• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
The climate news that makes a difference.
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
  FEATURED
Wind and Solar Cheaper than Gas Plants in Ontario and Alberta, Study Shows February 7, 2023
AI Predicts World Over 1.5°C Limit by 2030, Undercuts Climate Progress Reports February 7, 2023
February Brings Record Cold, Widespread Power Outages to Much of North America February 7, 2023
Solar Geoengineering Banned in Mexico After ‘Rogue’ Stunt February 7, 2023
Lithium Mine Divides Nemaska Cree Over Impacts, Benefits February 7, 2023
Next
Prev

Poorest at Risk as Study Places Flooding Among Britain’s ‘Most Serious’ Climate Threats

January 13, 2022
Reading time: 3 minutes

David Baird/Geograph

David Baird/Geograph

1
SHARES
 

This story includes details on the impacts of climate change that may be difficult for some readers. If you are feeling overwhelmed by this crisis situation here is a list of resources on how to cope with fears and feelings about the scope and pace of the climate crisis.

The United Kingdom’s poorer regions are particularly ill-prepared for the intensifying flood risks posed by the climate crisis, says a new report which describes the country’s serious lack of urban drainage as a “national resilience” issue.

  • Concise headlines. Original content. Timely news and views from a select group of opinion leaders. Special extras.
  • Everything you need, nothing you don’t.
  • The Weekender: The climate news you need.
Subscribe

Inundation is “one of the most serious climate-related risks” the U.K. faces, states the report [PDF] which comes after the U.K. was hit by several bouts of severe flooding that damaged homes and forced thousands to evacuate properties.

Using a form of artificial intelligence called Natural Language Processing, environment and natural resource economist Helen Jackson analyzed some 7,800 newspaper articles from more than 60 local, regional, and national news services for information on flood events and their impacts on public services, infrastructure, and businesses large and small, writes The Independent.

Jackson catalogued the ways flooding has already imperilled the long-term well-being of UK residents through significant damage to utilities, bridge collapses that have divided communities, damaged crop yields, months-long closures of school buildings and essential community facilities, flash floods affecting roads and transport, and serious damage to local businesses and tourist assets.

And the nation’s poorest are the least prepared, she said, with the risk augmented by a significant drop in flood investment in deprived areas since 2014.

Myopic policy decisions are not the only problem, however. The Independent cites a report last year from England’s Environment Agency which found that an estimated 66% of residents living in areas of high flood risk did not believe that they themselves will ever need to flee before rising waters.

Ignorance or naivete—likely driven by a lack of means that leads people to shy away from asking potentially expensive questions—are also part of the mix.

Jackson found that people are often unaware that they are responsible for property-level flood defences, and that their surprisingly cheap property insurance doesn’t cover floods.

In addition to destroying individual lives and families, such blind spots stand to do great collective damage.

“Low financial resilience through lack of insurance and other financial impacts from flooding has the potential to impede the economic recovery and development of the community as a whole in the long term,” Jackson wrote.

Urging the need to recognize that flooding is a communal trauma, she warned, “we need to move away from an old concept of flooding—an unfortunate event affecting individual properties which by and large fully recover via insurance—and recognize the potential compounding impacts of repeat flooding on communities’ economic welfare over the longer term.” Sketching something of the government’s response to the evidently escalating problem of flooding, The Independent reports that Whitehall has allocated £5.2 billion (C$9 billion) toward better protecting homes and businesses from flooding and coastal erosion over the next six years, an investment that is expected to “bolster defences for more than 300,000 properties.”



in Cities & Communities, Community Climate Finance, Health & Safety, Insurance & Liability, International Agencies & Studies, Legal & Regulatory, Severe Storms & Flooding, UK & Europe

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

Peoplepoweredbyenergy/Wikimedia Commons
Ending Emissions

Wind and Solar Cheaper than Gas Plants in Ontario and Alberta, Study Shows

February 7, 2023
307
The hottest summer days in a typical New York City year are now about 11 times more frequent than in the 19th century. Image: Andreas Komodromos via Flickr
Carbon Levels & Measurement

AI Predicts World Over 1.5°C Limit by 2030, Undercuts Climate Progress Reports

February 7, 2023
82
Andre Carrotflower/wikimedia commons
Severe Storms & Flooding

February Brings Record Cold, Widespread Power Outages to Much of North America

February 7, 2023
45

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

Peoplepoweredbyenergy/Wikimedia Commons

Wind and Solar Cheaper than Gas Plants in Ontario and Alberta, Study Shows

February 7, 2023
307
Beckyq6937/Wikimedia Commons

Solar Geoengineering Banned in Mexico After ‘Rogue’ Stunt

February 7, 2023
131
Michael E. Brunk/flickr

Green Building ‘Heroes’, Climate Contrarian ‘Zombies’, Shell Lawsuits, and ‘Sponge Cities’ to Solve Flooding

February 7, 2023
112
Peter Broster/wikimedia commons

Ottawa Mulls Higher-Speed Trains on Busy Toronto-Quebec City Corridor

February 7, 2023
98
The hottest summer days in a typical New York City year are now about 11 times more frequent than in the 19th century. Image: Andreas Komodromos via Flickr

AI Predicts World Over 1.5°C Limit by 2030, Undercuts Climate Progress Reports

February 7, 2023
82
Brian Robert Marshall/Geograph

Canada’s Solid Renewables Growth Falls Short of Net-Zero Ambitions

February 7, 2023
77

Recent Posts

Andre Carrotflower/wikimedia commons

February Brings Record Cold, Widespread Power Outages to Much of North America

February 7, 2023
45
Nemaska Lithium/Facebook

Lithium Mine Divides Nemaska Cree Over Impacts, Benefits

February 7, 2023
28
Mike Mozart/Flickr

BP Predicts Faster Oil and Gas Decline as Clean Energy Spending Hits $1.1T in 2022

February 4, 2023
366
Gina Dittmer/PublicDomainPictures

Canada Needs Oil and Gas Emissions Cap to Hit 2030 Goal: NZAB

January 31, 2023
214
CONFENIAE

Ecuador’s Amazon Drilling Plan Shows Need for Fossil Non-Proliferation Treaty

January 31, 2023
82
Ken Teegardin www.SeniorLiving.Org/flickr

Virtual Power Plants Hit an ‘Inflection Point’

January 31, 2023
142
Next Post
Ryan L. C. Quan/Wikimedia Commons

Canada Needs Better Data, Faster Action on Climate Adaptation

The Energy Mix - The climate news you need

Copyright 2023 © Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Proudly partnering with…

scf_withtagline
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}