Andy P

Thanks for the info Paul. I'll lookout for the updates. Cheers Andy

Morning all I went into my bank (Santander) the other day and they've set up my bank account card so I can use it free of charge anywhere in the world and their new credit card also is free of charge anywhere. Sounds to good to be true so I'm going to ask about that again to make sure. I'm also going to take a few days supply of dollers with me before I start using any cards. I've a Sony HDCX105 camcorder and space for around 10 hours of video footage and I've also bought a FUJI FinePix S9600 digital camera, I still need to buy the memory cards for this though. I was thinking about getting a tripod for the digital camera but I might just hang on now until we go to Radioshack or Walmart as mentioned by Paul and John. Just wondered what people's thoughts are on the camera/camcorder I'm taking with me. Can anyone please advise me on the Remote Cable that seems to be pretty essential for taking pics. Basically I know nothing about them.

I just went with Go Walkabout and got their Storm Chasing First Class cover. I also added baggage cover and cover for my camcorder and it cost me about £122. I know that maybe sounds a lot but with me being a novice in this area of insurance I've just played it safe! I think the quote I got without the baggage and camcorder cover was £93.

It's also made it in the headlines on bbc news at 1pm. Just waiting for it to come on now.

I just want to say my thanks to Ian for organising a great weekend. It was also a great chance to finally meet up with everyone and put names to faces.

I should be in Manchester for about 11 if the trains running on time.

Thanks Ian, i'll keep my eye on this thread for any details.

Thanks Pat, I'm aiming to get the insurance sorted out this weekend. I've got alot going on here at moment. Its maybe not the best time to decide to move house while trying to organsie everything for a storm chase!!

[ I got a single trip quote for £41. (I don't get out much LOL) I've been on the directline site and got the same quote. The only thing that I'm kind of unsure about is: - We need normal travel insurance as you would normally take out for a holiday + the specific Storm Chasing insurnace on top of that. Am I right in thinking that's what we need to arrange. Please advise.

That's 4 of us on the BA flight out of Heathrow on the 27 April if I counted right!! I'll be getting a flight down from Newcastle earlier on that morning though. My uncle has a Fujifilm FinePix S9600 for sale. Would anyone recommend this camera to do the job? I'm also looking at buying a HD camcorder but I can't decide what to get!! Out of curiosity what kind of camera's/camcorders is everyone looking at? Any recommendations are welcome!! My knowledge on camera's and camcorder's is not the best!! Just another thing which I'm planning on sorting out in the next 2 weeks is the Insurance and Visa. Has anyone still to sort out thier Insurance/visa's? 15 weeks today and I'll be on the chase!!!

Various weather sites including this one are giving the latest temperature reading in Carlisle to be between -10 and -11.5 as of 20:00hrs!! But the temperature hasn't got above 0 for about 4 or 5 days here now. Our local newspaper reported the temperature was as low as -19 in an area of Carlisle the other night. I'm not surprised when the following morning people came into work saying the car readings were showing -13 to -15 at 8am!!

That'll be great if you can Paul. Thanks Andy

I've just tried to book a room for the Manchester meet up on 27th Feb but its saying rooms not currently available in the Jury's for what I want. I'm just wondering if there is anyone else who's planning on going but haven't booked a room yet?

I've just noticed this thread now. But you can definitely count me in for that weekend.

A helicopter has flown over my house, must be checking the Eden and Caldew now from above.

I've just got back in and they were a lot of people looking over the bridges in Carlisle at the River Eden and I also noticed that they seem to be a gathering of Land Rovers etc outside the castle maybe in case of flooding in the city. It looked like they were on standby maybe in case the River Caldew floods because I don't think the flood defences have been completed for this river. It's still raining here but not very heavy. The RAF have been called in to help resuce 200 people from the main street in Cockermouth and the water is still rising. High tide not until early hours. Sky News has live coverage on now from Cockermouth. I wouldn't like to think what its like in the surrounding areas around the town. I only walked down the main street in Cockermouth last week.

It looks like the Cockermouth and Keswick areas are worst hit towns, dogs. Been some flooding down in Kendal as well. It looks like the flooding is quite widespread throughout the county but particularly the Lake District region. The train line is closed from Carlisle to Whitehaven because the line is under a foot of water at Aspatria which is in north west of the county. The surrounding area outside Carlisle had roads closed yesterday for flooding and some were only passible where the River Eden flows near by. I think in the morning it will become clearer how extensive the flooding has been throughout the county. The Met Office has said that Seathwaite, near Keswick, recorded 173mm (6.8in) of rain in the 24 hours up to 11am today.Over the same period, 71.6mm (2.8in) of rain fell on Shap, 64.2mm (2.5in) on Keswick and 57.8mm (2.3in) on Eskdalemuir in Dumfries and Galloway. An extra 75-100mm (3-3.9in) of rain is expected over parts of Cumbria, western parts of Scotland and north Wales by midday tomorrow, the Met Office said. The higher fells of Cumbria could experience another 150mm (5.9in) of rain. I've just got the above details from our local paper website.

It's still raining here but we had a dry few hours this afternoon in Carlisle. The river is full but most of the flood defences are in place now. They might get their first real test later tonight though depending how much water they is come through from further up stream.

Picture 4 is looking over Lake Windermere. It's look likes it's overflowed with the amount of rain that's fell today, quite amazing to think that. The big building in the middle usually has the lake right behind it and to this near side. By the looks of the picture the bank of the lake has been submerged. More heavey rain and strong winds forecast for Saturday. Not good!

Pictures of flooding in Cumbria Here's some pictures taken from the county today showing the flooding. It's also raining heavily again in Carlisle. Hope this link works!

The rain in Carlisle this morning reminded me of the day before the city got flooded a few years ago but it hasn't rained in Carlisle much since about 1pm. With the River Eden starting in the south of Cumbria at Appleby there maybe a lot of water to flow through the river in Carlisle yet in the next 24hrs. Just looked on our local paper website and Cockermouth's main street is knee deep and rising. Shops, hotels and pubs all flooded. And Keswick also has been hit by flooding. Not looking good in that part of the county. I'll try and get a the picture of Cockermouth's main street on here now showing the flooding.

Just a few little thoughts about next year!! Has anyone any tips on what kind of camera/video camera you need to have to get the best shots? How much film/video would you need to have with you for the 10 days? I don't want to run out because that would be my worst nightmare!!! Any advice on these thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

That storm looks absolutely amazing. Great video. Its gonna be an experience of a life time seeing those storms at first hand next year.

Thanks for the info Paul. Andy

Hi Tom That's great, thanks very much for the info and pointing me in the right direction. Andy