Flooding in Cumbria - after the deluge
Even as a TV journalist it can still seem surreal to see places you know feature in the national news.
I've had that feeling overnight with the floods that have engulfed Cumbria, and Cockermouth in particular.
I lived close to the town for more than 20 years, growing up and going to school there.
My parents and my daughter still live nearby.
So to see the town centre turned into a river was both surreal and worrying.
Luckily, my family are fine. My mum and dad live on the top of a hill, so it would have needed a Noah-like deluge to affect them.
My daughter lives away from the major rivers but some of her school friends could well be at one of the emergency reception centres in Keswick.
Of course if you live in Cumbria, you get used to it being wet.
Every time I return there I'm reminded that the default autumn and winter weather is driving horizontal rain.
But although I saw some localised flooding over the years I lived there, there was never anything that resembled the scenes overnight.
The local MP Tony Cunningham and the Prime Minister have called it a one-in-a-thousand-year event.
Perhaps, but it seems some part of our region has suffered one of these incredibly rare floods every year.
Morpeth and other parts of Northumberland last year, Carlisle in 2005 being the most serious.
There's no question the Government is now spending more on flood defences than it used to - even William Hague acknowledged that when I interviewed him today.
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But the question is, does climate change mean that more must be spent to prevent floods rather than just improving defences after the deluge?
Or will it always prove impossible to predict which community will be hit next, and therefore simply unaffordable to protect them all?
We're looking to take the Politics Show to Cumbria on Sunday to reflect the seriousness of this story and the debate that is inevitably starting.
But of course first and foremost, this is about making sure the people that are affected are safe.
With more rain forecast in Cumbria this weekend, this crisis is far from over.
I'm Richard Moss, the BBC's Political Editor for the North East and Cumbria. Welcome to my irreverent - but hopefully insightful - northern take on reporting politics for Look North and the Politics Show.
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~29~RS~)
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In 2005 Carlisle in Cumbria was badly flooded.
In 2007 torrential rains caused flooding in Sheffield, Hull, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and the west country.
In 2009 Cumbria and Aberdeenshire suffer severe flooding.
Torrential short downpours (‘Singaporeian’ as a friend describes them, having lived in SE Asia) are becoming more frequent. Most regions of the UK have experienced them, (some such as the Boscastle flood made TV headlines).
Of course climate change could have nothing to do with this; oh no, no, noooo.
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I live in Cockermouth and hope this can really start a debate about how we live our lives in the future. I know we can't say from a single event that climate change is the cause but a pattern is emerging in the UK and if we wait for absolute proof (impossible) it will be too late. Some consequences of the West Cumbria flooding will lead some people to increase their use of oil. If they have to drive 18 miles to do a 2 mile journey to the shop. Will Allerdale or Cumbria County Council have the gumption to make the pedestrian/cycle bridge (Navvies Bridge) over the Derwent near Workington a priority. It would be the cheapest, quickest and greenest way to get people from Northside and Seaton connected to the town centre.
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Any of you who are using this month’s Cumbrian floods to support The (significant human-made global climate change) Hypothesis is either a scare monger or ignorant of climate history. Climate has always changed and there is no reason why it should stop doing so now. We are (or have been until 11 years ago) recovering from an ice age, but could well be heading into another. This is just a hypothesis, as it was back in the 70’s, but we do not know enough about climate processes and drivers to be able to predict climates. We cannot even predict next month’s weather accurately, let alone predict what will be happening to our global climates in 30 years time.
Talking about weather, that’s what the recent floods are all about, nothing to do with climate change or our use of fossil fuels. The washing out of a few bridges after heavy rain is not unprecedented, not even in the past 300 years, never mind 1000. The UK’s Environment Agency says (Note 1) QUOTE: Climate change will bring wetter winters, stormier weather, sea level rises and great extremes in weather conditions. After the floods in Cumbria a few years ago, work began in Carlisle to defend the city against similar significant floods. Such events could be expected to become larger and more frequent as a result of climate change. UNQUOTE. It keeps repeating that floods of this nature ARE (not MIGHT BE) due to climate change and says QUOTE: Climate change will bring wetter winters, stormier weather, sea level rises and great extremes in weather conditions UNQUOTE as though this is a given. It is nothing of the sort. It is simply weather extremes which we’ve had before and will have again.
The Agency talks about floods in Cumbria a few years ago (2005 in Carlisle) but makes no mention of the far worse floods 238 years ago just along the A69 in the South Tyne valley. Back in 1771 every bridge on the river Tyne in Northumberland excepting one (Corbridge) was washed away (Note 2 – take note that this is also from the UK’s Environment Agency). Can you guess why? Our intense use of fossil fuels over the previous 150 years perhaps? The Agency pushes the IPCC propaganda about future climates (Note 3) as though there is absolutely no uncertainty about these projections. In fact, because of the poor level of understanding of the science behind climate processes and drivers these IPCC projections are little better than fortune-telling. Get wise people.
There is no sound evidence to support scientific, political or environmentalist claims that our use of fossil fuels is having any significant impact upon global climates. The current furore about those leaked University of East Anglia Climate Research Unit files, first on the Internet, then in the mainstream media and now among politicians (Note 4) is opportune, just ahead of the UN’s Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. It should encourage our politicians to act in our best interests, not their own, for a change (if that is possible – think expense scandal, weapons of mass destruction).
NOTES:
1) see http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/research/planning/109005.aspx
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4) see http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/lizhunt/6649323/Climate-change-Why-Im-warming-to-Lord-Lawson.html
Best regards, Pete Ridley, human-made global climate change agnos(cep)tic
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This is a relevant extract from my comment on another blog. It is time that the BBC started being even-handed in its presentation of the arguments about human-made global climate change.
At long last the UK newspapers are picking up on the UEA CRU and its “Climategate” scasdal. Today’s Daily Mail had the first article that I am aware of in which it suggests that there might be flaws in The (significant human-made global climate change) Hypothesis. It’s headline is QUOTE: I might not know the truth about climate change, but I recognise trickery and slippery excuses when I see them UNQUOTE and goes on to talk about the “climategate” furore. The MailOnLine has another article (Note 4) headlined QUOTE: Climate change scandal deepens as BBC expert claims he was sent leaked emails six weeks ago UNQUOTE. I wonder when the BBC is going to stop pushing only one side odf the debate and give fair voice to the sceptical argument.
NOTES:
4) see http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1230943/Climate-change-scandal-BBC-expert-sent-cover-emails-month-public.html#ixzz0XyudtxDM
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If Climate Change isn't true, why is China implementing measures? Don't they have their own scientists?
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Richard:
Thanks for your excellent coverage in the flooding in Cumbria recently...On a side note, I hope that your family is safe and sound...And, my best wishes for everyone else affected.
=Dennis Junior=
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