Some thoughts on floods

Those of you (surely there were some?) who read Colin and my election leaflet may remember that many years ago I was a member of the Parish Council in Welford on Avon in Warwickshire (pictured!). Well Welford, which lies between Stratford-upon-Avon and Evesham, made it onto the national news at the weekend due to the fact that people from a caravan site on the banks of the river there were being winched to safety because the Avon has burst its banks.

I have to say that this did not come as much of a surprise to me since the land around the bridge and the river in Welford lies quite low and it was rare that the caravan park did not flood during periods of heavy rain. When I heard the news however I phoned friends who still live in the village and they reported that although the river is very high, as usual, most of the village which is sensibly built on higher ground has been unaffected by flood.

Other parts of the Midlands have clearly been less lucky however, but this, as a Minister for the Environment rather reluctantly admitted on Newsnight yesterday evening, is not unprecedented. A brief bit of research shows that extensive flooding has been reported in the Vale of Evesham since 1816 (‘the year without summer’), 1845, 1850, 1903, 1912, several times during the 1950’s etc. etc

What it seems to me is different on this occasion is that the flooding appears to have penetrated further and done damage to property beyond those homes, such as those on the banks of the river at Bewdley for example, which are regularly flooded during periods of heavy rain. It does seem to me that this is probably due to the careless creation of hard surfaces everywhere, whether embankments, walls, hard-standings for cars in front of houses, or whatever. One of our neighbours recently removed a flowerbed and put tarmac in its place. He is now surprised that he has created a mini-flood whenever it rains and was clearly unaware that the flowerbed, in addition to being attractive and preferable to tarmac, acted as a soakaway for rainwater.

Another good reason perhaps for thinking hard before we concrete over everything green and growing!