Southern England braced for flood repeat

Parts of southern England are threatened by further flooding despite dry weather over much of the weekend because so much water is running directly off saturated land.

To illustrate this point, 7.3 million tonnes of water are each day now being pumped off the Somerset Levels – still the worst-affected district.

The British army is being employed over the next five weeks to survey the condition of existing flood defences in Britain – a project that would usually take two years to complete.

Defence secretary Philip Hammond accepted that climate change has contributed to the extreme weather, which has meant parts of England enduring the heaviest rainfall since 1852 – up to three times the national average in some parts.

Ministerial response
"Climate change is clearly happening. It's clearly a factor in the weather patterns that we're seeing and that's why we're investing significant amounts of money in increasing our flood resilience in the UK," Mr Hammond told the BBC.

Questioned about building on flood plains – which has contributed to flooding in some places – Mr Hammond replied it is not as simple as saying no construction should be allowed.

“The whole of the Thames Valley is a flood plain. There has to be a proper balance. We need to avoid the highest flood-risk areas.” he said. “We have to balance economic growth, maintaining people’s standards of living, flood resilience in the long term – all of these things need to be balanced.”

Fearful of criticism that the government has not handled the crisis well, British prime minister David Cameron held meetings with emergency services over the weekend.

Moreover, attitudes among senior Conservatives towards climate change is expected to come into sharper focus. This follows Labour leader Ed Miliband’s decision to blame the Tory party for flooding .

Mr Cameron, he said, has gone from wanting to lead the “greenest ever government” to heading one where those who believe strongly that climate change is affecting weather patterns get sacked.

Last week, the PM evaded questions on whether climate change is primarily to blame.

"It is pretty extraordinary that it has gone from a core conviction, a part of his irreducible core, to a matter of conscience as to whether you believe it or not," said Mr Miliband.

Meanwhile, small businesses affected by the floods will be able to apply for state grants worth £2,500, (€3,000) while additional time will be available to file company accounts, the British government announced last night.