On 2014-02-09 15:22:32 +0000, Bob Hobden said:

"David Hill" wrote

Well for now it looks as if the worst of the wind is over.
Here at the side of Swansea Bay we had 26 hours with the wind gusting
to 60 mph or more, of that 18 hours were gusting to over 70mph, but
with that came just 0.6 inches of rain so I suppose we were lucky,
though there is water running everywhere.
Here everything is still standing, just the ground littered with twigs;
mostly dead wood; that the gale removed, and my first daffs are still
upright, I checked the variety and they are Rijnveld's early sensation,
and are about 3 weeks ahead of the next earliest.
The first Camellia buds are just showing signs of red but a time away
from flowering.
Hope everyone else got away lightly.

Whilst we did have strong winds it's the flooding we are all concerned
about here. It's back again with the same three main roads closed as
before as the Thames has burst it bank again. They are now saying it
will be worse than 2003 locally.

Don't move to Somerset! Just a couple of days ago my daughter helped
evacuate foals belonging to HOPE. Their owner's house has been flooded
for some time and until she was forced to leave, had 9 pumps going.
She received a call at 7am telling her to get herself and the foals and
her own horses out, as they feared the River Parrett was going to burst
its banks. Frantic calls were made to try to find stabling and
transport for the animals which would otherwise have drowned.
Eventually both were sorted out and 8 went in one direction and the
rest in another. One person asked only for petrol money (the charity
will pay for animal feed) but the transporter is charging her £500 and
one stable is charging her £10 per day per foal. She daren't move them
again for at least a week as they were so unsettled (these are wild
Dartmoor foals) so she has to find a lot of money and if possible, some
future free, or much cheaper stabling. This is a little known charity
saving foals that would otherwise be shot, so they're not wealthy and
their money collection 'catchment area' is small. So the foal's owner
and her husband are now living in a caravan belonging to my daughter in
one of her paddocks, the cats are in a cattery and they have absolutely
no idea when they'll be able to get home again. I may say, that this
house has never flooded before, is not in a flood area (up until now)
and she was assured by the surveyor that it was a safe property to buy
and in which to keep horses. It's to be hoped they can get some help
from somewhere and quickly.
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk