Floods

DRIVING around the West Country last weekend was a salutary experience — with many communities feeling the misery of flooding.

To see a home where the water has trashed furniture, left damp up walls and callously strewn personal effects about the floor is to feel something of the loss suffered by those affected.

The Prime Minister has been in the West Country to view the damage and I was pleased to see it – there is no substitute for first hand experience in order to grasp the seriousness of the situation.

We have had the wettest January since 1766 and the East coast has experienced the greatest tidal surge for 60 years.

What matters now is not just how we respond over the coming weeks but what we do in the future to make sure that events of this nature are as contained and manageable as they can be.

Buildings on floodplains combined with periodic exceptional weather events will mean that we never get to the point where no one is affected but we can do better. The government has committed to investing more in flood defence creation and maintenance than ever before.

Just a week ago we also announced an additional £130 million to ensure that the EA can address the winter flood damage without impacting the 2014/15 flood defence programme. Some 55 new flood schemes will commence in 2014/15 providing protection for 42,000 more households in addition to the extra 160,000 protected during this parliament.

Looking further ahead the DEFRA secretary will be announcing details of a new pipeline of flood protection capital projects for up to 2021. Only by thinking ahead and investing for the long term can we begin to confront the recurrent dangers of water.

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