The Storms in North West Britain

I once walked the lonely and beautiful Honister Pass with my father, as we took a long hike down Newlands Valley through Buttermere and Borrowdale, a treasured time with a now deceased parent. It was a dry summer day, but we knew the reputation of the place for rain, and in recent years the area has exceeded all the worst expectations. The village at the foot of the pass, Seathwaite, is known as England's rainiest place, and a year or so ago it recorded  31.6 centimetres in a day, but yesterday exceeded this unwanted record, with the rain at Honister pouring 34.6 centmetres in 48 hours on the lonely road through the hills. The water cascaded down both sides of the pass, on one side descending to lake Buttermere, and the other down to lake Derwentwater in Borrowdale, where the town of Keswick, near the isthmus between Derwentwater and Veronica's beloved Bassenthwaite,  suffered some flooding. 

But Keswick was not the most badly hit. Down to the south in Kendal parts of the town were flooded, and an elderly man was  swept to his death in the swollen river Kent.  Many families had to be evacuated from their homes,power was lost, and the local member of parliament, the leader of the Liberal Democrats,  had to escape from his flooded and now to be written off car, leading four children to safety in the process. But north of this, the river Eden burst its banks and overflowed into the town of Carlisle, swollen with water that had rolled off the Pennine hills.Sadly, even though the government had improved flood defences in the town after flooding two or three years ago, the new defences were overwhelmed in places, such was the severity of the rain. Sixty thousand homes across the North West lost power as the electricity failed.  

But the rest of Britain did not escape the attack. In London a ninety year old man was blown into the path of a bus to  become the first fatality of the storm. In Southern Scotland a whole side of a street crumbled into a river. And I was  anxious, but later relieved, as I knew that in Wales my son-in-law was driving home from a business trip through the storm to Anglesey, only an hour's drive across the Lleyn Peninsula, lovely by day, but dark and lonely in a storm at night. Sometimes if there is a bad storm the police shut the bridges to the Isle of Anglesey, so I did not want him stuck overnight in a car waiting at the bridge. But he reached home safe, but tired without delay.The police are not being unreasonable in shutting the two bridges, as such as the strength of the wind across the  Menai straits that lorries have been known to topple, and cars and pedestrians could be blown into the metal framework.   

The problem is that climate change predictions are that there will be an increase in Winter storms in North West Britain,and we are seeing it now. The rainfall in winter is growing heavier, fueled by the temperature rise in the Atlantic, just as this heat fuels hurricanes in North  America. Climate change is real, dangerous, expensive and happening. I know that storms of great severity happen elsewhere in the world, and we cannot equal America's hurricanes, but we are not on a continent, but a crowded  island, and if certain parts suffer economic damage, the whole island will suffer; and there is nowhere to run to.    

The emergency services were as usual heroic, and the police faithfully searched for the missing man, but they can only respond. The army were sent in and served grimly through a stormy period, reinforcing defences and taking people to safety. The community banded together. As usual,  the church opened its doors to turn churches into refuges, though one church was flooded and unavailable. 

There are measures that can be taken. All these measures have to be effective in a heavily populated island where whole areas cannot be rewilded, but will always contain human habitation at a reasonably high level of  density.

One suggested measure is to change land use in the affected district. The Cumbrian hills are sheep farming territory, and like all sheep range they are quite bare of trees. But land that is denuded of trees, which are the natural land covering of Britain, cannot hold water, which runs down the bare mountain sides far quicker than it does though tree covered land. Soil that is tree-covered absorbs water sixty seven per cent more effectively than non-tree covered soil. So to hold water on the hills and therefore slow the pace at which it descends we need to restore tree cover. Even a small restoration would create a significant slow down in water run off from the hillsides. This may mean a change in patterns of farming, with hill farmers becoming part time foresters and forest enterprises becoming part of the economic life of the area. But this is for negotiation between farmers and society, and expecting farmers to  sacrifice their livelihoods for no gain is not acceptable. Britain needs to fully cultivate its land, and farmers are the key to this process.

Maintenance of peat bogs is important, as these places can be sponges that soak up surplus water and hold it for slow release. Part of this vital strategy is to ensure that peat deepens, as the more peat there is the more water and carbon dioxide it holds.

One strategy is to designate  certain areas along rivers as overflow zones. This might mean buying up some farm land and letting it turn into wetland as an over-spill for times of serious flooding. Creating zones which can turn into winter lakes at spots along rivers is an important strategy.  More storm drains in towns can help, but the water needs to go somewhere, which is where seasonal wetlands come in. 

As a long term strategy we need to rethink house design so that houses are raised above street level to allow a certain leeway for water to flood without causing difficulties. Electrics need to be rethought so that they are not so near the floor as to easily flood. 

In this island we do not suffer the worst of disasters,and in many ways we are blessed. But global warming is causing changes and the benign climate in which I  grew up is changing. What it will be for my descendants I know not. As a grandfather I am concerned for the generations who come after me.  

Britons need to develop a flood culture, so that they will not be taken by surprise. I am fortunate that my house is near the centre of Stretford, so it is on a slight rise, which is why Stretford was located where it was, to be free from the ever-recurring flooding of the Mersey. But we cannot be complacent. I  will need to think ahead to times when we might be flooded, so preparations such as supplies of food and a source of heat may become important, as will suitable clothing. We need to rethink winter not as a time for snow, which in truth it rarely was in Britain, but as a time of wind, rain and floods. We must get used to the future to prepare for it.    

The government needs to play its part  in combating the global warming that is fueling these Atlantic storms.It does something, but it needs to be promoting renewable energy even more than it is doing. David Cameron promised us the greenest government ever, but so far the delivery of the promise has proved disappointing.

But everyone in our island needs to realize that whatever the differences between England and Scotland, climate change is an enemy that attacks both of us and does not worry whether you wear a kilt or not, for as you saw, the storm that hit Cumbria attacked the whole of the British  Isles. We have different cultures but a common set of problems in our small, but  densely populated archipelago. We are better together.