Agency counts cost of ‘unprecedented’ UK storms
Interesting article this – explains the Environment Agency’s Doomsday Approach to monitoring the impact of recent events on its flood defences. It tells us:
For the first time in its history, the Environment Agency has assessed the state of all of its flood defences in England following the winter’s storms.
One thousand sites were identified as in need of repair, with the unprecedented series of storms causing £135m worth of damage.
Agency staff and members of the armed forces took six weeks to inspect more than 150,000 sites across the country.
To date, 350 defences have been repaired, the Agency said.
Over the winter, a series of powerful storms swept across the UK, resulting in coastal areas being battered by high waves and storm surges.
The Met Office said it was England’s wettest winter on record, leaving saturated river systems struggling to cope with the deluge.
“We closed the Thames Barrier 50 times between December and the middle of March,” explained Environment Agency director of strategy and investment Pete Fox.
“That is a quarter of all the times the barrier has been closed since it came into operation in 1983. That gives you a sense of how unprecedented the winter was.