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Articles on 2014 UK floods

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This can, and will, happen again. Steve Parsons/PA

MP’s focus on dredging and defences will not prevent floods

The record rainfall and persistent storms of winter 2013-14 caused serious flooding throughout the southwest of England, with breached defences, loss and damage to agricultural land, homes and businesses…
Which would you choose to save: your front room or farmland? EPA/Facundo Arrizabalaga

The moral dilemma of choosing what to save when it floods

This winter’s floods were amongst the most severe in living memory, with swathes of the country submerged. The loss of life has been much lower than for many disasters around the world, but many land owners…
Even the tallest infrastructure creeks under flood pressure. Derek Harper

What use are apps when your web infrastructure is underwater?

According to Ofcom, 80% of adults in the UK had access to the internet in 2013 and each spent about 35 hours online each month. And half of all adults in the UK access the web using their mobile phones…
Even if the farmhouse stays dry, the crops are underwater. Steve Parsons/PA

Farmers, small businesses and the full cost of the wettest winter

With towns in the south and southwest flooded out, the government has offered £5,000 payments to help homeowners add flood protection to their homes, while small firms will enjoy a cut of a £10m fund to…
What lies beneath this watery landscape? Steve Parsons/PA

Floods leave farms underwater, and farmers under pressure

I’ve been talking to farmers all this week, many of whom have had their fields underwater for a month or more. It is quite soul destroying to see the natural assets of your business, on which you depend…
Boots on the ground, but who’s talking into their earpieces? Sean Dempsey/PA

Flood response hit by regional austerity cuts

Forecasters predict a wetter than normal start to March that will no doubt hamper efforts to bring an end to the misery of those whose homes are underwater. These extended floods and bad weather reveal…
Chertsey: never have so many, owed so much, to one sausage. Ki Price/PA

Beyond sandbags – how to defend your house from flooding

For much of the 20th century, faith has rested in bigger and better defences to hold back floodwaters. But repeated flooding has shown that large defences cannot, and should not, be the sole focus. The…
‘Don’t worry, I’ve got hold of the plug.’ Steve Parsons/PA Wire

Upstream must work with downstream to fix flooding

With much of the UK still underwater and flooding set to continue, knee jerk reactions abound. Politicians bicker, flooded communities and farmers lobby their causes and calls are made to dredge rivers…
Right twice a day - but not this time. Steve Parsons/PA

The Daily Mail’s petition gets international aid wrong

The Daily Mail has launched a petition which strongly urges prime minister David Cameron to “divert some of the £11 billion a year spent on overseas aid to ease the suffering of British flood victims…
More of this to come. Steve Parsons/PA Archive

Get used to flooding, climate change will bring more of it

Flooding continues to afflict many parts of southern Britain. Areas of the Somerset Levels have been submerged for weeks, large parts of the Thames Valley are under water and the River Severn is bursting…
Sometimes the choice is to flood town or country. Sometimes it’s both. Ben Birchall/PA

Total flood defence is a myth: we must learn to live with the water

Floods happen. Rivers have always inundated their floodplains and the sea has always tried to reclaim land that has been taken from it. This is certainly true in Somerset, whose name derives from the Old…

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