Tuesday 8 December 2015

A few unusual days, and it's not over yet.

As well as other stuff, we had Storm Desmond this weekend.
It has caused widespread flooding and power cuts in North Lancashire and the whole of Cumbria.
In Lancaster the only two bridges over the river Lune had to be closed.  This was because a container from a construction site by the river was washed into the Lune, where it collided with both bridges.  They had to be inspected when the tide was at it's lowest for damage.
This meant people trying to drive from Lancaster to Morecambe, or vice-versa, had to go to junction 33, Galgate and drive up to junction 35, Carnforth......junction 34 was difficult to access at one point.  Another thing that closed the Greyhound bridge was there was an awful lot of flood debris caught on the metalwork below the bridge.
Today, things seem to be improving travel wise.

On top of that the flooding caused a huge area to be subject to power cuts.
Over the last couple of nights, Edwin and I have been having discussions about power.
Our conclusions were, it might be useful if households had a small wind turbine and solar panels.
Another thing we discussed was it would be a great idea if some enterprising engineers developed tidal energy harnessing, and other hydro electric power.  After all, the tide comes in twice a day, without fail.
I know that this is a serious discussion, and not my usual "at a tangent" posts.
I won't apologise, the situation caused the discussion.

On a lighthearted note however, it is odd what some people consider essential electricity usage, as we wait to be transferred back onto the national grid electricity supply. (We are currently on generators.)
A plea went out over The Bay radio to limit your electric use to essential.......and I saw someone pressure washing their car yesterday......and I thought what a moron! I didn't comment to them, as I didn't want to be verbally abused.

A big thanks to all the essential services who have done their best to keep everything OK. Thanks to the guys, and gals, from the electricity companies working flat out in order to restore power to the area, and a big thanks to The Bay radio for cobbling together a Heath Robinson studio in order to keep residents informed of progress, school closures, electricity supply updates, road condition and flood reports. You're absolute stars.



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