4,000
hoMES WErE DAMAGED In ThE
UK FlooDS oF SUMMEr 2007
11
event, we could lower water levels further up the estuary,
where there are built assets,” explains Mark Dixon, project
“PEoPlE MAY hAvE lITTlE or no direcT incenTive To
manager with the rSPB. ProTECT ThEMSElvES, ThroUGh InSUrAnCE, MovInG or
Water quality may also improve, as salt-loving marsh plants
MAKInG ThEIr properTy more resilienT UnTIl AFTEr
help to strip out chemical pollutants and heavy metals. And
fisheries could benefit – saltmarshes provide a vital nursery
ThEY hAvE BEEn hIT WITh DISASTEr” Mike Woolgar
for commercial fish fry. Creating coastal marshland could
even help to cut Co
2
. “recent research shows new areas
of saltmarsh and mudflat soak up 2.2 tonnes of carbon per provide medium-term flood simulations. Bill oates, associate Panel on Climate Change, sea levels could rise by up to 59cm
hectare per year,” says Dixon. director in Atkins’ geospatial team, explains, “Using traditional by the end of the century.
national modelling techniques, warning time was only three official government advice paints an even bleaker picture:
Warning signs days. Today it is 10 days, but we hope this will rise to 15 when planners should consider a relative sea level rise of more than
In the long term, emphasis is shifting from flood defences to the EFAS becomes operational next year.” 102cm for east and south-east England by the beginning of
flood management, including strategic reflooding of reclaimed In the seven years up to 2005, flooding on mainland the next century. rising sea levels are redrawing the map of
land and better alert systems. Europe – including along the rivers Danube and Elbe Britain and, in the long term, higher tides threaten everything
Predicting where and when river floods are likely to – caused 700 deaths and displaced 500,000 people. Better from coastal settlements to critical infrastructure.
happen is supported by the EU Flood GIS system – a €2 million information won’t prevent such floods, but, in the long term, “We can’t stop the sea rising, but we can manage it,”
pan-European data collection and management network could save many lives. says heijne. “If we don’t, we will lose communities that are
being developed by Atkins to support the continent-wide A bigger threat to the UK’s economic security, meanwhile, economically important to us.”
European Flood Alert System (EFAS). The system pulls together comes not from rivers but from the sea. The evidence is like the fabled King Cnut, we may be unable to hold back
historic and real-time data, including weather forecasts, to alarming: according to the Un-backed Intergovernmental the waters. But can we afford to do nothing?
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