ENVIRONMENT:
FLOODING IN THE UK
A
It began with a heat wave and drought throughout much of the United
Kingdom in March of 2012, the third warmest March on record and the fifth
driest. The rivers, aquifers and reservoirs were at their lowest levels, and
water companies were prepared to introduce restrictions on water use, such as a
ban on hosing yards. But just one month later, ground water levels were above
average during a period when they should have been dropping. With a low
pressure area lingering over the UK and causing a long spell of rain, the
National Weather Service published a report, calling April an anomaly. The anomalous month
became an anomalous year, and the series of storms that have been racking
Great Britain and Ireland is now in its third year.
B
Destruction to land and property, including the collapse of the Great
Western Canal, heavy coastal damage, and the flooding of the railway and main
roads, has already cost Britain billions of dollars. Large parts of southern
England are under water, and the Moorland village on Somerset Level cannot be
traversed without a land boat or watercraft. In 2012, residents in Moorland
vowed to fight back with sandbags, but almost all of them have since abandoned
the land they swore never to leave. While the weather in the United Kingdom
has been wretched in other years, the recent pattern can no longer be called an anomaly. Weather researchers say it is just the
beginning, and residents can expect the wet and miserable weather to continue for a few more decades.
C
Taken separately, each of the low pressure systems that have visited
the UK since April of 2012 was nothing out of the ordinary, but the rapid
succession with which they came as well as their staying power have resulted in
nearly non-stop rains that have saturated the ground. The lingering storms are ascribed to a confluence of physical events that began with
higher than normal ocean temperatures in the tropical West Pacific and
Indonesia. This gave rise to increased rainfall over the area, causing major changes
in the Pacific jet stream. A jet stream is an air current that flows in the
upper part of the troposphere. Usually, jet streams travel uniformly, evenly
and with great speed unless influenced by the landmasses and the Coriolis
effect. The former can cause a jet stream to meander rather than move rapidly, mainly because of friction and temperature
differences, whereas the
latter can accentuate the effect. With higher temperatures and increased rainfall in the West Pacific, the Pacific jet stream began to meander, lingering over the United Kingdom and causing wet and windy weather.
D
The North Atlantic jet stream was affected as well by the warmer Arctic
temperatures, part of the warming that is said to be taking place globally.
Temperature differentials between the Arctic and the temperate zone fuel this jet stream. When the differential is high, the
jet stream speeds through the atmosphere like a river rushing downhill. However, when the differential is low,
the jet stream tarries, like a river
flowing slowly across a flat bed. This causes storms to virtually stand still, lingering for weeks on end. As such,
the number of flood warnings in the UK have increased from 9 in 2012 to 130 in 2013, with
some 100 warnings still in effect as of January, 2014.
E
The great irony of the flooding
is that it commenced soon after the government made budget cuts
for flood defence, likely because it didn’t seem important at the time. The flood defence projects
that were ongoing were either put on hold or cancelled. But as the months passed
and the flooding became more catastrophic, the government was forced to commit funds to flood control and urge insurance companies to honor existing
policies. These have paid out a total of about 14 million pounds in emergency
payments; the projected
cost to by the time all payments are made is expected to exceed one billion pounds.
F
Another issue that has gained attention
with government is whether
global warming is the cause of the protracted monsoon rains and flooding in the UK. Supporters of global warming as cause urge government
to earmark funds for programmes to prevent future flooding. They note that the “prolonged spell of rain … was very unusual,”
and that human activity has long been implicated in climate change. But others are more conservative, pointing to a need to study climate models to determine whether
global warming even exists. Solid evidence, they argue, is needed before large
investments can be made to control floods and defend coastal areas. However, whether or not the extreme weather was caused by
global warming, the problem of flooding does exist and
must
be dealt with in the present before
the losses mount and damage to land becomes permanent.
G
Early on, the government claimed it was prepared to spend what it takes to control flooding, but the
reality is that there isn’t
enough money. That is essentially why the budget for flood defence
was cut. The cost of dealing with the effects of climate change is projected at
500 million pounds for the first four years. With the lack of money an
issue, the government
has been discussing the need to make room
for water—permitting the water to claim the land and having residents retreat to higher ground. But will the public be willing to bear that
loss? Some environmentalists say there are no ifs, ands or buts—big parts of the coastline have already been
claimed by the sea and all the low-lying areas are uninhabitable. The River Thames recently burst its banks, and the water that spilled onto
the flood plains destroyed thousands of properties. There is a reason that flood plains are called flood plains. These areas
are, quite simply, prone to flooding. It really may be time to retreat.