Your storm experiences

The UK has been battered by severe weather, leaving thousands of homes without power and the rail network at an almost complete standstill.

Passengers were stranded on several cross Channel ferries off the south coast. A tornado hit Selsey, in West Sussex, early on Monday - 36 hours after a similar freak wind caused devastation a few miles along the coast at Bognor Regis.

The Environment Agency says although the gales were not as severe as the storm of October 1987 they affected a wider area - lashing areas from north Wales to Kent.

How have you been affected by this recent bout of stormy weather? Send us your storm experiences.

Come November I disappear to sunnier parts of the world until March/ April

Ashley, UK/ RSA

You poor fools - do what I do. Come November I disappear to sunnier parts of the world until March/ April thereby avoiding the need for wellies and waterproofs. I have seen the recent events on 'other' news channels and my heart goes out to you all. Anyway, must dash, I've got to put the cover on the pool. Ha! Ha!
Ashley, UK/ RSA

It took me 6 and a half-hours to travel from Derby to Stafford (30 miles) owing to the rail network and the storms. Isn't that AMAZING?
RM, UK

This country really needs to pump money into flood defence and transport links to make sure we are never left standing again. Everything grinds to a halt, whether it's rain, snow, leaves - the list goes on. It's time the Government got on with their job, oh I forgot they never do. It's all said but nothing is done. How many more homes and lives do we have to lose?
Kris Tucker, England

What would it be like if it starts freezing next week? Hmmmm.
Henk Dalstra, Holland

We don't have a problem with lots of rain as we live at the top of a hill. Aberdeen generally has good drainage into the rivers and sea. Even severe rain that might shut the roads will not stop me getting to work as I travel by chopper - 300 miles North East of Aberdeen.
Gerry McKay, Scotland

Quite frankly the Prime Minister could not win

Rob, England

I really must take issue with Mr McKinney's comments. Quite frankly the Prime Minister could not win. If he had visited Sussex then the populace of York and Worcestershire will have complained. I do not think his decision was in any way political. I seem to remember that after last month's floods Prince Edward visited Sussex and got condemned by the locals for interfering with the clear-up operation!
Rob, England

Global warming is a major concern to the rest of the world, let alone the UK. But a fundamental factor may have been over-looked. The Sun powers the weather here on Earth. The Sun is currently riding on a wave of sun-spots. Although evidence between sun spot activity and the weather remains uncertain, it does raise the question of why this bad weather has appeared now. Every eleven years the Sun peaks in sun-spot activity. I can remember the 25th January 1990. It was probably the worst storm I remember--much stronger than the mere gales we had recently. So, should we be looking to global warming or sun spot activity as the major contributor to floods and storms?
Nick, UK

Some years ago they built a bypass for Burley-in-Wharfedale, and altered the course of the river. Then they built some houses, and added artificial drainage where there used to be fields. Now the Wharfe floods further downstream, where it never used to flood. Is global warming to blame, or greedy developers intent on turning a quick buck? York's problems also have more to do with the new housing developments on the outskirts than global warming. Global warming is a convenient excuse for bad planning. After all we can blame global warming for hot spells and cold spells, as well as drought and flood.
Simon, England

But it has very little to do with urban development, as witnessed by the dates of previous floods

David Ricketts, UK

Some of your contributors may be surprised to learn that flooding by rivers due to development is not a new phenomenon, and it's not all due to urban development. In the early 1790's water meadows were ploughed into arable land and pasture in an effort to produce more food during the French Revolutionary Wars. Almost immediately following this change there was flooding. But it has very little to do with urban development, as witnessed by the dates of previous floods.
David Ricketts, UK

Let's get this into perspective. The "storm" has hit England and as usual it has snowballed into an UK issue - the "over the top" detail reporting on this so-called "national" disaster should be kept to the appropriate local regional news reports.
David, Glasgow, Scotland

Central London's been pretty lucky, as usual. Great advice from GNER telling everyone to avoid using their service this weekend. It meant that those of us who had booked tickets weeks in advance got to travel on virtually empty trains with much less hassle than normal. The train did take longer than usual, but so what - at least I got a seat!
Penny T, London, England

Here in Holland the weather is likely to be the same as in Britain. Until now no single train or flight has been delayed. Yes, Britain is a developing country
Jan, Holland

You do have it sweet over there...really

Paul,Taiwan

It amazes me how over there in England, the country seems to come to a standstill when heavy rains arrive. We've just had the heaviest flooding in thirty years in parts of the capital here, Taipei, compliments of a typhoon. People are still recovering from a massive earthquake over a year ago in central parts of the island. We've had a tragic air disaster less than a week ago. And to top all this off, the populace constantly lives under the threat of invasion from Mainland China! You do have it sweet over there...really.
Paul, Taiwan

All that rain and not a spot of cricket to interrupt!
James Dally, Australia

Please would you put more on the main news about the problems farmers are facing with the floods. Demonstrating the flooded fields and problems with keeping and feeding animals. The damage it is doing to recently sown crops and similar. I think it is important that the plight of farmers and the floods is known as it comes on top of other insurmountable problems.
Jennie Sleep, UK

Isn't it about time the Government took the lead in developing a National/ Regional Emergency Agency?

Paul, UK

Isn't it about time the Government took the lead in developing a National/ Regional Emergency Agency? In America you have a Federal Agency designed to support states in times of need, and the Federal Government also makes special payments. If the UK is going to continue to have this kind of weather this set-up is essential. I also believe that there should be special aid for those families who are unable to get insurance due to the floods. It is ridiculous that these people can't be protected. It must be remembered that some of these places have been promised flood defences for years and it is householders who suffer due to the lack of funding by local and central government.
Paul, UK

It is telling that the Prime Minister has decided to visit flood affected areas but not in the South where it was worst. Instead he has chosen safe Labour areas in other parts of the country.
Hugh McKinney, East Sussex

The recent storms were certainly not as severe as those of the 1991 Burns Night storm

Peter, Lancashire, Great Britain

The recent storms were certainly not as severe as those of the 1991 Burns Night storm but I expect there was more rainfall. What has changed in the last 10 years is the building of thousands of housing estates and factory units on low-lying farmland, combined with the unregulated felling of trees. This has reduced the time lag between rainfall and river rises and has been worsened by lack of investment and maintenance of the drainage infrastructure, something the Victorians never overlooked. I suppose everyone's car insurance will rise next year to help keep the insurers in profit.
Peter, Lancashire, Great Britain

Southern Holland is the global leader in flood control. The price is miles of impressive looking concrete dams, sluices, locks etc. If you are not willing to subject the British countryside to that (and I would say do it in a heartbeat), then complaining when your home is flooded is daft. The effect of jamming 60 million people on these islands means a few trees may just, possibly, have to go. You can't have your cake, eat it, then eat it again.
Mark Constable, Horsham, UK

I live high up in the Pennines. Year after year the land has been developed with housing estates eating away at any spare land available. Rain falls mainly on the high ground, hence the abundance of reservoirs in the area. It always flows downhill and has therefore less ground to soak into each year. I pity the people whose property regularly floods. Please, tackle one of the reasons for this by stopping all building on new land. In most cases planning permission was granted in the 1960's and earlier. This year you might have 3 feet of floodwater, next year how much?
Gordon Black, England

We have built houses/roads, industrial estates and shopping centres over a hell of a lot of ancient catchment area

Mike Rudkin, England

We are getting the same storms and rain that we have always had, but this time there is a difference. The difference is that years ago, open fields, tributaries, and flood plains were able to absorb any sudden deluge of water, and act as a "sink", which meant that the water reached the rivers/streams in days or weeks. The trouble is that over the past 50 years, we have built houses/roads, industrial estates and shopping centres over a hell of a lot of ancient catchment area. Now, any sudden deluge is transferred to the rivers in minutes or hours, and it all arrives at the same time, so the rivers cannot cope.
Mike Rudkin, England

Myself and two friends were three of the passengers aboard the P&O Ferry from Calais to Dover which took over 20 hours to complete a one-and-a-half hour journey. We left Calais at 6.45pm French time on Sunday evening and finally left the ship at 3.45pm English time on Monday afternoon. We were the last ship to leave Calais on Sunday evening and spent 17 hours circling, along with a few other ships, in the channel completing circles between Deal and Dover until the port was re-opened and the gales had subsided enough to enable us to dock. The feeling of relief when we finally docked, after an hour and a half of trying, was immense and it will be a long time before I travel by boat again!!
Emma, UK

USA, UK and Japan, big users of resources, big polluters, big slap on the wrist from mother nature. Sort it now or face extinction.
Gerry, Scotland

Storm, what storm...Ahh Scotland's no so bad after all.....
Stewart, Scotland

I can understand when the South of England copes badly with a heavy fall of snow, after all it happens once a decade. I can understand how a freak tornado or an earthquake might throw us. But there is a certain irony when Britain is thrown into complete chaos by RAIN. For the last two days, I have watched people stopping cars in traffic rather than drive through a three inch deep puddle.
K. Sadler, UK

It took nearly six months for our house to dry out

Rolf Howarth, UK

Apart from a power cut and some travel delays, we weren't particularly affected by the storms during the last few days. However, as a victim of the infamous Easter floods of 1998 in the Midlands, every time I see coverage of floods on the news I keep thinking, "they have absolutely no idea, do they?". When reporters and householders talk about "starting the mopping up operation", they don't seem to realise that the effects of a serious flood are more like half your house burning down in a fire than a washing machine leaking. It took nearly six months for our house to dry out, then be rewired, replastered, fit a new kitchen, replace skirting boards, and be habitable again!!
Rolf Howarth, UK

In this new millennium weather problems like this will probably worsen due to global warming. It will affect us all like never before. But what makes it even more serious is that climatic problems and occurrences are something that cannot be solved as easily as something like unemployment, war or poverty.
Will, Switzerland

What did people blame bad weather on before the global warming hype?
Tom, UK

Fortunately, it was my birthday yesterday

Rob, England

Fortunately, it was my birthday yesterday and I had booked the day off work! So, I sat in bed listening to the radio for most of the day! Pure bliss!
Rob, England

Get your insurance papers ready!
Tom H. Williams, UK

I thought it was great! There were no trains running from Brighton to London so I had an unexpected day off work. Commuting is a nightmare at the moment because of Railtrack's problems - so a day without trains was much appreciated.
Rachel, UK

Got thrown off the train at Derby yesterday, 50 miles from home and 150 miles from where I needed to be. Midland Mainline's advice? It's not our problem mate - the bus station is over there! Spent most of the day drinking tea in a cafe waiting for the bus home!
Andrew Hope, UK

Being delayed a few hours on an unnecessary journey is seen as a real inconvenience

Tim Prosser, UK

All these claims of the recent weather being a demonstration of global warming is rubbish. In the seventies, people were talking about extreme weather events then being the onset of the next ice age. "Extreme" weather is nothing new - the only change is perhaps that people in the past were more accepting of the fact that something was bigger than they are. Now being delayed a few hours on an unnecessary journey is seen as a real inconvenience.
Tim Prosser, UK

I wish it was summer again so I can start up my barbecue and drink some beers!
Paul, UK

Here in Hong Kong we have always had typhoon warnings issued by the Met. Office. A code of practice has been adopted by businesses, officially sanctioned by the Government that under severe typhoon conditions, HK closes down. In recent years, as rainy weather has become more severe, these official Met. Office warnings have extended to rain warnings. Again, the severity of rain warnings determines the action taken, such as closing schools, transport or businesses.
Matt Martin, Hong Kong

In bad weather, I make no attempt to keep to my regular schedule i.e. work, shopping etc. If the radio or TV has bad weather news, and the view from my window looks dodgy, I postpone appointments by phone and call in to work. Rest assured, if I'm not sure I can get to work, there'll be a few others in the same boat. Perhaps it's a control thing we fight to keep. Must be able to do what we want, when we want. Home with a cup of tea is much more sensible.
Donna Whitta, Canada

I think we should all say thank you to all the police, firemen, ambulance drivers, train staff, bus drivers, breakdown mechanics, electricity workers etc. who all persevered during the bad weather to save people's lives and keep the country going

Steve, UK

In spite of an awful trip home tonight, I think we should all say thank you to all the police, firemen, ambulance drivers, train staff, bus drivers, breakdown mechanics, electricity workers etc. who all persevered during the bad weather to save people's lives and keep the country going. The only people I don't thank are the incompetent politicians we have put in power over the last 30 years.
Steve, UK

If it's true that this freakish weather is a direct result of global warming, then perhaps it's a good thing that a developed country such as England is being hit with some bad weather (as opposed to the Nile delta etc). Good because perhaps something will be done before it's too late. Though judging by the government's poor and reactive response to the rail crisis, BSE and so on in favour of profits, half of us are likely to be up to our necks in water 10 years from now. I wonder how much weather related damage and death will need to occur in the western world before serious steps are made to reverse global warming.
Toby, UK

What is it about this country? Why are we so unable to cope with any slight variation from the norm? If it's not storms it's fuel blockades or flu epidemics. We are a nation of incompetent's just blagging the short term day to day without considering the intrinsic disaster of our national infrastructure.
Andrew Davies, UK

BBC website appears to have ignored the North of England as usual. I know there is major disruption around Leeds, but you wouldn't think anywhere outside the South was affected.
Simon Maufe, UK

It's turned out nice again in Riyadh, thanks!
Clive, Saudi Arabia

My usual 30-minute car journey to work took 4 hours

Kate, UK

What a day! My usual 30-minute car journey to work took 4 hours - around 3 miles per hour! I couldn't take public transport (where I live it's impossible to go from A to B without visiting C to Z en route, then having a 30 minute hike at each end!). I had to go to work - if there were any other option, I would have taken it. I got stuck behind people going to the supermarket in the morning rush hour. Just wanted to say 'thanks' to these thoughtless people who turned a bad journey into a nightmare!
Kate, UK

It's a bit wet, and very windy.
Alex, London

It got quite windy, then it rained a bit. Then I got up and put the kettle on. What was there to get excited about?
STC, England

Have they not noticed the gradual changing of weather from warmer winters to colder summers?

Eddy Cain, UK

I agree with Pat Dobson UK if the world politicians don't wake up and realise it is us humans that are causing the increased weather extremes from pollution, have they not noticed the gradual changing of weather from warmer winters to colder summers. I think its time they took notice and decided what they and then ultimately me and you have to do.
Eddy Cain, UK

About a pint of water blown between the roof tiles by the gales thrashing down the street. Totally unable to get to work, so a free day off! Stressful seeing water seeping down the wall in the loft, but a whole day to deal with it! It could have been a lot worse.
John B, UK

It was great! I arrived at the railway station soaking wet, the information screens were just saying "CUSTOMER INFORMATION DISPLAY", Connex staff were in hiding, and there were no trains! So I went home, dried off, and put my feet up. Woo-hoo! Day off!
AJ, UK

I, amongst hundreds, if not thousands of commuters, was stranded there and eventually reached my destination at 15h50 - over 7 hours later!

Roslyn Coldrey, Surrey, UK

Well, what a day! I left my partners house in Farnborough, Hants this morning at 07h30 after listening to the radio to see if the roads were OK. All sounded fine my end - junction 9 anti-clockwise on the M25 was closed, but I needed junction 11 (Chertsey) and it should have been fine. It was proving to be OK, right up until the last minute. I was right on schedule as normal until I got to the M3/M25 junction where at 08h15 I came to a complete standstill. The signs on the M3 intersection showed that junction 9 on M25 was closed - there was nothing at all about junction 10 or 11 on it's huge screen, not even on the radio until about 3 hours later did I know that they had closed all three. I, amongst hundreds, if not thousands of commuters, was stranded there and eventually reached my destination (work) at 15h50 - over 7 hours later!
Roslyn Coldrey, Surrey, UK

Just had possibly the worst journey of my life. After setting off from Canterbury at 5:30 this morning I finally arrived in Slough at 12:30 this afternoon. With staggering cross winds and blanket rain in the Kent area I should have just taken the day off work. The highlight of the journey was making 3.3 miles in a mind numbing 4:30 hours, trying to get off the M25 at Leatherhead. I swear if this were the ice age a glacier would have overtaken me. If I'd have had scuba gear and climbing equipment I may have saved some time along the way. I'll know better next time.
Steve Timpson, UK

It took me 4 hours to drive a 45 minute journey this morning. During which I drove through a NEW lake on the A3 and covered a distance of half a mile in neutral gear - I Jest you not! The thing I find particularly sad is how the whole country cannot cope and grinds to a complete halt during these kinds of crises. If this is to increase as predicted then we really need to do something and fast. This situation is not going to get any better. I am now going to attempt to go home.
Samantha Roberts, UK

Climate is it's own master and we happen to be it's first witnesses?

Ashley Goodall, UK

When you look at the power of nature, especially experiencing the storms of the last two days, you really wonder if man is that powerful. Maybe we're flattering ourselves to think we can really affect climate. After all, climates have changed from ice age to tropical eras, before we were around - so why should the current changes be any different - maybe we're just more aware and believe ourselves to be the centre of the universe. Climate is it's own master and we happen to be it's first witnesses?
Ashley Goodall, UK

This spell of weather is truly amazing! I travel every morning from Wakefield to Leeds, which is a distance of about 10 miles. When I departed at 08:20, it was simply pouring with heavy rain, and a little windy. After 5 minutes, the area was battered by heavy snowfall, and what I can only describe a 'blizzard' conditions! There must be something wrong with Mother Nature to bring such chaos this early in the year!
Andrew Blake, UK

Another long journey to report. It took 50 fellow passengers, and myself, seventeen hours to get from London Paddington to Penzance by rail yesterday (30th). We left on the overnight sleeper at 23:30 and did not arrive until 17:15 the next day, after a mixed journey of train and coach.
Julian Ludwick, England

It doesn't take very much nowadays to get the "soft" townies of south-east England in a tizzy.

Chris Ashley, UK

Yet again, we witness the usual over-reaction to normal seasonal storms - trains delayed, roads disrupted, people flapping. Honestly, a few puffs of wind, a few drops of rain, a few flakes of snow, a few rays of sunshine - it doesn't take very much nowadays to get the "soft" townies of south-east England in a tizzy.
Other countries are able to cope with climates far more extreme than our own. Why can't Britain? I cannot help but suspect that the annual bleat of "let's blame the weather" masks the fact that our infrastructure has become so under-invested and poorly managed.
Chris Ashley, UK

I think that the UK is definitely experiencing worst weather than ever before. I live in the Tamar Valley in Devon with my parents. In the fifteen years I have been alive, I never recall being able to lie in bed a 3:30 in the morning and hearing the trees in the wood next to us being blown over. Down in the valley below us a few Thursdays ago, we there was a high tide like never we had never seen before so what is happening to our weather?
William Woodgate, England

It is me or the country seem to grind to a halt everytime there is bit of bad weather? This country's infrastructure is now is such a poor condition that it costing people, business and the economy millions of pounds. It's hard to believe that this is the UK and that the year is 2000. The government needs to take control and spend some serious money to get this country back on it's feet. I'm not talking about committing cash over the ten 10 or 20 years, I'm talking about NOW!
Gary Blake, UK

We were landing at Gatwick airport at about 6 p.m. It was the most awful experience of flying in my life. We were approaching the runway when our plane was hit by such a severe turbulence (wind of 40 knots) that it felt like we were about to crash... (horrible feeling). I even started crying (though never thought I will be ever so frightened if something like that happened). Maybe it will be better to go by boat next time but... you never know¿)
Helena, UK/Estonia

I completely agree with Aga Benson. When will people wake up to the fact that Human intervention IS damaging the environment. Weather such as this will not only continue, but will get progressively more extreme. Large house builders are building new estates on flood plains and roads are being built on the same, what do you think will happen? As for me, I'm moving house, somewhere on high ground¿
Pat Dobson, UK

The British are the worst in the world at coping with extremes of weather - complacency is the reason

Kevin Hall, UK

The British are the worst in the world at coping with extremes of weather - complacency is the reason, and most people are happy to sit back and watch emergency services struggle. I speak as an ex-fireman and ex-soldier and at times have been appalled by attitudes of victims of disasters.
Kevin Hall, UK

I can sympathise with the extreme weather you in southern England are enduring. Earlier this year a tornado struck the downtown area of the city I live in. Downtown Ft Worth, Texas still has unrepaired damage. That is why we have property insurance.
Joe Chasse, USA

Human Power nothing to compare Natural Powers
KS Jain, India

The motorway had been flooded and an articulated lorry had jack-knifed so the M25 was forced to close. A total nightmare of a day

Bex Marriott, UK

On Mon 30th Oct I left Lewes, E Sussex at 5.50am to drive to Oxford intending to arrive by 8.30am. By 9.00am we had been almost stationary for 20 minutes or so on the M25 near to Junction 7. Moving occasionally about 100 metres I finally came off the M25 - along with everyone else - at 2.40pm! The motorway had been flooded and an articulated lorry had jack-knifed so the M25 was forced to close. A total nightmare of a day. I finally arrived home again at about 4.30pm having been nowhere near Oxford!
Bex Marriott, UK

We have scores of typhoons every year. That means we have been really accustomed to a horrendous situation. For example, it hits very often a southern part of Japan, but sometimes some central cities such as Tokyo and Osaka and other biggest urban cities. The government is, or seems to be, ready for the disastrous situation, nevertheless, it is always too late to set up the team or volunteers involved. In fact nobody knows when and where an atrocious storm will take place even though science and technology has been developed.
Do, Japan

My husband is still stranded in Gatwick airport waiting for a flight to Florida on Tuesday. He could not get a flight from Edinburgh till 6.45pm today and ofcourse had missed his connection on Virgin Atlantic which also was late leaving due to the awful weather. I thought we here in the US were the only ones affected by tornadoes.
Alison Millar, usa

As a British citizen who lived in the UK for 29 years and now living it the US, I don't remember ever seeing weather as bad as its being currently reported. However, having lived through Hurricane Floyd in '99 - I can really sympathise.
Richard Steel, USA

No-one can stop a storm but can someone please stop the idiocy at Railtrack?

Gareth Johnson, England

No-one can stop a storm but can someone please stop the idiocy at Railtrack? On the morning news the chairman proudly announced that he had shut the entire southern network. Fine - we all understand why. For the millions of us stranded at work wondering when it will reopen however, there is no information on the Railtrack site, national rail-enquiries is unreachable and the Railtrack customer services people have not been provided with any information to assist us. How can you shut a network and not give your people anything to work with?
Gareth Johnson, England

The worst weather here was at around 5.30am (on Monday) - it's a lot calmer now. The garden looks totally unscathed and I'd say it was significantly lower wind strength than 70-90mph but certainly noisy enough to make sleep near impossible.
David Knopfler, UK

All I can say is how pleased I am that pilots are trained to the level they are. With cross winds of goodness knows what, we took off from Birmingham Airport this morning, and we arrived safe and sound in Munich, albeit a little late.
Jason Taylor, Munich, Germany

The weather has been chaotic here in Devon but we have all been taking advantage of the epic surf conditions

Richie Jones, UK

It took three hours to get into work from Leigh-on-Sea to London this morning. After travelling up the down line from Leigh to Upminster my wife and I got a tube to Barking where there was a huge mass of people unable to travel any further due to a large tree on the line between Barking and East Ham. So we had a coffee and then I got a haircut. I remarked to the girl cutting my hair that "it takes a storm for me to get my haircut". We were about to go home, back the way we had come when they announced that tubes were running on the District Line to London. Pity, I said, why don't we pretend we didn't hear the announcement and go home? Still, work won out, even though I was the only one who made it in to my department...Leaving at 4pm to find a way home again...
Richard Carrington, UK

I was waiting outside Gatwick for my Toronto flight and the wind picked me up and all went dark. The next thing I knew, I landed in a field outside Toronto.You know the old saying is you pays your money and takes your chance.
Ian Leafe, Canada

My wife Alison and myself were both stuck on a P & O Ferry, crossing from Calais to Dover last night. The boat left Calais at 9pm and (finally) reached Dover at 4.30am this morning. The only reason that we got into the port at that time was that a lady had serious head injuries after being hit by a flying table. The crossing was very rough and at times very scary with many smashed glasses, overturned plants etc and people experiencing severe bouts of sea-sickness. I think in the end we were (relatively) fortunate not to be stuck out there until late this morning. I think the captain and staff of the boat coped very well in (obviously) difficult circumstances and what has now turned out to be an unusually powerful, destructive and rare storm.
Simon Herdson, England

Stormy UK? Stormy England more like! The weather was rather nice in Edinburgh today, sunny but rather cold. And hardly windy at all!
James McGregor, Scotland

Well, I was an hour late for work because I had to sit on a train for a bit longer - big deal - it's not like I'm not used to that!
Paul Charters, Surrey, England

I awoke three times in the night, twice because of the storm and once at 5.30am as my dad had to go to work early on a bus as the trains were down. Later at my school half the pupils (and teachers!) hadn't arrived and all classes for the first hour and a half were cancelled (at least every cloud has a silver lining!!!)
Chris Zetter, London England

The weather has been chaotic here in Devon but we have all been taking advatage of the epic surf conditions. This morning we surfed 12ft+ waves, on a par with anything I have surfed in Indonesia and Hawaii. For us surfers the image of lots of lows scooting across the Atlantic has us dancing with glee. I guess we are a funny old bunch really!
Richie Jones, UK

I drove my wife to work this morning. Only about 300 metres but it was the only way to get through the water between home and the shop she works in!
Mike, UK

It took three hours to fly from Newcastle to Gatwick last night. Another hour and a half to drive a journey that normally takes 30 minutes. At 6 o'clock this morning I was sawing up branches that had landed against the house, the garden furniture was found next door and our other neighbour is under six inches of water. At 7 o'clock a 40ft Elm fell over in front of the house and by 7.50 the railway was shut down. It took a further two hours to get to Lewisham to pick up the DLR to Canary Wharf but a broken down train has meant a restricted service. I'm sure someone will say I'm just whinging.
Andrew, Kent

Just had possibly the worst journey of my life

Steve Timpson, UK

I was at the heart of the Bognor tornado. Having just returned from my honeymoon with my wife, we were looking at our wedding photographs with the in-laws, when the tornado came over the house. The wind came up and the bushes in the front garden were blown horizontal by the force. Then through the windows I saw the tiles lift from the house opposite, Luckily we managed to get out of the room before a tile broke through the double-glazing, shattering glass and sending it throughout the room. Scary at the time, surreal now!
Simon Taylor, England

Severe weather, floods, high winds, tornadoes, general chaos...maybe now people will start believing that global warming exists and it is NOT a good thing. Do your bit for the environment, before it's too late.
Aga Benson, UK

Just had possibly the worst journey of my life. After setting off from Canterbury at 5.30 this morning I finally arrived in Slough at 12.30 this afternoon. With staggering cross winds and blanket rain in the Kent area I should have just taken the day off work. The highlight of the journey was making 3.3 miles in a mind-numbing four and a half hours, trying to get off the M25 at Leatherhead.
Steve Timpson, UK

Another long journey to report. It took 50 fellow passengers, and myself, 17 hours to get from London Paddington to Penzance by rail yesterday. We left on the overnight sleeper at 11.30pm and did not arrive until 5.15pm the next day, after a mixed journey of train and coach.
Julian Ludwick, England

Yesterday we were landing at Gatwick airport at about 6pm. It was the most awful experience of flying in my life. We were approaching the runway when our plane was hit by such a severe turbulence (wind of 40 knots) that it felt like we were about to crash... a horrible feeling. I even started crying. Maybe it will be better to go by boat next time but... you never know.
Helena, UK/Estonia

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