Environment Agency warns high tides, large waves and strong winds could lead to floods in south-west and southern England
More homes and businesses are in danger of being flooded over the next few days as pressure built on the government to take action to prevent a similar crisis in the future and residents of the worst-hit area, the Somerset Levels, prepared for a royal visit.
The Environment Agency said high tides, large waves and strong winds would lead to a risk of coastal flooding along the south west and southern coasts of England Tuesday and Wednesday. It warned that properties on the banks of rivers including the Severn and the Thames could also be affected over the same period.
A severe weather warning was issued by the Met Office for Wednesday saying that gusts of up to 80mph and another 40mm of rain were possible across much of southern England and Wales.
The monotony for flood-stranded residents on the Somerset Levels will be broken on Tuesday by a visit from the Prince of Wales, who was already booked in for a tour to discuss the aftermath of the the 2012 winter floods in the area.
Along with members of the Prince's Countryside Fund, which has funds to allocate to communities in times of crisis, the prince will speak to residents and politicians in the village of Stoke St Gregory, near Taunton.
He is then expected to journey by boat to Muchelney, which was completely cut off by the floodwaters for several weeks, before being driven by tractor to a farm in Langport on the banks of the River Parrett, which again burst its banks over the weekend.
It is not only the elements that the people of the Levels are having to deal with after it emerged that thieves had stolen heating oil from a farm in the flood-hit village of Moorland and taken two fire service quad bikes.
The national police air service helicopter flew over the flood-hit area as a "proactive crime prevention exercise" and police horses have been deployed. Chf Supt Caroline Peters, of Avon and Somerset police, said the force had heard rumours of would-be looters out on the Levels on boats at night.
The challenges faced on the Levels dominated the appearance by the environment secretary Owen Paterson in the House of Commons to answer an emergency question. Shadow environment secretary Maria Eagle said residents of Somerset had been "very badly let down" and there was "little sign of a coherent government strategy."
Paterson repeated the promise that dredging of the rivers, which most local people believe will ease the flooding, would begin as soon as it was safe and revealed that the government was looking at the possibility of beginning the job from boats even before the waters have retreated.
He said the cost of pumping water away from the Levels was costing £100,000 a week as 62 pumps move a million tonnes of water a day up into river channels that run above the low-lying countryside.
Paterson said that about 7,500 properties had been flooded around the country since the beginning of December. MPs from as far apart as Cornwall and Surrey told Paterson that their constituents had been affected.
Paul Flynn, the MP for Newport West, pointed out that the Gwent Levels on the other side of the Bristol Channel from Somerset – and suggested this was partly because the land there had not been "denuded" of trees.
Paterson – and later Lord Smith of Finsbury, chairman of the Environment Agency – said they recognised that holding water on higher ground through measures such as planting schemes may be an important tactic in the future.
Ian Liddell-Grainger, Conservative MP for Bridgwater and West Somerset, led calls for the resignation of Smith, who had attracted criticism for suggesting that Britain may have to choose whether it wants to save "town or country" from future flooding.
Liddell-Grainger said: "That is one of the most fatuous statements I have ever heard from any politician. The flooding issue is not one of town versus country; it concerns people."
Asked whether Smith – who has not visited the Levels during the flooding – was right, David Cameron's official spokesman said: "There is investment going in, in terms of flood defences, across the full range of communities, and that is the right thing to do."
It emerged on Monday that a cheaper helpline for flooding victims was open for calls after the prime minster expressed concern that some people were being charged up to 41p a minute to call the existing number.
On Monday, it was the turn of the far south west of the UK to bear the brunt of the floods with several coastal towns in Devon and Cornwall knee-deep in water and train services in the area at a near standstill.
An unusually high tide breached defences in several towns and villages, including Looe, Fowey, Newlyn, Porthleven, Mevagissey and parts of Plymouth. Flooding forced First Great Western to cancel some trains in Devon and Cornwall.
For the rest of the week, the Environment Agency flagged up possible problems in Somerset, Shropshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, Dorset, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Hampshire and Kent.
A Met Office severe weather warning for Wednesday covered the whole of the south-west along with parts of Wales, the Midlands, the south-east and London.
source Guardian
No comments:
Post a Comment