justinflavin

just saw the ticker on sky news saying that South West trains are operating a Saturday service today.

i agree , as i literally had to walk home from basingstoke train station last night so i saw the roads first hand in the evening. even the road next to the station was about 1 or 2 inches covered in deep black ice. there was not a chance that the gritters could get out , such was the sudden speed of the snowfall. wife and kids reported snowflakes as big as "feathers" during the afternoon snowfall - we're talking hand sized flakes...

still very deep and thick snow here in central hampshire. i'm getting increasingly concerned about local radio in their focus on MAIN ROADS being clear and their messages about "be careful if you venture out". seems unrealistic as its deathly quiet this morning. no background hum of traffic. in central basingstoke last night the road that the buses take next to the train station was covered in about 2 inches of black ice. and thats a road that should have been gritted like mad. you can only guess what the feeder roads are like. to get an idea on how bad it was last night - even the head of the AA was stuck. he did a telephone interview on the news last night. stuck in the basingstoke snowpocalypse. (AA HQ is in bstoke..) guy in charge of the gritters is on bbc radio berkshire right now. explaining the situation - the gritters went out at 3pm, but the snow came earlier than expected. trouble is - as soon as the snow arrived in hampshire, everyone else decided to head home - which caused an early rush hour, which held up the gritters.

just listening to local radio here in hampshire. apparently some folks left basingstoke ( christmas shopping) at about 3pm yesteray afternoon and are only NOW getting home ( in berkshire/reading)... looks like basingstoke got the worst of it according the radio. thats me off work today. there's absolutely no way i'll be able to get into the train station. still knackered from my 7 mile walk home last night.

2nd wave is just easing off here in basingstoke. on the other hand, the sky is pure orange. ( is that the sky full of snow, or just the ground reflecting light back to the clouds in a feedback loop that makes the clouds glow orange? ) either way - the sky is very bright at the moment.

the utter lack of gritters in basingstoke was a big part of it. and the sheer amount of snowfall in a very short time. which prevented the gritters from going out. i dont blame folks - this really is a weird event. its not their fault.

wow.. its starting snowing AGAIN , heavily in basingstoke. methinks the odds on a white christmas have been shortened somewhat. i cant see this amount melting over the next few days.

after i saw the utter chaos in basingstoke, dont be so joyful about snow. we're talking major roads that werent gritted - and i think a lot of families will be trapped overnight in their cars. was a bit shocked at the utter lack of police or army. was talking to neighbours on the way home who had started giving cups of tea out to the drivers because there was NOBODY else out there..

i live in the north of basingstoke - chineham.. a long walk on a normal day. but on the plus side , it gave me an eye witness view of the utter chaos on the roads. i've never seen jams that big or that many cars abandoned in my 13 years of living here. was like walking through one of those "day after tommorow" disaster movies.

i'm just home after having to leave my car at the train station at basingstoke, and having to walk about 7 miles to my home. it is LITERALLY a car park. the ring road around basingstoke and the A33 to reading - a massive - and i mean MASSIVE car park. swear to god, i've never seen anything like this. folks need to start making cups of tea for these folks - seriously - because there was bugger all police or army around and these folks are trapped(!!)

you can see the front intensifying on this radar from meteox. looks like it's heading straight for london. http://www.meteox.nl/gmapstatic.aspx?zoom=6&type=zoom&x=230&y=225

there is a live video stream from ABC 7 news in washington d.c. available here: http://cfc.wjla.com/livestream.cfm?stream=wjlalive this storm is now officially the largest amount of snow in the D.C. area since records began.

thats why hollywood disaster movies do so well at the box office - only this is real. must be human nature i guess. cant avoid it either -utterly gripping alright.

bit concerned that they arent evac'ing baton rouge. thats right next to the river... if a storm surge comes up the mississippi delta wont they be affected?

and if you use google maps, you can even look around at street level http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&...327974276527332

googling the parish will get you the wiki page for that parish, with a map. e.g. "washington parish louisiana" http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q...earch&meta=

thats a direct link to the stream - try it in a media player rather than your browser. alternatively, go to http://www.1300espn.com/ and hit the listen live button., that might work.

try this one http://citadelcc-wibr-am.wm.llnwd.net/cita...AM?MSWMExt=.asf

god love him. poor guy. hope he and his mom finds somewhere safe. those trailer parks wont stand a chance.

this internet stuff is amazing - we're on the other side of the world and are able to listen in and follow the situation as if we were living there. its compelling listening. stream linky for folks who have just joined the thread: http://citadelcc-wibr-am.wm.llnwd.net/citadelcc_WIBR_AM

"I'm in hammond, louisiana, in a trailer park. what should i do?" "you need to get out. NOW" "but i got no transport"

dj "do you trust your house in 100 mph winds?" caller "i dont think so" dj "you need to get out now" caller "but i dont have anywhere to go" dj "i want you call this number.... 389 2100... they will tell you where you need to go right now" makes me wonder - in a manditory evac , are they sending the national guard house to house to get people out? maybe not...? go ahead and mail them. i'm sure they'd greatly appreciate it that folks overseas are rooting for them and wishing them well. the "on your own" stuff is really what they say - police and firefighters are being evac'ed. and hospitals too. you really WILL be on your own. i hope to god folks over there realise this.

but to be fair - they do sound a lovely bunch of folks. god love them - imagine if WE had to evacuate the entire south coast of england...

well - it IS louisiana. the deep south.. home of britney spears...

mayor nagin is on bbc news 24 now. press conf.