You may or may not know that the South West of England is experiencing the most severe series of rainstorms it has had in many years. It has caused many homes to be terribly damaged by the large volumes of water that has rained down on the land, and the boats have had to be used.
First, some geographical background, with a homemade diagram:
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| A Crude Representation of Air Streams in our World. |
Notes about the diagram: I know the UK isn't that small, but otherwise it wouldn't work as well on the map. No offense has been meant by these quick drawings, and I am sorry if any has been caused. This is just as the caption says: a crude and NOT SCIENTIFIC representation of the current weather system.
To the explaining! Warm air is directed at North America, but that has collided with a cold air stream from the Arctic - now, one has to win, and at the moment the cold air is beating the warm stuff. So the warm air has to go somewhere, and due to many things, including the rotation of the earth (which goes to the right on the diagram), it is deflected towards Europe, into the path of our wonderful jet stream. This accelerates it, making it much more wonderful by adding even more rain and stormy weather, which occur when it reaches the land of the UK. That's the main reason why there have many so many storms in quick succession, making the ground saturated and more at risk to flooding.
Many coastal villages have been asked to evacuate, and on Monday, even after the majority of the storms, there were still 3 severe warnings in the South of England, which means there is a threat to life. Many people have had to be rescued as the roads and railways are impassable, and there have been many homes without power for days over the holidays.
The question has now become: how prepared are we for flooding? Those who live in flooded areas will say, not much, but those in government will say, very much indeed.
One of the areas affected the most by the weather onslaught is the Somerset Levels, an area in South West England that is low-lying and extremely flat., which means that it is very susceptible to flooding. There are some flood control measures in place in the area, but of course the residents are asking for more. What I would like to say is this: what is the actual value for this area of land, compared to others such as London? The answer, I would think, is "very small". So in my opinion, what's the point in spending most probably billions if at least millions of pounds on defences on the main rivers, such as on the river Parrett? Now, some of you may argue that it is a residential area, and families have lived there for generations, working on farms. I do sympathise slightly with the families on this point, but looking at the overall picture, it is a sparsely populated area and the Somerset Levels floods do not affect a large proportion of the general UK population.
I understand why the Thames Barrier is important as London is the UK's most important city, and has much global significance too. However, all in all, the Somerset Levels just don't cut it from me. With all the cuts the government need to make in order to keep the economy stable, why should more pressure be put on that with spending on things such as this? I understand that this post is controversial, but this is in my humble opinion and is not targeted at anyone, including those from Somerset. If you want to read more on the subject, I suggest looking at the BBC News website for more reports on these damaging storm surges - here's one to get you started.
Phew, glad that's over! I hope my first post gave you something to think about, whether or not you agree with me. Expect a possible technological post in a fortnight's (two weeks') time!
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