Troops move in, but Somerset could face 20 years of misery
TROOPS were on standby last night as Somerset was braced for more floods – and Environment Secretary Owen Paterson admitted it could take 20 years to solve the area’s problems.
High winds, torrential rain and a tidal surge are expected to swamp coastal defences and swell already bursting rivers over the weekend.
This will spell more misery for the Somerset Levels, which have been under water for a month.
More than 60 pumps are running at full power to drain an estimated 1.5million tons of water from the flooded area but more storms will only deepen the crisis, which has seen the Environment Agency accused of gross incompetence for failing to dredge clogged rivers that have burst their banks.
Pat Flaherty, deputy chief executive of Somerset county council, said the Levels could be under water for weeks.
The Ministry of Defence has sent three military planners – an Army major and captain and a lieutenant commander from the Royal Navy – to meet council chiefs to assess the disaster.
Mr Paterson said last night after chairing a meeting of the Government’s Cobra emergency committee: ‘We established that we do need a proper 20-year plan to
‘I don’t think anyone
is surprised’
satisfactorily cover this very specialist part of the country.
‘It’s clear from our forecasts that there is further bad weather coming in, there will be heavy rain and that, combined with significant high spring tides around the coast, mean that I’m afraid there is real risk of flooding to properties.’
He reiterated David Cameron’s call for dredging to restart for the first time since 2005. The Prime Minister tried to seize control of the situation on Wednesday, calling for an end to the arguments that have held up action and insisting that dredging must go ahead.
The Environment Agency has come in for severe criticism for stopping dredging in the mid-1990s.
But David Jordan, operations director at the quango, who earns more than £160,000 a year, told Sky News last night: ‘People are trying to make this an Environment Agency-only problem.
‘It is something which is shared by others and must be owned by others so we come to a collective and agreed way forward.’
His organisation has pledged only £350,000 to dredge the two key rivers in Somerset – the Parrett and Tone – an operation which will cost at least £4million.
Yet it has been willing to spend £20million on a bird sanctuary on the Somerset coast.
‘We have a responsibility to ensure that the taxpayers’ money we are given to invest in reducing flood risk is spent to the best effect,’ Mr Jordan said.
‘We are committed to the dredging, we have put money on the table and that won’t change. But it is also clear that other parties need to pay their way too.
‘We believe that even had the dredging taken place, we would still be seeing very extensive flooding across the Somerset Levels and Moors.’
Mr Paterson said a plan would be in place within six weeks for a long-term approach to tackling flood risk in Somerset.
‘We established quite quickly that we do need to dredge quite quickly the two main rivers, we established that we do need a proper 20-year plan,’ he said.
‘I’ve given all the local agencies six weeks to come together with a definitive plan.’
Royal Marines from 40 Commando, based in nearby Taunton, are on standby to assist in the crisis as the fresh storms approach.
They are able to reach stranded communities with rigid inflatable boats or amphibious landing craft. They are also preparing to fill sandbags, ferry food, fuel and other supplies, and carry resi- dents from flooded homes.
A unit of Royal Marines serving with 24 Commando Engineer Regiment, based in Chivenor, North Devon, was also dispatched to survey the damage.
The fire brigade has brought in hovercraft and the Red Cross is using emergency teams to reach stranded flood victims, who are furious with the way the crisis has been handled.
Heidi Brownsey, 27, a mother-ofthree from Langport, said: ‘When other countries have disasters our Government is happy to fund them but when we are in our own disaster they don’t seem to want to know or care. I don’t think anyone is going to be surprised that there is now all this debate about who is going to pay.
Nigel Smith, whose home in Muchelney has been cut off since Christmas, said the issue of dredging was vital.
‘The dredging will help a little bit but that’s all we need - a little bit,’ he said. ‘Dredging would lower the flooding by an inch or two and that’s all we really need to save those people in the village that have flooded.’