“The UK’s new flood defence plans anticipate significantly higher extreme rainfall, after new research was published as part of the government’s National Flood Resilience review.
The government, which had been criticised for not taking full account of the impact of climate change in driving up flood risk, will now plan for 20-30% more extreme downpours than before.
The review, prompted by severe flooding in recent winters, also found that critical infrastructure, such as water and telecoms, are at serious risk from floods and utility companies have committed to increasing protection. The government’s official climate change advisers recently warned that flooding could cause a cascade of emergencies by knocking out energy, transport, water and communications link.
The review allocates £12.5m for more temporary defences, such as barriers and pumps, at strategic locations around the country. By this winter, the government said, four times more temporary barriers will be available.
The review has also led to the setting up of more projects in which natural approaches, such as tree planting and moorland restoration, are used to slow the flow of water into rivers and reduce flood risk, including one in Cumbria, which was hit hard last winter.
“Last winter we saw just how devastating flooding can be. This review sets out clear actions so we are better prepared to respond quickly in the event of future flooding and can strengthen the nation’s flood defences,” said the environment secretary, Andrea Leadsom.
Ben Gummer, Cabinet Office minister, said: “The government has made clear that we expect water and telecoms companies to work ever closer together to improve their preparation and response to flooding, making sure lifelines such as mobile phone masts and water treatment works continue to function even when the great British weather is throwing its very worst at us.”
A previous flood review ordered by David Cameron after the 2014 floods was never delivered.
The review asked the Met Office to develop new plausible extreme rainfall scenarios. It added 20-30% to recently recorded extreme events, a figure it expects will mean only a 10% chance of worse rain in the next 10 years. “When we used a selection of the Environment Agency’s detailed models to predict the flooding associated with these extreme rainfall scenarios, we discovered (unsurprisingly) that it, too, was worse than anything we have seen to date,” the review states.
Speaking before the report’s publication, former floods minister Richard Benyon said farmers could to be paid to hold back floodwater under a post-Brexit rural payments system. “There is an opportunity now to completely rethink rural policy, and flood protection can come in as part of the way we support farmers and see farming as doing a public good when it protects communities from flooding,” he said.
Flood defence spending was cut sharply by David Cameron’s coalition government but partly reversed after severe floods in the winters of 2013-14 and 2015-16. In March’s budget, a £700m boost was pledged, meaning some English cities and towns that had been left without planned flood defences by the cuts are now getting the projects. The north of England, devastated by winter floods, is getting at least £150m of the new money, giving better protection for thousands of homes.
The Guardian had revealed in 2012 that 294 projects in line for funding were left stranded after the heavy cuts and exposed a series of places that were later flooded. These included Leeds and Kendal, which were submerged in last winter’s storms. Both places will now get new defences. The new money is being funded by an increase in insurance premium tax.
The government had been warned by a series of official bodies that flood risk was rising due to inadequate spending and was costing billions of pounds in damages. Government scientists have long warned that more severe flooding is the greatest impact of climate change in the UK.
Floods already cause £1bn of damage every year on average but the risks will rise yet further as climate change leads to more intense rainfall, bringing floods to places not currently in danger. The number of households at significant risk of flooding will more than double to 1.9m by 2050, if the global temperature rises by 4C.
One new approach is to use natural methods to slow the flow of water and tree planting has been shown to have prevented flooding at Pickering in North Yorkshire over Christmas, at a time when heavy rainfall caused devastating flooding across the region. A separate back-to-nature trial in Holnicote, Somerset, has also showed promising results.”
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/sep/08/flooding-uk-government-plans-for-more-extreme-rainfall
