UK must be ready for floods says PM
BORIS JOHNSON has said that he wants to ensure every part of the UK is prepared in the case of flooding from Storm Christoph.
The Prime Minister, who chaired a meeting of the Government’s Cobra civil contingencies committee earlier yesterday, said they had looked particularly at what was happening in Manchester.
“We have got a situation potentially developing there,” he told reporters. “We are looking at a pattern of rainfall, possibly not so bad this week but worse possibly next week.”
He said steps were being taken to ensure the transport and energy networks were prepared so that electricity outages would not be “severe” and that there were sufficient supplies of sandbags.
The Cobra crisis meeting was called after major incidents were declared in Greater Manchester, South Yorkshire and Cheshire.
Amber and yellow weather warnings are in force until today for the storm, which is also threatening to bring up to 12in of snow to northern areas.
Mr Johnson said: “There are some times where I have been to scenes where, alas, people have decided not to obey the advice and not evacuated. It is their right not to do so if they choose – it’s always people’s right to stay wherever they are. But it really is advisable – follow the advice. If you are told to leave your home then you should do so.”
FLOODING ACROSS the UK could increase by an average of 15-35 per cent by the year 2080, a new study has suggested.
Researchers from the Water Resilient Cities project at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh
looked at flooding activity deemed “one in two-year” and “one in 30-year” events for their projections.
This covers the likelihood of a flood event occurring – for example, a one in two-year return period run-off or flood event has a one in two chance of being equalled or exceeded in any given year.
Dr Annie Visser-Quinn, a data scientist at Heriot-Watt, said: “The estimates paint a concerning picture for the future UK flood landscape, especially when combined with increasing urbanisation.”