7 December 2015
This weekend Storm Desmond has unleashed record rainfull across Cumbria and surrounding areas. Flood defences in Carlisle, Keswick and Cockermouth were improved following other recent floods, but were overwhelmed. This is the third time in 11 years that Carlisle has suffered major flooding, but this appears to be the worst yet.
Whilst scientists are always wary of attributing a single event to man-made climate change, there is a pattern emerging of extreme weather events occuring with increased frequency. The flood defences built to cope with a 'one-in-a-hundred-year' event have been overwhelmed already.
Green Party member Kate Willshaw, in a letter printed in 'The Guardian' said "I sat in my house in Kendal last night watching the flood waters creep up the road to a level never seen before. This storm and the continued run of other storms hitting NW England, particularly Cumbria are becoming more common. They cause terror and disruption to us and our infrastructure on a scale that terrorists could never hope to achieve. Why is the government not waging war on the terror threat of climate change? Cumbria County Council is facing another round of enormous cuts. How are we supposed to get back on our feet and back to normal life after these catastrophic floods when there is no money to fix the roads and railways, no money to fix flooded schools and day centres and no money to pay staff to do so."
John Reardon, from Carlisle Green Party echoed the concern about Government cuts, both to local councils and to the Environment agency (see Green Party comment from 2014 here ).
Jill Perry, from Allerdale Green Party observed that not only was the frequency of these events increasing but the intensity as well. "Although we have flooded before, the farm just down the road hadn't flooded in living memory (they've farmed there for at least 50 years) and they had a foot in the ground floor."
These floods, together with other patterns of extreme weather around the Earth, serve as a timely reminder to politicians and others at the Paris COP21 climate change talks for the need for urgent action. Sadly whilst David Cameron will no doubt visit Cumbria in his wellies to commiserate with those suffering, his Government is pursuing energy policies likely to make climate change worse, whilst cutting budgets for protection in the future.
North West Green Party RSS Feed