Weekend floods highlight Government's failure to act

2.46.00pm GMT Mon 8th Sep 2008

The serious flooding across the region on Saturday highlights the Government's failure to respond to the increased risk of extreme rainfall caused by global warming, local Euro MP Liz Lynne said today.

The Euro MP also has also raised questions at the effectiveness of the Environment Agency's flood warning system after some rivers only reported as 'Flood Watch' status burst their banks and flooded homes and businesses on Saturday.

Flooding caused misery for many across the region over the past few days, with several schools closed and flood barriers in place around Shrewsbury and Ironbridge. With water levels remaining very high, there are fears that two further spells of heavy rain forecast for this week could cause serious flooding along the Severn and other rivers in Shropshire.

After the last year's devastating floods, Liz Lynne MEP pushed the Government to apply quickly for help from the European Solidarity Fund and campaigned for the emergency funding application to be quickly considered.

Speaking today from Brussels, Liz Lynne said:

"This weekend has highlighted how vulnerable we are to heavy rain and how the Government has still not done enough to tackle the increased flooding risk caused by global warming. It is clear we must expect almost annual extreme rainfall events. This is the new reality. Whilst it has patched up the worst affected places, the Government simply has not invested what it should have in flood defences for places like Tenbury Wells, which has flooded again, or large towns like Shrewsbury.

"I also have to question the effectiveness of the early warning system in this region. Even on Saturday, none of our rivers other than the Wye were on a higher warning status than 'flood watch,' yet in Tenbury Wells and other places homes and businesses were being inundated. If we are going to have a warning system at all it needs to be accurate and rapidly updated.

"Predicting the weather will never be an exact science, but I had reports from across the region on Friday that it was raining incredibly hard for hour upon hour, but there was not much sign of it on the Floodline website - yet sure enough the next day we had serious flooding on the Teme and the Severn, and tragically a girl died in Powys, but the only 'Severe Flood Warnings' that were issued were for South Wales and up in the North East. I have asked the Environment Agency to look into it.

"We did succeed in getting some help from the EU Solidarity Fund last year but this was for emergency recovery only and was a drop in the ocean compared to the amount needed for the long-term flood prevention strategy our region and the country clearly needs. With rivers still high and two further waves of rainfall expected later this week, let us hope the forecasts are proved wrong because I am not convinced we are in good shape to resist sustained extreme downpours."

ENDS

Notes:

After the flooding hit areas of central and Northern England in summer 2007 Liz Lynne pushed hard for the UK government to apply to the EU Solidarity Fund, which is intended to reimburse non-insured losses, such as emergency assistance and public infrastructure costs.

Liz then campaigned at the European Parliament for the application to be approved as quickly as possible, speaking on the subject in the chamber and corresponding with Commissioner Hubner. The European Commission approved £110m of funding to help with the costs of emergency recovery but the amount given was reduced because of the rebate the UK receives on its contributions to the EU.

Liz Lynne also campaigned for funding for the Severn Valley Railway which was severely damaged by the flooding and largely out of action for several months. The railway is vital to the tourism and leisure economy of Worcestershire and Shropshire in her West Midlands region constituency and reopened fully in March 2008.