Calls for Precautionary Flood Warning Systems
In order for the country not to have a repeat performance of the damage caused by last Summer's flooding we are going to have to pin point weather down to street name.
A government advisor recently spoke out having reviewed the way in which last year's flooding was dealt with and has called for drastic changes in the way in which they were handled. The head of the independent review has said that the extreme weather events brought on by climate change are going to see more damages to businesses and homes this Summer if something is not done to pre-empt them.
The final report recommends giving local councils the lead on responsibility for flood risk management within their constituencies but admission were made that many councils lacked the skills and resources to carry it out since the privatisation of the water industry.
The report states that the Meteorological Office and the Environment Agency need to work much closer together in order to improve flood warnings.
Currently predictions can be made regarding rainfall in a county or city, but calls have been made to get this down to 'street level', especially with the weather getting more chaotic and unpredictable and with flooding becoming more and more likely.
Reports on last year's flooding have cost the economy somewhere in the region of £3-4 billion, which is the most extensive emergency to hit the country since World War 2.
The poor quality flood warnings meant that some people were hit by the flooding and had no warnings what so ever.
50,000 properties were flooded, which lead to the loss of water and electricity supplies, escalating the problem caused to families.
Because only poor predictions were made regarding where water would flow once it hit the ground, many people were hit. The recent report states that because no one currently has the responsibility for the countries surface water flooding no one is going to be prepared for what the Summer of 2008 could and will bring.
Because the country is not well prepared for the flooding, the emergency of last Summer escalated to power stations and pumping stations as there was no understanding of how vulnerable these sites were. In addition to the ciaos to water and electric supplies, 10,000 people were standed on the M5 and eight motorways were closed.
If we are to avoid the damage of last Summer, then a huge restructure of how precautions are taken have to be made.
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