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Monday 18 November 2019

Water, water .....

One of the upsides of having a main residence in a place in which 2m of Winter snow is not unusual and the entire landscape is trying constantly to go from 45° to horizontal is that everyone is well prepared for it. Every village has its volunteer firefighters and a pump or two (and who are now finally ditching their disconcerting WWII German coal scuttle steel helmets) and council vehicles are short, powerful, high wheelbase trucks. Consequently, the biblical deluge of the past two days is treated as serious but normal; stuff happens. As scores of roads are closed by landslips, floods and fallen trees - find alternative routes. As 200 train passengers are trapped by blocked rail lines and fallen power cables - put them up in hotels and guesthouses, now empty in the off-season. Houses flood, cellars fill with water, schools are unreachable - get the people out, send the pumps in.

As the trickling bachl at the edge of my meadows has turned into a roaring torrent I have been watching the local news carefully, as one does. Never once have I heard anyone blaming it on the government, never once have I seen exploitative interviews with tearful victims. No one cares right now whether it's climate or weather. The whole approach is incredibly stoical. It shames me to say it, but it puts the sensationalist, unbalanced and virtue-signalling whining of the UK media to shame.

In fact, the Austrians have me chuckling. Breakfast TV here is 'Good Morning, Austria!' in which the presenters take their caravan around rural Austria and interview local cake-bakers, costume makers, cider brewers, men with big moustaches and so on between serious news pieces. Today they're broadcasting from an area of the Tyrol stricken with avalanches, mudslides, floods and closed roads and they have segued seamlessly into interviewing firefighters, disaster co-ordinators and experts in making your own candles from earwax ... judge for yourself; the first three minutes are enough.


And here is a matter-of-fact information list of local closed roads, so one may plan one's journey. I'll bet SatNav hasn't caught up yet -

Kärnten
  • die B80, Lavamünder Straße, bei Lavamünd. Nur für PKW gibt es eine Umleitungsmöglichkeit.
  • die B81, Bleiburger Straße, in Lavamünd.
  • die B98, Millstätter Straße, bei Feld am See und zwischen Afritz und Feld am See
  • die B81, Bleiburger Straße, in Lavamünd. PKW werden örtlich umgeleitet. LKW können nur großräumig ausweichen.
  • die B85, Rosental Straße zwischen Finkenstein und Pogöriach
  • die B88, die Kleinkirchheimer Straße, zwischen Radenthein und dem Kirchheimer Graben
  • die B99, Katschberg Straße, zwischen Lieserbrücke und Trebesing, zwischen Leoben und Kremsbrücke sowie zwischen der Autobahnauffahrt Rennweg und dem Katschberg
  • die B100 Drautal Straße zwischen Greifenburg und Radlach
  • die B105, Mallnitzer Straße, auf der gesamten Strecke
  • die B106, Mölltal Straße zwischen Mühldorf und Flattach und zwischen Stall und Latzendorf
  • die B107, Großglockner Straße, zwischen Döllach und Heiligenblut und zwischen Winklern und Iselsberg
  • die B110, die Plöckenpass-Straße, zwischen Mauthen und dem Plöckenpass sowie zwischen Oberdrauburg und Kötschach
  • die B90, die Nassfeld-Straße, zwischen der B111 und Tröpolach
  • die L65, die Hochrindl Straße zwischen Ebene Reichenau und Hochrindl
  • die L26, Egger Straße zwischen Paßriach und Latschach
  • die L103, Waidischer Straße im Ortsgebiet von Ferlach und Zell Pfarre
  • die L3 Amlacher Straße in Greifenburg
  • die L5 Baldramsdorferstraße zwischen Spittal Draubrücke und Gendorf
  • die L19, Innerkremser Straße, zwischen Innerkrems und der Kremsbrücke
  • die L32, die Stockenboier Landesstraße, bei Zlan
  • die L38 Krastal Landesstraße zwischen Treffen und Puch
  • die L37, die Ferndorfer Straße, bei Ferndorf
  • die L113, die Diexer Straße, zwischen St. Ulrich und Gretschitz
  • die Apriacher Straße (Gemeinde Heiligenblut)
  • die Verbindung Winkl – Schlatten
  • und auf der Innerfaganter Straße die Zufahrt zum Mölltaler Gletscher
In der Gemeinde Mörtschach sind einige Straßen wegen Lawinengefahr gesperrt. Und zwar die Ortswege nach :
– Oberstranach
– Pirkaberg
– Rettenbach
– Stampfen West
– Asten
  • In der Gemeinde Großkirchheim sind alle Ortschaftswege gesperrt.
  • In der Gemeinde Winklern sind alle Güterwege Richtung Penzelberg, Oberzwischenbergen und Unterzwischenbergen gesperrt.
  • In der Gemeinde Rangersdorf sind alle Güterwege zu den Bergortschaften gesperrt.
  • In der Gemeinde Stall im Mölltal sind alle Straßen gesperrt.
In der Gemeinde Dellach gesperrt sind:
Nordseitig (Gailtaler Alpen)
– Stollwitzweg (mit Oberstollwitz)
– Goldbergweg (mit Hofzufahrt Obermonseller, Hofzufahrt Knaller und Hofzufahrt Rüben) Wieserbergweg (mit Gurina und Sigile/Schrocker)
Südseitig:
– Hofzufahrt Urban
In der Gemeinde Kötschach-Mauthen:
  • Plon – Buchach
  • Lanz – Dobra
  • Vorhegg – Kreuth
  • Kreuth Ödenhütte (Maierle)
  • Sittmoos, Nischlwitz und Zufahrt Huber
  • Kosta
  • Moser – Trattenschuster Weg
  • Strenge
  • Krieghof
  • Kronhof
  • Gratzhof
  • Dolling
  • Kreuzberg zu Lamprechtbauer und Krieger
In der Gemeide Kirchbach, die Bereiche:
  • Schimanberg-Tramun
  • Staudachberg-Hochwart
  • Wassertheurerberg
  • Stöfflerberg
  • Forst-Straße
  • Kattlingberg-Lenzhofstraße
  • Rauthweg
  • Oberbuchach
  • AAW Stranig-Goderschach; Unterbuchachstraße
  • Verbindungsweg Fitschweg
  • Reißkofelbad-Straße von Grafendorf und Reisach
Wegen umgestürzter Bäume gesperrt ist:
– die B95, die Turracher Straße, zwischen Predlitz und Turrach
Ost-Tirol
In Osttirol sind zahlreiche Straßen gesperrt nach dem starken Schneefall. Auch drohen immer wieder Bäume umzustürzen.
Gesperrt sind
– die Felbertauern-Mautstraße von Mittersill bis Matrei
– und die B108, die Felbertauern-Straße, zwischen Matrei und Huben (zwischen der Hofstelle „Strimitzer“ und der Brühlbrücke)
Weiters gesperrt:
– die B107, die Großglockner Straße, zwischen Iselsberg und Winklern
– die B111, die Gailtal Straße, zwischen Rauchenbach und Kartitsch
– die L24, die Virgentalstraße, von Obermauern bis Hinterbichl
– die L25, die Defereggental-Straße, von Huben bis zum Staller Sattel
– die L26, die Kalser Straße, von Huben bis zur Ködnitz-Brücke
– die L74, die Rajach Straße, im gesamten Verlauf
– die L273, die Villgratentalstraße, zwischen Heinfels und Kalkstein
– die L324, Pustertaler Höhenstraße, in mehreren Abschnitten zwischen Oberburgfrieden und Abfaltersbach
– die L325, die Tessenberger Straße, zwischen Fronstadl und Hintenburg
– die L326, die Winkeltalstraße, auf gesamter Strecke
– die L358, die St. Veiter Straße, im Bereich Frezgraben
– die L359, die Asslinger Straße, zwischen Thal und Oberassling
– und die L388, die St. Justina Straße, zwischen Mittenwald und St. Justina
– sowie sämtliche Ortsstraßen in Inner- und Außervillgraten

18 comments:

JPM said...

Jolly good, and I agree with much of that sentiment.

However the activity in the UK media over the recent flooding is perhaps warranted because:

a) There has been all-time record rainfall.

b) It was claimed that people flooded in the Home Counties got more help than those in the North.

c) flooding covers wider areas in flat country than it does in hilly places like Austria.

Dave_G said...


Clearly the media in Austria isn't as self-obsessed with propaganda as that of the rest of Europe and the UK in particular although I have no reason to disbelieve they wouldn't be required to toe the Government line if the occasion required it.

Does the Austrian media (TV) have the typical "I'm a celebrity Dancing on Ice Box" type programs that the UK media seems so enamoured with? Does the Austrian media take the public for 'gullible fools/idiots' like the UK does?

It would seem that the Austrians haven't fallen for the Global Warming BS potentially because they don't have a LYING media ramming it down their throats 24/7 and blaming any/every event on it.....

But, when you actually LIVE with such climate/weather problems then your own situation isn't anything worth reporting - as happens in Scotland where I live - torrential rain and/or eyebrow depth snow isn't uncommon or unusual so we hardly ever read/see reports of 'disaster'. When the major road (Edinburgh/Glasgow M8 in particular) is closed or disrupted THEN we see reporting but other wise I sit in 'awe' of the mania I see regarding flooding in the rest of the UK - most of which seems to be roads under a 'coating' (inch or so) of water......

Other than the political use of media to promote Globalist agenda we have a media obsession with anything that can create drama and (usually) exaggerates every situation beyond parody.

You're lucky to be 'out of it' Raed.

Dave_G said...


@JPM

"all time record"...... 4.5 Billion years is a long tome to keep records, let alone more recent periods. Do those 'record rainfalls' exceed anything in the CET records even?

Comparisons of any 'weather' event are only ever made to promote "the cause" - on nearly every occasion you can find prior events that exceed the 'celebrity' events - Venice for a recent example.

So it can't be blamed on climate change - only selective choice of data.

DiscoveredJoys said...

I noticed how fervently the MSM 'reported' Boris being blamed for not showing up earlier, yet none of them reported the YouTube clip of him loading the Prime Ministerial 4x4s with supplies for a village that had been cut off.

I've come to the conclusion that our 'polarisation' of the news is driven by a deeper malaise. It's conspiracy thinking in the early stages. Form a conclusion (Boris Bad, Trump Bad, Brexit Bad) and then bend all the evidence to supporting the conspiracy, and discount any contrary evidence. To be fair there are competing conspiracies (EU Bad, Clinton Bad, Bankers Bad, Big State/Big Brother).

And that's why I seldom read newspapers or watch television. I prefer to browse a range of opinions (it's not news) and not get sucked into the conspiracies.

decnine said...

One of the early stories during the flood concerned a woman who ran her business from her now flooded home. On checking her insurance policy she found that the insurers had recently added a clause excluding flood from the risks covered. It seems that the insurers had found out that 'They' had done something to increase the flood risk in the affected area. Now the residents were finding out too.

So, a genuinely man made disaster; and not a single carbon dioxide molecule was involved.

Billy Marlene said...

Those advertisements leading into the programme were clearly fake. There wasn’t even ONE mixed race family and not a hint of a woman playing tonsil hockey with another woman.

John Brown said...

If we’re going to continue to build houses for all the extra workers we need (to build the houses we need for instance) should not government and/or local councils regulate that new houses built on flood plains or where flooding is a risk either build the properties on stilts, or on raised banks or design their lower floors to cope better with flooding ?

Or, I think I have seen this, build properties which can float ?

decnine said...

Retro-fitting buoyancy to existing houses could be a bit of a challenge.

DiscoveredJoys said...

@John Brown

In a small enclave that floods every 10 years or so near our village most houses have some sort of high threshold. Recently one house was rebuilt with the equivalent of an aboveground cellar as the ground floor, with a flight of steps up to the front door on the first floor.

Peter MacFarlane said...

All-time record?

I don't think so; July 1973 saw more, for one thing.

But I guess "since records began" is now equated with "all-time" and probably also equates to the average attention span of a millenial.

Actual facts, of course, don't come into it.

microdave said...

"Never once have I heard anyone blaming it on the government

But you probably don't have government sponsored quango's like the EA who actively prevent landowners from managing the situation, by enforcing EU regulations that other countries don't.

@ JPM - "There has been all-time record rainfall"

No, there hasn't:

https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2019/11/10/is-extreme-daily-rainfall-getting-worse-in-england/

Dave_G said...


Or, I think I have seen this, build properties which can float ?

I 'think' they call them...... boats.

Given the number of hoops one usually has to jump (pay) through to obtain a mortgage these days I'm surprised they don't demand proof the property isn't built on a flood plain (or in an area that may be seen to flood in times of excess).

As much as a buyer wouldn't consider a house built using asbestos, what makes them think buying a house on a known flood plain is any better a choice?

In fact, how come local councils even allow planning permission if the builders don't/won't take into consideration the possibility of flooding? They're quick enough to demand 'climate change' levels of insulation....

@DJ - too many so-called conspiracy theories are, in fact, conspiracy facts. I understand it was the CIA that coined the term 'conspiracy theory' to give deliberate deflection to some of the more elaborate schemes they (might) have been involved in. Much as the Climate brigade use the term 'denier' to deflect genuine facts from distorting their fatuous conspiracies.

JPM said...

OK for the anal, the Met Office said that for the Sheffield area, since records had been kept, this was the maximum for September to November's end.

They could have been lying, I suppose.

Stephen J said...

@JPM:

If it was published by the Met Office it is almost certainly in receipt of some politically motivated embellishment.

Oddly the man to go to in this country in order to learn about weather is Ohhhh Jeremy Corbyn's big bro, who seems to have swept the senior Corbyns clear of any intelligence genes, he has picked up a couple for himself, but poor Jeremy lost out entirely.

A pilot friend of mine when planning a flight, say to France consults the US meteorological services, he maintains they have never let him down, unlike our own.

Anonymous said...

The floods were the fault of Brexit. I thought everyone knew that.
M.

Dave_G said...


JPM said "OK for the anal, the Met Office said that for the Sheffield area, since records had been kept, this was the maximum for September to November's end.

They could have been lying, I suppose."


Well, they don't have to LIE do they.....? They can just 'obfuscate' - especially since the rainfall records for Sheffield started waaaaay back to 1st May.
.
.
.
.
2007.

RAC said...

This is a handy website you can look 4days ahead and also go to previous days to see trends. Never found any instructions but you can really do a lot with it, just have to play around to figure out what it can do.Click the earth icon to get the control panel up.
https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/orthographic=-3.88,55.14,3000/loc=-3.956,50.800

microdave said...

"Or, I think I have seen this, build properties which can float ?"

One was featured in an episode of "Grand Designs". It was on and island in the Thames, and involved building a massive rectangular concrete "sump", which contained the raft the house was built on. There were also four steel guides which located the raft as the water level rises and falls. All the services had to be flexible, and (from memory) there was a moveable access ramp. The cost? As I recall, close to a million pounds...