Official Flood Watch declared

Okay, I said last week on my Community Response Forum that we were going on alert for flooding. Since the Environment Agency was showing all England and Wales regions as "all clear" at the time, we didn't want to call it an actual 'flood warning'. At 7:30pm last night, however, the status changed to FLOOD WATCH for the area Annette and I are living in.

So we can say it is official now, and no one can say we are being flacky. Let me say this right now -- we got 6 days advance warning because alert Christians -- watchmen if you like -- were on the ball, and the communications system was working.

This is still a flood watch - not an alert - and we now have 8 hours until the tide peaks. We have our emergency plan as in place as it is going to be, including a make shift kitchen arrangement upstairs. We plan to only evacuate if we really have to - since we have the ability for the 7 of us to survive for at least a week inside the home. [Our daughter Hannah lives in a basement flat, so she would stay over here]. For the skeptics among us, who will note that I made the last post on this blog after the Watch was announced, take the time to check my Living Waters Forum; you may check with any of the 50 or more folks that Annette and I emailed our two-page flood warning PDF file newsletter that I emailed on 27th February 2006. On the forum, I launched the warning some six days ago.

Note: currently, anyone can click through to our forum - by the time you read this, you may have to register as a user first. Below is what the government agency is now saying, not us:
Current status
Flood Watch Status
last changed at:19:30 on 28-Feb-2006
Location:The River Thames from Putney Bridge to Teddington Weir
[Click for Live Link]
Because this governemnt page is updated frequently and flood watches change, this may be a dead link in by the time you view. If so, just chop off the extensions, and you'll be able to do your own flood search for the whole of England and Wales. The evidence is clear: however we are not saying there will be a flood, but we are ready if one happens!