People in Yorkshire warned about flooding this winter despite recent drought

Caroline Douglass, the Executive Director for Flood and Coastal Risk Management, said winters are becoming wetter in the UK and the country could be hit by more flood-inducing downpours in the coming months.

She issued the warning at the launch of the Environment Agency’s Flood Action Week, when people are urged to check the risk in their local area, sign up for warnings and find out what action they should take in the event of a flood.

“We can still have flooding while we’re in drought,” said Ms Douglass. “Over the weekend we had some surface water flooding. We know we are likely to get some flooding this winter and February’s not looking great again based on that weather forecast.

“But when you also see what’s happening around the world, flooding is occurring much more frequently.

“Australia is being hit at the moment, we’ve had Pakistan, Bangladesh, Europe, North America hit by hurricanes."

She added: “The climate is getting warmer and Cop27 this week is showing that we are going to have to cater for more impacts as a result of climate change which is here and now and we are experiencing that, as are many countries around the world.”

According to the Met Office, the UK has seen six of the 10 wettest years on record since 1998.

The country has also been hit by three named storms in a week (in February) for the first time ever, record-breaking temperatures and a drought so far this year.

Will Lang, the Met Office’s Head of Situational Awareness, said normal winter conditions are most likely between November and January.

“It would not be unusual if the wettest and stormiest part of the season with the greatest flood risk again came at the end of the season in February as it did last winter,” he added.

According to the Met Office, February was the eighth wettest on record, as 152 per cent of the average rainfall fell.

It comes as hundreds of millions of pounds are being spent on bolstering defences around Yorkshire, following the devastating floods caused by Storm Eva in December 2015 and the deluges which damaged thousands of properties when a month’s worth of rainfall fell in 24 hours, in November 2019.

Around £50m was spent on the first phase of Leeds Flood Alleviation Scheme, which provides protection for more than 3,000 homes and 500 businesses in the city.

Work is now well underway on the second phase, which will cost around £105m and provide a one-in-a-200-year level of protection against flooding for communities along the River Aire, between Leeds and Apperley Bridge.

More than £40m was spent on the flood alleviation scheme in Mytholmroyd, which was devastated by its highest ever recorded flood on Boxing Day in 2015, work is being done on other schemes in other areas of the Calder Valley, including Hebden Bridge and Brighouse.

And the £400m Connected by Water Action Plan, designed to protect over 17,000 homes, businesses and infrastructure across South Yorkshire, was launched earlier this year.