Snippets about the floods

[Scythe13]

OMG!!! WHAT??!?! There's been flooding in the UK?!?!? Why did nobody tell me this?!?!?!

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Okay, I will rant, no doubt, but before I do...If you have been effected by the flooding, AND WE HAVE MET, please let me know. We have a spare bedroom, warm clothes, and plenty of food. I'm happy to come and pick you up, especially if you're in the Somerset area. If you have been effected, my heart goes out for your and I could not imagine what it is like to lose everything the way you have.


Time for the rant.

I think about 75% or more of this isn't about prepping, but just opinions on buying houses, gloating about how high we live, and not understanding each other's situations and perspectives.

But you know what, let's bring this back to prepping and survivalism.

Okay, nobody buy a house on a flood plain, we've got that bit sorted. But what if you don't have an option? Well then figure a route out of the house if something were to happen, e.g. a bug out route for a flooding scenario. If we lived on a flood plain, we'd prep with a kayak or 2. Would this save our house? Nope. Would it save our animals? Some of them, yes. Would it put us into a safer position? Yes. Would it still suck to have our house ruined by flooding? Damn right! But we can always rebuild a house, not so easy with rebuilding lives though.

Do we, as preppers, need to make contingencies incase something like flooding was to happen? Of course. We would take reasonable precautions. Please note the word REASONABLE!!! If we lived on a flood plain, the wife would probably see my view of an 8 foot water shield as excessive. Having said that, we would have attracted a load of attention and would be inundated with people and the alike, in the event of a flood. In short, we'd be screwed, whether we had huge flood barriers. But then turn it around. No preps and we'd still be screwed. There are some situations that you cannot win. Levels of flooding that would surpass 'reasonable precautions' are just one example of the 'cannot win' style of situation.

If you live on a better elevation, don't think that gives you the moral high ground (no pun intended, but the irony is there). Farmers have, throughout history, favoured flood plains because of the richness of nutrients that are washed up with the sediment. Why do you think the cities were largely based around rivers? Because of transport and the richness of soil for food. So those 'idiots' on the flood plains are the ones putting food on your plate.

But if you live on a flood plain, you do not have the moral high ground to start bitching and being a negative Nancy. The situation may not have been favourable, and you may have been forced to live in that area. Maybe it was job or council that ordained that as your home, but just because you live there doesn't mean you can moan about it. If you took reasonable precaution, then that's cool. You tried your best. At least you have some kind of water raft, a couple of BOB's, and the wherewithal to move expensive furniture upstairs when you get a flood warning. Because these kinds of things would be reasonable precautions. If you're new to prepping or have not got the finances for these things, you have gone through a horrific experience, and probably still are, but at least you're alive. If you've survived it, you can easily learn a valuable lesson.

Granted, any kind of catastrophe will suck. Whether it's 5 feet of water on the Somerset levels, a rising River Thames, or a couple of inches of snow, for wherever NR lives. But there are some situations that just catch you out.

Instead of everyone bitching and moaning, regardless about whether they're effected or not, why not start acting in a more forum style manner, and start supporting one another? Make helpful suggestions? Offer assistance or aid? Instead of name calling and cursing one region, e.g. London, because they have more money than you, or just because you don't like the area and are thus ignorant to it. The same goes with situations that effect people, either you're going through it, or you're ignorant of their situation. Until you ARE that person, you can never truly understand their plight. So why make unhelpful comments time and again? It's been embarrassing hearing people of above average intelligence completely lose their ability to empathise and assist their fellow human beings, let alone their fellow preppers!

Here's an idea, when an earthquake devastates the home you live in and ruins your life, everyone unaffected by it will be entitled to just rip into you for where you live and then gloat about how secure they are. Is that cool? What about a megastorm smashing your home to bits? When that happens, and you turn to people that are meant to be comrades in arms about wanting to learn to survive, how would you feel if they just turned round and were knobs to you? Really uncool behaviour!

Seriously, bickering and the alike not only makes you look silly, but it entirely defeats the idea of trying to learn and develop our preps together!

This is not a gloating game.

This is not a name calling forum.

This is not a North vs South divide forum.

THIS IS A PREPPING FORUM WHERE PEOPLE ARE MEANT TO HELP ONE ANOTHER SURVIVE!!!

If the bitching is what happens when a few of our number are effected, then WTSHTF for us all, I truly feel sorry for us.

Instead of gloating, why not offer aid? Instead of bitching that stuff's going wrong? Get your bags ready to bug out, and start moving furniture upstairs. Trip your fuse box. Board up your walls, air bricks, and the alike. Go crazy with sandbags and volumes of silicone sealant stuff! Call friends and family for help.

We are entitled to help ourselves and our fellow humans, whether it's providing food, blankets, or something like that, or if it's actually going down there and lending a helping hand. Alternatively raise money for charity, open up a spare bedroom to a friend, or whatever.

But please let's just keep this about prepping and the alike. No point being A-Holes to people whom have already been through hell and high water (pun intended there....sorry if it offended anyone).