Rainfall in England and Wales in December and January has been the heaviest since records began 240 years ago. The rains have been exacerbated by conditions in Indonesia and the tropical west Pacific, according to the UK Met Office. Heavy rains there in November, plus warm seas, combined to redirect and strengthen the North Atlantic jet stream, the air current carrying the downpours to the UK.
As the waters rose, residents blamed the Environment Agency and its embattled chief Chris Smith for failing to allow floodwater to escape by adequately dredging rivers.
But hydrologists contacted by New Scientist say that dredging alone would not have stopped the flooding. "Given the amount of rain that has fallen, you could have doubled the carrying capacity of every drainage channel in Somerset, at huge cost, and large parts would still have flooded," says Hannah Cloke at the University of Reading.
"The solution for residents and communities is to adapt to living with it," Cloke says. "They shouldn't expect the government or the Environment Agency to protect them from a flood that's impossible to protect against."
http://www.newscientist.com/article...e-stopped-massive-uk-floods.html#.UvkwuWJ_ty0
As the waters rose, residents blamed the Environment Agency and its embattled chief Chris Smith for failing to allow floodwater to escape by adequately dredging rivers.
But hydrologists contacted by New Scientist say that dredging alone would not have stopped the flooding. "Given the amount of rain that has fallen, you could have doubled the carrying capacity of every drainage channel in Somerset, at huge cost, and large parts would still have flooded," says Hannah Cloke at the University of Reading.
"The solution for residents and communities is to adapt to living with it," Cloke says. "They shouldn't expect the government or the Environment Agency to protect them from a flood that's impossible to protect against."
http://www.newscientist.com/article...e-stopped-massive-uk-floods.html#.UvkwuWJ_ty0
