Sharpest rise in flood severity in Europe over past five decades
Floods have become far more severe in the past 50 years, with Scotland and England esperiencing the sharpest rises in “flood severity” of anywhere in Europe, a study has found.
The volume of water involved in the average flood is about 55 per cent higher than it was five decades ago in southern Scotland and northern England, as climate change increases rainfall, researchers said.
While these areas have been hit hardest in the UK and Europe, most of the country has suffered a rise in floods, with flood severity, or water volume, rising by between 5 and 25 per cent over the period, depending on the location.
This study provides the most comprehensive data so far to scientifically back the apparent, anecdotal, increase in floods people have been commenting on in recent years.
“We are already seeing signs of the effects of climate change on flooding and we fully anticipate that climate change will increase flood severity in the future. It’s something we need to look at very seriously,” said Jamie Hannaford of the UK’S Centre for Ecology and Hydrology.
In late 2015 and 2016, the UK suffered a series of major floods that wreaked havoc in parts of Cumbria, Lancashire, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the Isle of Man.
This month more than 1,000 homes in Whaley Bridge, Derbyshire, were evacuated after days of heavy rain damaged the dam.
Paul Morozzo, a climate campaigner at environmental charity Greenpeace UK, said: “This study shows the climate emergency writ large. Such a huge increase in flooding will have a profound and damaging impact on people’s lives and communities.
“We have to redouble efforts to combat the climate emergency.”
Sir James Bevan, chief executive of the Government’s Environment Agency, said: “Climate change means the threat of flooding and rate of coastal change will increase significantly.”
While most of the UK has had increased flooding, flood volumes on a sliver of land in the south, encompassing Oxford, London and Brighton, have fallen by 5-10 per cent over the period, the study found.
Meanwhile, in parts of Russia flooding decreased by more than half. Most of central and north-west Europe had increases in floodwater over the five decades.
The pan-european study is published in the journal Nature and involved 24 research institutions, including the University of Bath and Vienna University of Technology.