NATIONAL EMERGENCY
More havoc coming & we’re ‘unprepared’» PM must ‘wake up’ to climate crisis
BRITAIN faces a “national emergency” as the flooding worsens, a top expert warns.
Storms Ciara and Dennis have ravaged communities and with more heavy rain forecast, environmental scientist Angela Terry said: “As a country we are
not preparing. Sending the Army to fill sandbags is a sticking plaster.”
As river levels rise and more than a month’s rain has fallen in 48 hours in places, it is feared that more chaos and destruction is to come.
Ms Terry added: “As temperatures rise, the atmosphere can hold more water so downpours are more intense – 7% more for every degree celsius temperature increase – so flooding will increase. We are currently in a national emergency.”
MPs blasted the Government for its lack of action on climate change.
Alex Davies-Jones, Labour MP for Pontypridd, said: “This is a big wake-up call. Areas are flooding which have not flooded before. We have to make sure they don’t flood again but also tackle climate change long term.
“The Government must wake up to the fact we need to do something drastic now or we will have more situations like this.”
Environment Agency chief Sir James Bevan warned the crisis “is not yet over”, urging people living near the Ouse and Severn rivers to be on high alert as “significant flooding” is expected later this week.
RECORDS
His agency issued a record 600 warnings over the weekend and 420 properties were flooded. “Something has changed,” he said. “The climate emergency is driving more violent weather, higher seas and heavier rainfall. We need an approach.”
Philip Davies, Tory MP for Shipley, had said “precious little” was done after the 2015 floods and urged the Government to “pull its finger out”.
But Sir James said “a lot is being done”, highlighting a £2.6billion investment in flood prevention and a further £4billion being offered for the next few years. He added: “You can’t make the whole country flood-proof.”
He also said: “Individuals have a role to play”, adding that one in six British homes is at risk of flooding.
Ms Terry wants to see more funding for the Environment Agency, local authorities and fire and rescue services. She added: “Spending on vital sea defences and flood barriers has to increase in worst-hit areas.
“Some communities will need to move – there are no relocation plans in place so a national debate about floods is urgently required. Planning laws need revision so councils can turn down homes in flood plains.”
Hannah Cloke, professor of hydrology at the University of Reading, added: “We’ve always seen big floods but we keep seeing these records broken. These types of events are most likely a taster of what is to come. Clearly, we are not ready for them.”