Colombia floods 2011
It started early December, wave after wave of stormy weather battered England and Wales.
It started on 5 December 2013, a tidal surge coincided with high tides, strong winds.
The East Coast was slammed. Boston in Lincolnshire was flooded, in Yorkshire, the cliffs collapsed, cliff top houses toppled into the sea.
This was only the beginning.
Wave after wave of storms hit the UK, day after day of strong winds, heavy rain. High seas overwhelmed coastal defences.
In Aberystwyth the Victorian promenade destroyed.
- Aberystwyth prom shelter damaged in storms is to be moved
- Aberystwyth seafront: Waves ‘punched holes’ in sea wall
Sea stacks and sea arches collapsed.
Chesil Beach, does it still exist? Chesil Beach, is a shingle beach, like that at Brighton, only unlike at Brighton, it slowly destaches istelf from the land, leaving behind a lagoon. It is a temporary structure.
- Sirens heralded storm that changed the shape of Chesil beach
- How man and nature did battle on Chesil Beach
The Somerset Levels flooded.
Many rivers overflowed and flooded the surrounding countryside, towns and villages if not inundated with water, cut off, only accessible by boat.
The Thames and Severn, are only two of the many rivers to have overflowed.
In Guildford, the River Wey overflowed its banks.
But did it have to be? Before Christmas, Prime Minster David Cameron said lessons had to be learnt, and yet it is obvious lessons are not being learnt.
Why are we building on flood plains?
Why are we building on green land? Each time a house is built, that increases the rate of run off.
We must allow coastal areas to flood, to allow salt marshes to develop.
Traditionally the Somerset Levels flooded in the winter. Farming practices must revert to when the Levels flooded, work with Nature, not against.
We must rewild the countryside.
We must re-afforest the uplands. Sheep compacts what little soil, as do deer.
It would be cheaper for insurance companies to afforest watersheds, than to pay out flood damage.
We need to remove sheep and deer from the hills.
Landowners burn grouse moors to provide young shoots for the grouse, in order that the rich can go grouse shooting. Deer are there for the same reason, so the rich can go deer stalking.
The floods to date are estimated to cost the insurance companies, £400 million, a further £100 million to local councils.
Last winter there was extensive flooding, the ground saturated, when it rained, water ran off the land.
Those who were flooded last year, were told it was a once in a century event. They were flooded again, this winter.
Those who were flooded this year or experienced the storms, said it was the worst they had seen in their lifetimes.
We need to reintroduce wolves, wild boar, beavers.
Wolves cull the deer. They enable the forest to grow.
Wild boar disturb the ground, enabling seedlings to grow.
Beavers damn the streams, slowing the rate of water downstream.
Data is available for the River Wye from 1936. Over a period of 70 years, little change in rainfall, and yet the frequency of flooding has tripled.
Soil in woods, hold a lot more carbon than grassland soils, trees lock up more carbon than grass. Old trees hold more carbon than young trees.
We must retain water upstream, slow the rate of flow downstream. It is the peaks that cause the flooding.
The wave of storms battering England and Wales is caused by the jet stream dragging low pressure in from the Atlantic. Usually moving at 100 mph, it has been moving at 300 mph. The bad weather last winter, was also caused by the jet stream.
Flooding can only get worse, as Global Warming has an impact. Warm air, holds more water, warm air holds more energy, storms are more violent, as more energy in the system. Floods, extreme weather, is no longer something that happens to other people. What were seen as rare events, will become commonplace.
- UK weather: more flooding forecast around the coast
- We ignore the disastrous storms in the Caribbean at our peril
- Children rescued from cars as Australia reaches record temperatures
- This chart makes it painfully obvious that climate deniers are ridiculous
- Global warming is being caused by humans, not the sun, and is highly sensitive to carbon, new research shows
- Australia extreme heat kills thousand of bats
- Australia saw hottest year on record in 2013
What is the government spending on research on the links between global warming and flooding? Er, nothing.
The response of the government to the floods:
- slash 1,550 jobs in the Environment Agency
- relax planning restrictions on destruction of Ancient Woodlands
- relax planning controls on green land
The latest from David Cameron, to be gung-ho on fracking.
Insurance companies can make a difference. They are major investors. It is time they pulled the plug on Big Coal and Big Oil.
Leave a Reply