Today's most viewed
| NEWS |  | | | | | OXFORD UNITED | | | | | | CRICKET | | | | NEWS | | |
|
|
|
Update: UK 'ill prepared' for floods
People in Oxfordshire have been urged to make their homes more flood-proof because further downpours are unavoidable.
Sir Michael Pitt, in his independent report on last summer's floods, today produced 92 recommendations to ensure the county was better prepared for a repeat of last July's heavy rainfall.
But rather than blame the Government for failing to keep the water rushing into residential streets, Sir Michael said the problems stemmed from the way homes had been built, which forced families to wait for long periods for their properties to dry out after getting a soaking.
Sir Michael suggested it was unrealistic to ban future development on flood plains, arguing that in some parts of the country there is no real alternative to development in flood risk areas given the huge demand for housing.
Instead, he said building regulations were the key, not just to ensure new houses could withstand flooding but to make sure the right refurbishments were made after flood damage.
This included raising the height of wiring and plug sockets. He also stressed the importance of improving drainage systems.
Introducing his report, he warned extreme weather events were likely to become more frequent and said his aim was to make householders lives more bearable in the event of future floods.
Calling for earlier information for householders in danger of flooding, with better co-operation between the Environment Agency and the Met Office, he said: "Many people flooded long before they received any warning from any organisations about the flood risk.
"I'm a great believer in knocking on doors, using the best intelligence to see where flooding will take place, and also afterwards to see how people are getting on."
He added: "We need better advice for people so they can better protect their homes."
Sir Michael repeated calls for residents to stock up with flood kits - including supplies of food and water - in preparation for future emergencies.
Setting out his observations of the way the floods were dealt with, he said emergency and other services had not been well briefed on the implication of the loss of critical infrastructure sites such as electricity substations.
He said: "Emergency services and utilities companies were all taken aback by the sheer scale and impact of the flood that took place last summer."
He also criticised the enormous amount of time it was taking for many people to get back into their homes, with 4,000 people still living in temporary accommodation. About 180 families are still out in Oxfordshire.
He pointed out there was a close correlation between people's mental and physical health and the amount of time they had been displaced from their homes.
He called for Government to publish monthly updates on the number of people still in temporary accommodation and said Oxfordshire County Council should set up a special scrutiny committee to ensure the county was prepared for future heavy downpours.
Sandbags, used widely in Oxfordshire last summer, were not nearly as useful and effective as people might think they are, Sir Michael said.
He called for action to make it easier for low income families to get insurance, because insured households were able to get back to their homes and get their lives back in order relatively quickly, while those without had struggled.
12:05pm Wednesday 25th June 2008
Print 
Email this 
CommentPosted by: Sez, Didcot on 3:29pm Wed 25 Jun 08
My friend still isnt back in her house. She has suffered with colds and illnesses. I think it is totally out of order! This country does far too much for other countries and other nationalities but not enough for the British residents in its own country!
My friend still isnt back in her house. She has suffered with colds and illnesses. I think it is totally out of order! This country does far too much for other countries and other nationalities but not enough for the British residents in its own country!
Posted by: Ben Dover, Didcot on 7:53pm Thu 3 Jul 08
"Sir Michael suggested it was unrealistic to ban future development on flood plains"
"he warned extreme weather events were likely to become more frequent"
Doesn't this say it all?
Ok so we have to build on flood plains, but in future they're even more likely to flood! What non-sense, DON'T build on flood plains, can't they see how stupid it is? ARGH!
"Sir Michael suggested it was unrealistic to ban future development on flood plains"
"he warned extreme weather events were likely to become more frequent"
Doesn't this say it all?
Ok so we have to build on flood plains, but in future they're even more likely to flood! What non-sense, DON'T build on flood plains, can't they see how stupid it is? ARGH!
Posted by: M, oxon on 3:43pm Tue 15 Jul 08
"Sir Michael suggested it was unrealistic to ban future development on flood plains, arguing that in some parts of the country there is no real alternative to development in flood risk areas given the huge demand for housing."
Um well excuse me but if we stopped giving free homes to all the immigrants and stopped building in rural areas for people to have 2nd homes in then there would not be any problems and we would not have to build on vital floodplains. And which idiots agree on the drawings for the way homes are built, surely if the planning was done correctly in the first place none of this wouldhave happened.
"Sir Michael suggested it was unrealistic to ban future development on flood plains, arguing that in some parts of the country there is no real alternative to development in flood risk areas given the huge demand for housing."
Um well excuse me but if we stopped giving free homes to all the immigrants and stopped building in rural areas for people to have 2nd homes in then there would not be any problems and we would not have to build on vital floodplains. And which idiots agree on the drawings for the way homes are built, surely if the planning was done correctly in the first place none of this wouldhave happened.
What are these links for?
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
More on Digg
More on del.icio.us
More on Furl
More on reddit
More on NowPublic/
More on Yahoo!
