The British floods - climate change

Flooded British villages ignite climate debate

As children climb into boats to get to school and scores of hoses pump floodwaters from fields day and night, one corner of southwest England is trying to reclaim its land. Other Britons watch and wonder: How much can you fight the sea?

Physics,

2 February, 2014

Here on the Somerset Levels—a marshy, low-lying region dotted with farmland and villages and crisscrossed by rivers—thousands of acres have been under water for weeks.

Some villages have been cut off for a month, leaving residents who have been forced to make long detours or take boats to school, work or grocery shops frustrated and angry. Some blame government budget cuts and inept environmental bureaucracy. Others point to climate change. Some wonder if flood defenses for major cities like nearby Bristol or London will take precedence over protecting their rural hamlets.

"I'm used to seeing floods on the Levels, but this is just something else," said 28-year-old Kris Davies, who was dragging sodden carpet from his cottage in the village of Thorney. He, his wife and two daughters have just returned after a month staying with family in a nearby town.

He said when the area flooded less severely last winter "we were told it was a one-in-100-year occurrence."

"The following year it happens again—only worse!" he said.

The disaster has put the Levels at the center of a debate about the effects of climate change and the cost of preserving an agricultural landscape created over the centuries since medieval monks began draining the wetlands around nearby Glastonbury Abbey.

Meteorologists say Britain's future will involve more extreme weather.

Rainstorms have battered Britain since December and this January was the wettest in more than a century in southern England. The region was due to be hit by more rain and gale-force winds starting Monday.

Floods have already inundated an area covering some 25 square miles (16,000 acres or 65 square kilometers). The River Parrett and other waterways have burst their banks and fields that normally sustain crops, dairy herds and beef cattle are under several feet (more than 1 meter) of water.

Many roads are impassible and the village of Muchelney is now an island reached only by boats run by firefighters.

On one road, the top of a car peeks out above the water.

 In this photo taken Sunday Feb. 2, 2014, people take photos and look at the flooding from the River Parrett on the Somerset Levels from Barrow Mump, Somerset, England, Here on the Somerset Levels _ a flat, marshy region of farmland dotted …more

Davies' home in Thorney, a hamlet of sandstone-colored buildings and thatched cottages, is normally a few minutes' drive from Muchelney. It now takes 45 minutes to get there unless you take a boat.

"Having to kayak to your front door is a bit of a novelty," Davies said. "The kids loved it for a couple of days but the novelty has worn off."

No one in Somerset thinks floods can be avoided. Much of this land is below sea level, and it's as marshy and porous as a sponge. But many locals blame this year's devastation on the Environment Agency's decision, in the 1990s, to abandon a policy of routinely dredging local rivers, which are now clogged with silt and running at between a third and two-thirds of capacity.

They say this disaster has been building for years.

"A really carefully constructed landscape which works quite well, which has worked for 800 years, has suddenly been left untended," said Andrew Lee, founder of a "Stop the Floods" advocacy group.

"There are fields I can see from my house that were underwater for 11 months between 2012 and 2013," he said. The anger around here is that it has taken another major disaster for it to get any attention at all."

Some say spending cuts by Britain's Conservative-led government have made things worse. The environment department has seen its budget reduced by 500 million pounds ($820 million) since 2010.

The Environment Agency says budget cuts have not weakened its flood protection efforts. But agency chief Chris Smith, in an article for Monday's Daily Telegraph, conceded that the relentless demand on resources means "difficult decisions" about what to save: "Town or country, front rooms or farmland?"

The government also argues that dredging alone is not the solution. It speeds up rivers and can cause flooding downstream and it disturbs the habitats of fish, otters and water voles, an endangered rodent.

That attitude infuriates some locals.

"They have got to stop worrying about the water voles, stop worrying about the birds—just do the job," said Conservative lawmaker Ian Liddell-Grainger.

In this photo taken Sunday Feb. 2, 2014, Cattle try to graze amidst the floodwater of the River Parrett near Langport, Somerset England. Here on the Somerset Levels _ a flat, marshy region of farmland dotted with villages and scored by rivers …more

Somerset's flooded landscape has lasted long enough to become a tourist attraction. People clamber up the muddy hill known as Burrow Mump to look out over fields that now resemble an inland sea, with the tops of hedges, gates and trees poking out from the water.

The waters have receded only slightly, despite having 65 pumps running around-the clock to drain almost 400 million gallons (1.5 million tonnes) of water a day from the land. Prime Minister David Cameron, stung by the uproar, has promised to resume dredging.

Some environmentalists and scientists say in the long run, as ocean levels rise, it's a doomed effort. They talks about "a managed retreat"—abandoning some farmland and letting marsh and sea reclaim it.

"Retreat is the only sensible policy," Colin Thorne, a flood expert at Nottingham University told the Sunday Telegraph. "If we fight nature, we will lose in the end."

Others, though, want to be as ambitious as those medieval monks who transformed a marsh into valuable farmland.

In this photo taken Sunday Feb. 2, 2014, floodwater from the River Parrett blocks a road from Thorney to Barrington in Somerset, England. Here on the Somerset Levels _ a flat, marshy region of farmland dotted with villages and scored by …more

"You've got to think big," said John Wood, a parish councilor looking out from an elevated churchyard as the sun glinted on the silvery floodwaters.

"It looks beautiful," he said—asking why not keep the water, collecting it in giant reservoirs? "You've got boating lakes, you've got fishing. Tourists will come."

He says that's a better idea than rows of pumps fruitlessly trying to compete with nature at a current cost of 100,000 pounds ($163,000) a day.

"What are we doing at the moment? We're pouring banknotes into that river and watching it go out to sea," he said.

Flooding threat spreads to Severn and Thames riverside properties

Environment Agency warns high tides, large waves and strong winds could lead to floods in south-west and southern England

The Guardian,

3 February, 2014

More homes and businesses are in danger of being flooded over the next few days as pressure built on the government to take action to prevent a similar crisis in the future and residents of the worst-hit area, the Somerset Levels, prepared for a royal visit.

The Environment Agency said high tides, large waves and strong winds would lead to a risk of coastal flooding along the south west and southern coasts of England Tuesday and Wednesday. It warned that properties on the banks of rivers including the Severn and the Thames could also be affected over the same period.

A severe weather warning was issued by the Met Office for Wednesday saying that gusts of up to 80mph and another 40mm of rain were possible across much of southern England and Wales.

The monotony for flood-stranded residents on the Somerset Levels will be broken on Tuesday by a visit from the Prince of Wales, who was already booked in for a tour to discuss the aftermath of the the 2012 winter floods in the area.

Along with members of the Prince's Countryside Fund, which has funds to allocate to communities in times of crisis, the prince will speak to residents and politicians in the village of Stoke St Gregory, near Taunton.

Flood defeences at Burrowbridge on the Somerset Levels. Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA

He is then expected to journey by boat to Muchelney, which was completely cut off by the floodwaters for several weeks, before being driven by tractor to a farm in Langport on the banks of the River Parrett, which again burst its banks over the weekend.

It is not only the elements that the people of the Levels are having to deal with after it emerged that thieves had stolen heating oil from a farm in the flood-hit village of Moorland and taken two fire service quad bikes.

The national police air service helicopter flew over the flood-hit area as a "proactive crime prevention exercise" and police horses have been deployed. Chf Supt Caroline Peters, of Avon and Somerset police, said the force had heard rumours of would-be looters out on the Levels on boats at night.

The challenges faced on the Levels dominated the appearance by the environment secretary Owen Paterson in the House of Commons to answer an emergency question. Shadow environment secretary Maria Eagle said residents of Somerset had been "very badly let down" and there was "little sign of a coherent government strategy."

Paterson repeated the promise that dredging of the rivers, which most local people believe will ease the flooding, would begin as soon as it was safe and revealed that the government was looking at the possibility of beginning the job from boats even before the waters have retreated.

He said the cost of pumping water away from the Levels was costing £100,000 a week as 62 pumps move a million tonnes of water a day up into river channels that run above the low-lying countryside.

Paterson said that about 7,500 properties had been flooded around the country since the beginning of December. MPs from as far apart as Cornwall and Surrey told Paterson that their constituents had been affected.

The A1101 closed due to flooding at Welney Marsh in Cambridgeshire. Photograph: Chris Radburn/PA

Paul Flynn, the MP for Newport West, pointed out that the Gwent Levels on the other side of the Bristol Channel from Somerset – and suggested this was partly because the land there had not been "denuded" of trees.

Paterson – and later Lord Smith of Finsbury, chairman of the Environment Agency – said they recognised that holding water on higher ground through measures such as planting schemes may be an important tactic in the future.

Ian Liddell-Grainger, Conservative MP for Bridgwater and West Somerset, led calls for the resignation of Smith, who had attracted criticism for suggesting that Britain may have to choose whether it wants to save "town or country" from future flooding.

Liddell-Grainger said: "That is one of the most fatuous statements I have ever heard from any politician. The flooding issue is not one of town versus country; it concerns people."

Asked whether Smith – who has not visited the Levels during the flooding – was right, David Cameron's official spokesman said: "There is investment going in, in terms of flood defences, across the full range of communities, and that is the right thing to do."

It emerged on Monday that a cheaper helpline for flooding victims was open for calls after the prime minster expressed concern that some people were being charged up to 41p a minute to call the existing number.

On Monday, it was the turn of the far south west of the UK to bear the brunt of the floods with several coastal towns in Devon and Cornwall knee-deep in water and train services in the area at a near standstill.

An unusually high tide breached defences in several towns and villages, including Looe, Fowey, Newlyn, Porthleven, Mevagissey and parts of Plymouth. Flooding forced First Great Western to cancel some trains in Devon and Cornwall.

For the rest of the week, the Environment Agency flagged up possible problems in Somerset, Shropshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, Dorset, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Hampshire and Kent.

A Met Office severe weather warning for Wednesday covered the whole of the south-west along with parts of Wales, the Midlands, the south-east and London.

Soon they'll be able to do NEITHER

UK floods: 'We can protect towns or country, not both,' says Environment Agency boss

Ministers must decide whether to protect “town or country, front rooms or farmland” from flooding because there is not enough money to protect both, according to the chairman of the Environment Agency

the Telegraph,

2 February, 2014

Britain must decide whether to protect “town or country” from flooding because it can’t afford to protect both, the chairman of the Environment Agency says.

In an article for The Telegraph, Lord Smith of Finsbury says the country must make “difficult choices” about which areas it wants to defend because “there is no bottomless purse”.

Lord Smith’s comments follow a week in which the Environment Agency was criticised for its reaction to the floods in the Somerset Levels.

But in his article, he defends the embattled organisation.

Comparing the situation to similar floods of 1953, he claims that while the recent weather has caused “terrible distress for the 40 home owners who have been flooded” it has not resulted in the death of more than 300 people, as was the case 60 years ago. Lord Smith insists there is no “quick fix”. The country must choose its priorities.

His comments will stoke fears that the Government is considering which parts of England it can surrender to the rising floodwaters.

“Yes, agricultural land matters,” says Lord Smith. “We do whatever we can with what we have to make sure it is protected.”

Lord Smith, who leaves the agency this summer after being chairman since 2008, says successive governments have prioritised work that saves lives and homes. 

“Most people would agree that this is the right approach,” he says.

“But this involves the tricky issues of policy and priority: town or country, front rooms or farmland?

“Flood defences cost money; and how much should the taxpayer be prepared to spend on different places, communities and livelihoods — in Somerset, Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, or East Anglia?

“There’s no bottomless purse of money, and we need to make difficult but sensible choices about where and what we try to protect.”

Lord Smith, who as Chris Smith was a Cabinet minister in Tony Blair’s government, has been criticised for his agency’s decision not to dredge rivers in Somerset.

His article echoes remarks from Paul Leinster, the chief executive at the agency, who has told MPs that some parts of East Anglia might never be reclaimed from the sea after December’s tidal surges.

It comes as an expert said it was time people accepted that some parts of Britain “may not be defensible.” Enda O’Connell, a professor of water resources engineering at Newcastle University, said people had to accept the surrender of land to the rising waters.

Prof O’Connell, a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, was asked on BBC Radio 4’s World This Weekend whether “some areas can never be fully protected”.

He replied: “Some of these areas may not be defensible and we cannot afford to defend them.

“Therefore retreat has to be contemplated.”

David Heath, the former minister for agriculture and food, said Owen Paterson, the Environment Secretary, had “come in for a lot of criticism, some justified, an awful lot not”.

Mr Heath, the Liberal Democrat MP for Somerset and Frome, said the agency could “only work within the rules and the policies that are laid down for them”. This meant that it had been told to put its resources into protecting the bigger cities. He said: “The trouble is that’s no good for us in Somerset.”

The Prince of Wales will visit the Somerset Levels tomorrow and meet people in the flood-hit communities of Stoke St Gregory and Muchelney.

More storms are due to sweep in with the Environment Agency warning that all of southern England is at heightened risk of flooding.

Forecasters said today and Wednesday would see the worst of the weather, with winds gusting at 80mph and up to 1.2 inches of rain expected to batter the West.

A bus carrying 13 passengers was swept off a coastal road by a 20ft wave on Saturday as it tried to pass along a route in the village of Newgale in Pembrokeshire, West Wales.

Two people had to be rescued from floodwater after their boat capsized during heavy rain and gales near Tewkesbury, Gloucs, on Saturday.

A woman aged 67 died after being swept out to sea near the mouth of the River Arun at Littlehampton Pier, West Sussex

Meanwhile Italy battered by heavy rains and windstorms -