Flood Loss

Flood Loss - What is the answer?

Is there a solution to combat these terrible floods?

The weather nowadays, even with the very latest monitoring equipment, still seems to catch us unawares. Certainly a few years ago, back in 1987, there were hurricane force winds which caused widespread damage in the United Kingdom and Europe. The weather forecasters knew that the storm was coming, but played it down, believing that it was not going to be as bad as it actuallly turned out. Principal reason was not to panic the people.

Since then, there seems to be more over emphasis of possible bad weather by meteorologists than is really necessary. This is just in case the public claims that it was not forewarned. The idea is that you cannot complain if the storm turned out to be not as severe as anticipated. But, following on from the storms of 1987, if it turns out to be worse, then all hell is let lose.

Several factors, we are told, seem to be affecting the weather. Amongst these is global warming, which as temperatures rise due to damage to the ozone layer and the greenhouse effect this has resulted in the ice caps melting and the sea levels rising at a phenomenal rate. Then it follows that everything related to water is affected and we get flooding.

And this flooding is not just now and again. It seems to be more common as we get torrential down pours which cause flash flooding, the rivers and drainage systems being unable to cope. The water has to go somewhere.

Unfortunately the problem is not going to go away on its own accord. This year the United Kingdom an the rest of Europe has seen one of the wettest summers on record, which according to the weather forecasters is as a direct result of global warming.

Flooding in the United Kingdom and Europe is widespread. Within living memory there have been a number of disastrous floods.

One such flood was the great storm of 1953 which badly affected the east coast of England and mainland Europe, especially the Netherlands. It was caused by an unusually high Spring tide, coupled with gale force winds and a water surge from a fluctuation in atmospheric pressure. These combined to make the sea level almost 3 metres higher than the normal high tide level. It was catastrophic. As a consequence of the flooding over 300 people died and twenty four thousand homes were lost or damaged. Canvey Island in Essex was worst affected, all homes there had to be evacuated and 58 people died.

In mainland Europe the Netherlands was worst hit. The province of Zeeland which lies to the west of Antwerp on the large river Schelde was badly flooded. The part of Zeeland on the southern shore of the Schelde lies well below sea level. Being protected by dikes to keep the water out was not enough.

Video, above, of the monument built in remembrance of the February 1953 flood disaster, on the river Schelde, Walsoorden, Holland.

The increased volume of water in the river caused by the Spring tide (this was January 1953), the gale force winds and atmospherically induced surge pushed the river through the inadequate old dikes in several areas along the banks and old sea walls, completely flooding the surrounding area. Other areas of the Netherlands were also badly affected. As many as 1835 people died and hundreds of homes were destroyed. Other countries, Belgium, France and Denmark did not escape the turmoil.

Following the storm, Holland recognised that something had to be done to improve their sea defences in order to escape another similar catastrophe. So the Dutch government of the time after much debate decided to spend a considerable amount of money on improving them. Somewhere in the region of £4billion ($8billion dollars) has been spent to date and the figure increases annually.

Today the Netherlands has the most advanced sea defence system in the world, funded by the government from taxes raised from the Dutch tax payers and flood insurance premiums, which are shared by all householders even if their home is not in a flood risk zone.

If you live in the United Kingdom and you live in a flood risk zone, my advice is, if you can still get a flood loss insurance, as expensive as it may be, take it. If you have not been affected by flooding so far, chances are, you will, even if you live in “safe” areas or previously unflooded outlying flood stricken areas.

If you cannot get flood insurance, or you simply cannot afford it and you are relying on the water companies or other authorities to pay out, I am afraid that you will almost certainly have a mighty long wait. Theses companies will do their utmost to avoid paying, laying blame on everybody else. Even if they ultimately offer financial compensation, it could take years and in that time your home could have been flooded several more times.

The answer? If there is one, it must be to take a look at what the Dutch have done. Many countries (including the United States following on from Hurricane Katrina) are now looking at the flood defence systems built in the Netherlands and talking to the Dutch engineers and designers in an effort to protect themselves from a repeat of earlier flooding and similar disasters.

In the end, of course, it comes down to money. To build adequate sea defences in order to prevent flooding costs a fortune. However, the Dutch have done it, but it has meant that their tax system is one of the most expensive in Europe in order to generate sufficient revenue to create and maintainn such a flood defence system.

The government and people of the UK have to decide whether they too want to continue living in such conditions or whether they will bite the bullet, and opt to raise taxes (presently amongst the lowest, if not the lowest in Europe) and get on and build a state of the art flood defence system that will last at least until the end of the 21st century. After all the UK is surrounded by water and one thing is certain, the sea level is not going to go down, the frequency of flooding has to increase.