Flooding is something communities across the country have grown all too familiar with over the past few months.
Storm Henk was the latest to bring excessive rainfall to these shores and, undoubtedly, will not be the last. It followed Storms Babet and Ciaran in the latter months of 2023, bringing significant disruption, with 116 flood warnings and 129 flood alerts still in place as of Tuesday morning (9 January) and around 2,100 properties having experienced flooding[i].
Even as that floodwater begins to seep away and rivers are able to recover, the impacts will be ongoing for some time and the need to adapt will grow only ever more pressing.
Here in the East of England, for example, we have seen our major A47 road flooded repeatedly to the west of Norwich over the last few months[ii]. National Highways had thought the issue had been fixed after mending a broken pipe and building a soil bank, only for Henk to roll in and prove them wrong.
So, what’s going on? While there may be specific issues behind the flooding of the A47 yet to be uncovered, the wider challenge of increased, intense rainfall is widely accepted as climate change.
With 2023 confirmed as the warmest on record, sea surface temperatures hit record highs[iii]. These warmer sea temperatures lead to evaporation, which then sees more rain in low-lying regions and rivers bursting their banks on a more frequent basis as a result[iv].
For every 1 °C of warming, the atmosphere can hold 7% more water vapour, only increasing the chance of there being heavy rain. The UK has not been alone in facing these challenges, with Germany, France and the Netherlands all also experiencing flooding.
These wetter, warmer winters are a sign of things to come according to scientists[v]. The second half of 2023 was the wettest July to December period on record in the UK and it has lost much of its natural protection to flooding.
It has dug up its peatland, drained marshes and built on flood plains. Wetlands can soak up rainwater and release it during drier periods, but the UK now must work to “manage and conserve” the ones that still exist and step up efforts to create more of them, according to Christian Dunn of Bangor University.
Kevin Collins of Open University told The Guardian that the UK should think about the “systemic risks to our communities and economy and act to build resilience to these kinds of floods by accepting and adapting to the new normal of climate change.”
This stance was only echoed in a recent piece from iNews[vi], which cited experts calling for more natural flood solutions to be created and efforts to make homes more resilient to flooding.
It is not just rain, with the El Niño event partly responsible for increased rainfall likely to see hotter temperatures this summer once more, meaning adapting to climate change, building more resilient infrastructure and protecting the natural environment to ensure it can protect us only becoming more crucial with each passing extreme weather event.
[i] “January flooding in England” – The Environment Agency – https://www.gov.uk/government/news/january-flooding-in-england
[ii] “Flooding on A47 at Honingham prompts call for action” – Norwich Evening News – https://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/news/24030884.flooding-a47-honingham-prompts-call-action/
[iii] “2023 confirmed as world’s hottest year on record” – BBC News – https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-67861954
[iv] “Why are France, Germany and England flooded – and is climate change to blame?” – euronews.green – https://www.euronews.com/green/2024/01/05/why-are-france-germany-and-england-flooded-and-is-climate-change-to-blame
[v] “Warmer winters and more flooding will be the norm in the UK, scientists warn” – The Guardian – https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/jan/06/warmer-winters-and-more-flooding-will-be-the-norm-in-the-uk-scientists-warn
[vi] “Why Britain floods so much, and how climate change is making it worse” – iNews – https://inews.co.uk/news/why-britain-floods-so-much-climate-change-2839280
