British Cities Affected by Floods and the Army Intervenes

The government’s emergency committee known as “Cobra” convened an urgent meeting chaired by Cameron yesterday to discuss necessary measures to deal with the crisis which caused chaos during the Christmas holidays.

The Guardian newspaper said on Monday that “empty rhetoric and even the army can not substitute for coherent policy on flood prevention”. “Huge thanks to the emergency services and military for doing so much”, Cameron wrote on Twitter, pledging further troops to the worst-hit regions.

“Also my sympathy for those affected at this time of year”.

“We’re beginning to feel that very strongly”, she said, asserting that 2,000 homes had been flooded in Leeds alone over the weekend and some 400 businesses adversely affected.

“After any one of these events it’s right to sit down and look at what you’ve spent, what you’ve built, look at what you’re planning to spend, look at what you’re planning to build and work out is it in the right places?”

Leeds City Council leader Judith Blake said on Sunday that northern England had not received “anywhere near the support that we saw going into Somerset” – which was flooded previous year – and warned of “real anger growing across the north”.

Twenty roads were closed, and about 3,500 properties were thought to be vulnerable to the rising waters.

Nearly 200 other flood warnings are in force in the north of England as well as the Midlands and parts of Wales.

BRITISH Prime Minister David Cameron is set to see first-hand the devastation caused by weeks of heavy rains and swollen rivers in northern England.

Environment Secretary Elizabeth Truss said that while the worst of the rainfall had passed, there was still potential for further flooding.

The government and insurance industry have worked together to create Flood Re, a scheme to enable flood cover to be affordable for those households at highest risk of flooding. My priority is making sure we have a good response effort, that we give families, communities all the help they need to make sure that we protect lives and we protect people’s homes. “Clearly, in the light of that, we will be reviewing our flood defences”.

“We are moving from a period of known extremes into a period of unknown extremes”, he said. The Government must drop its complacency over the need for climate change adaptation. “It must also invest in maintaining flood defenses, rather than cutting them as they had planned, as well as look urgently at what else can be done to reduce flood risk in future”. It is estimated that the flooding will continue to impact nearby cities.

The EA has 18 severe flood warnings in place for the North East and North West, meaning there is a danger to life. More than 6,000 homes in Greater Manchester and Lancashire were left without electricity due to damage by flood waters.