Calls for Yorkshire to be ready for any winter flooding made worse by climate change

Flood Action Week, from today, marks the anniversary of Storm Babet which brought devastation and major floods to parts of the region.

But even a decade after the Boxing Day floods of 2015, communities in parts of Calderdale are raising questions over the time it is taking to get their long-awaited protection.

Now, as the Met Office insists the UK is not “locked into” a winter of higher flood risk, the body does urge people to be prepared.

And experts warn that climate change is making extreme weather events happen more frequently, with downpours as seen last year made more intense by global warming.

England endured its wettest 18 months on record up to March, with storms and floods disrupting transport and hitting this year’s farming harvest.

Floods Minister Emma Hardy, who is MP for Hull West and Haltemprice said: “Through the recent launch of our Floods Resilience Taskforce, this government is taking decisive action to accelerate the development of flood defences and bolster the nation’s resilience to extreme weather.

“But this Flood Action Week, we must be all be proactive in taking steps to protect ourselves by checking our flood risk and signing up for flood warnings.”

Homes and businesses across parts of Yorkshire were devastated by Storm Babet, with communities still reeling in the aftermath many months later.

At Catcliffe near Rotherham, hundreds of homes had to be evacuated while people were rescued from cars as river levels rose.

Last month, some counties in the UK saw their wettest September on record, after a drier than normal summer for much of the UK.

Dr Will Lang, from the Met Office, said many areas remained very wet, rivers were high and ground was sensitive to rain, particularly in southern and central England.

But he said that did not mean it would continue that way throughout the autumn and winter, saying there was “still time for things to reset".

“Despite the recent wet weather, especially across England, we are not yet locked into a winter of elevated flood risk," he said. “There is still time over the coming weeks for rivers and ground conditions in England to return to normal levels, should we see the drier conditions dominate here over the coming weeks and last into late autumn."

But he added that “everything was still on the table”, and warned that even if the country ended up with a normal winter, some flooding was to be expected.

“The advice is, as we would usually say, plan for everything, because a normal winter can even then include extremes of weather and some flooding, and there is still a probability, a possibility, of it either being a wet and flood-prone winter or conversely, a dry winter."

Around 5.5 million properties in England are at risk from flooding, officials say. People are now being urged to check their area, using a free Government service, and sign up for flood warnings. They are also being urged to take steps to protect themselves.

Caroline Douglass, executive director of flood and coastal risk management for the Environment Agency, said climate change means extreme weather events are happening more frequently.

“We can’t always predict where the rain will fall or where flooding will occur, but we do know which areas are at risk,” she said. “That is why it is essential we all do our part by checking our flood risk and signing up for flood warnings this Flood Action Week."

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