Wellies, Waterproofs And Sandbags For The New Year

2012 Great Britain and Ireland floods so put on your wellies

You needed your wellies in 2012 United Kingdom and Ireland floods are a series of weather events that affected parts of Great Britain and Ireland periodically during the course of 2012. The beginning of 2012 saw much of the United Kingdom experiencing droughts and a heat wave in March. A series of low pressure systems steered by the Jet stream brought the wettest April in 100 years, and flooding across Britain and Ireland. Continuing through May and leading to the wettest beginning to June in 150 years, with flooding and extreme events occurring periodically throughout Britain and parts of Western Europe.

The Met Office issued severe weather warnings for much of England, including London, Wales and Scotland. As during the floods of November, it was Cornwall that first felt the brunt of the bad weather overnight on Thursday.

At Porthallow in Looe, in south-east Cornwall, the water was 2ft deep in the centre of the village in the early hours. Water had to be pumped from homes near Launceston, St Austell, Helston and St Keverne. Firefighters also attended a landslip at Ponts Mill, Tywardreath, near Fowey.

Cornwall council had more than 100 staff out helping emergency services and EA workers deal with the floods. A council spokesman said individual properties were being affected this time so far rather than communities.

 

Wet weather proves a washout for sales of summer products

Shoe retailers have seen storming sales of wellies but have been stuck with sandals. At B&Q, sales of garden footwear such as Wellington boots and rubber shoes are up 97%. Shoe Zone has sold more than 115,000 pairs of wellies since the start of May – and a pair every 30 seconds since the beginning of this month.

Marketing and property director, said: “It’s a shame high summer lines are still sitting on the shelves. We’ve had a great reaction to our welly boots range. Sales have been driven by muddy festivals, but it seems more and more people are wearing them every day now too.”