Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => Meetings, gatherings, parties etc => Topic started by: biggriffin on 14 July 2012, 08:35:36
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:( :( just been on autobahnstormers and billing has been cancelled due to the river bursting its banks,and they say dont even bother to go tommorow. :(
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:( :( just been on autobahnstormers and billing has been cancelled due to the river bursting its banks,and they say dont even bother to go tommorow. :(
Cheers for posting biggriffin. Yep, we had to evacuate early this morning as the whole site is water logged. I'd also like to thank everyone there for their help, considering it was early hours of the morning. Twiglet knocked on the door and warned us that our caravan was becoming a boat.
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That's not good... I hope there weren't any casualties?
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This was a real shame, as it was shaping up to be an excellent weekend. :'(
I would like to thank Alan and his wife for their hospitality, and I hope that everyone made it home safely. :y
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We had two broken fingers during the evacuation (!) Other than that the water breached from the river, (in the pic with the GTe you can see how high it was in the background!) but peaked and had started to drain by the time we left this morning. Apologies for pic dump!¬
(http://i373.photobucket.com/albums/oo172/mk2cavalier/Events/BillingSubAqua2012/autojumble1.jpg)
(http://i373.photobucket.com/albums/oo172/mk2cavalier/Events/BillingSubAqua2012/bathhurst.jpg)
(http://i373.photobucket.com/albums/oo172/mk2cavalier/Events/BillingSubAqua2012/clarasteffi.jpg)
(http://i373.photobucket.com/albums/oo172/mk2cavalier/Events/BillingSubAqua2012/GTe1.jpg)
(http://i373.photobucket.com/albums/oo172/mk2cavalier/Events/BillingSubAqua2012/omega1.jpg)
(http://i373.photobucket.com/albums/oo172/mk2cavalier/Events/BillingSubAqua2012/vvoc1.jpg)
Here are a few of the photos from the site from late Friday night (not much water) through until the 3-4 am when we were evacuated to the leisure centre.
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Thanks for sharing your photo's Jtypecav. :y
We were in the Autobahnstormers area and I was impressed at how the guys were mucking in to help each other. I had the added worry of getting the caravan off the field as well, although the caravan mover did most of the hard work. A job well done guys. :y Some of the guys behind us were up to their sills in water. :'(
I don't care if it is a Vauxhall/Bedford show, next year I'm taking the Navara. ;D
Regards
Alan
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We helped a couple of people out from VVOC but I didn't even get a chance to see the ABS stand this year. :-\
Glad everyone seemed to pitch in all round. Think it's about time the even got moved to August to make good on some better weather as it's not getting any better each July!
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I know how much so many look forward to this meet, but I think it does highlight the gross irresponsibility of VBOA to allow this to go ahead this year, given Billing's low lying location right next to the River Nene.
I appreciate that so many would have been so disappointed if this had been cancelled before the weekend, but that was the only sensible thing to do.
IMHO anyway.
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Especially as the weather was expected and there was a flood warning in place ::)
But, thankfully, it looks like there were no casualties so it's a "Near Miss" and (hopefully) a lesson will be learnt. Mind you, should we have cancelled the Lakes meet? The forecast wasn't good :-\
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Mind you, should we have cancelled the Lakes meet? The forecast wasn't good :-\
The thought crossed my mind, although the bulk of the weather was forecast to be further South - around Mancs etc. Plus we know the site, and that it has some higher areas. Also, as you know, we had a fallback plan ;)
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I know how much so many look forward to this meet, but I think it does highlight the gross irresponsibility of VBOA to allow this to go ahead this year, given Billing's low lying location right next to the River Nene.
I appreciate that so many would have been so disappointed if this had been cancelled before the weekend, but that was the only sensible thing to do.
IMHO anyway.
I accept what you are saying and I was already aware of what Billing was like from a much worse experience in 1998 when the River Nene completely submerged the whole site and the Garden Centre opposite. This was small fry compared to that, although those with wrecked tents, cars, equipment etc. will gain no pleasure from that statement. This is why, in my other post's regarding Billing, I was very nervous about taking my caravan back there.
When I arrived, I received no warning from staff at the gate and, although I didn't need it, I still feel gate staff should have made people aware of the conditions.
As to who is responsible for the decision to go ahead, you could blame us for agreeing to attend, VBOA for allowing it to go ahead on Billings advice or Billing themselves for not cancelling as they definitely should have done. On the other hand, allegedly, it now transpires that Billing, the same as in 1998 when I was there during the bad flood, didn't open the flood defence to dump water in to the lakes.
Any of this is no consolation to those who put time and money in to what should have been a great show. :'(
Hopefully there were no human casualties and this will be an ice-breaker for conversations at future events. :y It's probably fair to say that, knowing how bad Billing can be, that people only went to support their clubs.
Regards
Alan
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VBOA for allowing it to go ahead on Billings advice or Billing themselves for not cancelling as they definitely should have done.
Somewhere in that chain, something went wrong. Anyone in that chain should have been able to instigate the discussion.
Hopefully, it will be a reminder for future events, should we have another season of unseasonably high rainfall... ...although it appears in this instance, Billing forgot the events of a decade ago.
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Mind you, should we have cancelled the Lakes meet? The forecast wasn't good :-\
The thought crossed my mind, although the bulk of the weather was forecast to be further South - around Mancs etc. Plus we know the site, and that it has some higher areas. Also, as you know, we had a fallback plan ;)
I must admit, I half expected to wake up on Saturday morning to find another 4 people farting and snoring sleeping in the lounge :-X ::)
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Who's idea was it anyway to build a holiday park on a flood plain!! ;D
We were camped on a spot a foot higher than everyone else; as it happened, our tent was fine.. But we couldn't face being on a lone-island with a potentially washed out car, no toilet and only minimal food.. So we left while we still could at 3am, waded through the water before it came up to the sills and made a hasty exit!!
Though I'm sure if the mrs hadn't have been woken by "the team" letting the water out behind us, I would have blissfully slept through until the floods had subsided, then emerged from my tent wondering where the hell everyone had gone!! :y
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Mind you, should we have cancelled the Lakes meet? The forecast wasn't good :-\
The thought crossed my mind, although the bulk of the weather was forecast to be further South - around Mancs etc. Plus we know the site, and that it has some higher areas. Also, as you know, we had a fallback plan ;)
I must admit, I half expected to wake up on Saturday morning to find another 4 people farting and snoring sleeping in the lounge :-X ::)
:y at least the statics were on high ground and unlikely to be effected by any flooding, how many could you get in one?............ :D :D :D
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Mind you, should we have cancelled the Lakes meet? The forecast wasn't good :-\
The thought crossed my mind, although the bulk of the weather was forecast to be further South - around Mancs etc. Plus we know the site, and that it has some higher areas. Also, as you know, we had a fallback plan ;)
I must admit, I half expected to wake up on Saturday morning to find another 4 people farting and snoring sleeping in the lounge :-X ::)
:y at least the statics were on high ground and unlikely to be effected by any flooding, how many could you get in one?............ :D :D :D
So were most of the campers ;)
As to how many? I think we had 11 plus the hound in the lounge on Friday evening :y