Work hard for a flood solution

An editorial in the News & Star (UK): We have been here before. And that’s just one of the reasons why this week’s flooding is so frustrating. There is devastation for the victims, as well as fear from those who wonder if their home might be hit next time. And a general feeling that flooding which was supposed to happen once in a lifetime – perhaps less than that – has struck twice in less than three years.

Climate change or not, something is happening to our weather. More than two inches of rain fell on parts of west Cumbria in six hours on Wednesday night. Homes were flooded at Egremont, just days after a house there collapsed into the rain-swollen River Ehen. Gosforth, Seascale, St Bees, Moresby, Ravenglass, Beckermet and Keswick have also been affected.

....Arguments still rage about whether more could have been done to prevent the 2009 floods, so expect no quick verdict on this week’s events. But if lessons can be learned they should be pushed through as swiftly as possible to lessen the chances of another deluge bringing another burst of devastation....

The River Eden in Cumbria flooding in 2005, shot by Howard Quinn, Wikimedia Commons via Geograph UK, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license