Forum Topic

Authorities lag far behind community heroes in flood-hit regions

I am watching the reports on Sky News of the heroic efforts being made by community volunteers in the face of the terrible floods just a few miles from where we live, and what is immediately apparent is that it is local people, with their specialist local knowledge, who are very much at the forefront of the rescue efforts while the politicians alternately pose for the cameras and look on gormlessly like rabbits caught in the glare of the headlights of an unstoppable truck that is heading full-on towards them.It would appear the police have been thin on the ground, the military are lacking direction, and the Environment Agency and government vie with one another for the honour of being the most inept and superfluous player in the entire drama.Does this not demonstrate that when the chips are down it is communities, ordinary people, who best know the needs of their own and who can be best be relied upon to do the right thing, not remote institutions and organisations with no special interest in any one locality?  I wonder if there is a message for us locally here?

Phil Andrews ● 4196d3 Comments

Thank you Vanessa - there aren't enough laughs on the forums these days.I expect that one of the ways of saving money is to not ever have any expenses for leaving the office and the screen ie only half do a job.  Where are you Sir Gerry Robinson?

Philippa Bond ● 4190d

Sadly I don't think windbags are quite as effective as sandbags in these situations.  Yes, authorities have the resources and so their help and support is needed.  But bearing in mind residents are clearly more effective than authorities when these things happen is there not a case for distributing more of those resources to communities in the first place?

Phil Andrews ● 4196d

Of course locals know their areas best, (traffic engineers please note!) but they require the authorities to support them resource wise. This debacle only proves that in spite of banging on about cuts and austerity, come the day there is always a price to pay that is often a lot higher than spending the money in the first place to prevent something happening. Yes, these are very odd weather conditions no-one could dispute that, but the stupidity of cutting the Environment Agency's budget to the bone has come back to haunt the coalition in spades. The most sensible suggestion I've heard is that Eric Pickles would be more use as a sandbag!

Vanessa Smith ● 4196d