Peter Cobbold Posted October 4, 2020 Report Share Posted October 4, 2020 16 minutes ago, barkerwilliams said: Haven't seen concrete canvas used domestically, only in military rapid-build inflatable bunkers where it is an impressively "instant" material. But I often wondered about ditching but as you wrote it is not cheap, though with difficult access as you seem to have it must be particularly cost effective. With it's smooth sides if you have much of a fall on the ditch it will have an impressive discharge speed at the bottom. Alan Alan. Yes, with a layer of algae it is extremely slippery. The water zooms down carrying leaves, twigs, sticks with it until it reaches a 12 inch culvert. Every autumn we have to unblock it by hand. The water velocity compacts the stuff , its like digging a 2 yard length of 2 foot deep, 2 foot wide, sodden phone directories. Another job is to dispense with the pipe using more CC. but there's no access for a digger. Peter Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SeanF Posted October 5, 2020 Report Share Posted October 5, 2020 18 hours ago, james christie said: Well folks, we live in the corridor where Alex hit the west of France in the early hours of Friday morning. Although the worst of the gale only lasted 1 1/2 hours the havoc wreaked was considerable. For those interested in such things, the barometer dropped from 1000 to 970 mb in 3 hours and locally there were gusts recorded of 186 kph or 90 knots if you are if a nautical mind. A particular feature, apart from uprooted pines and cedars, was huge branches of oak and ash trees being snapped off high up in the canopy - as they are still in leaf. Fortunately most of the damage is material rather than human The experience is not one I should like live through again. Our garden is a battle scene but there is a bonus as the bill for fuelling the wood stove will be reduced for the next few years. Don't bother coming to Brittany to buy a chain saw - they've gone the same way as toilet paper earlier in the year! james Good to hear you survived James. Stay safe. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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