Two-thirds of people at risk of flooding were unaware of the situation, the government said on Monday, as it launched an awareness campaign. That average cost for a flooded household is £30,000, the figures show. The late winter flooding would be the result of a weather phenomenon called La Niña – a strong pattern influenced by cooler temperatures in the Pacific. This caused flooding in February, when storms destroyed hundreds of homes. The system, capable of triggering a chain reaction of extreme weather around the world, was likely to bring cold weather at the start of the season and storms at the end, experts said. The drought is also expected to have a big impact on flooding, with parched, year-round rain-starved soils less able to absorb heavy rains, meaning water runs onto properties or farmland. Government agencies said the army was on standby to help in case flooding became impossible for the Environment Agency and other agencies, with the risk expected to be particularly high in late winter. Will Lang, head of situational awareness at the Met Office, said there was a greater chance of cold, dry weather from November to January, but it was significant” that the three-month forecast had not reached February. This is due to La Niña. He said: “The risk of unsettled weather is increasing as we head into 2023. This is another La Niña winter, as it was last winter, so it would not be unusual if the wettest and windiest part of the season with the greatest risk of flooding again [came] at that end of the season, in February, just like last winter.’ Lang pointed out that the country had a relatively dry December and January, but was hit by extreme storms in February. “This pattern broadly aligns with what happens in the UK when we have La Niña in the tropical Pacific, so we have the dangerous effects that can promote high pressure, which builds up in the west of the UK in early winter. ,” he said. “This in turn can prevent Atlantic rain-bringing systems from reaching us in the early part of winter. And then we tend to go back to low pressure when that higher pressure weakens, and we have all our wet conditions in late winter.” Caroline Douglass, the executive director for floods at the Environment Agency, said the drought was likely to make flooding conditions worse, noting that last year’s floods were “deadly”. The most important stories on the planet. Get all the week’s environmental news – the good, the bad and the must-haves Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. “It also means that when the soils are really dry, you have more runoff and you can have more impacts as a result of the drought,” he said. Douglas added that weather records were being broken every year because of the climate disaster: “We’ve really seen records being broken with some serious flooding in some places and about 180% of February’s rainfall fell in seven days. “We are seeing more extreme events happening because of climate change. We are a country that has always had floods… but we are seeing these [rainfall and river levels] they broke records.” Since 1998, England has had six of the 10 wettest years on record, and this year saw three nominal storms in one week for the first time. “We know climate change is here — we’re seeing more extremes,” Douglas said. “And I think we have to be prepared. Two-thirds of people at risk of flooding do not know they are at risk and are unprepared. We know this from the research we do. So as we continue to see more extreme situations, we need people to understand the risk and check and sign up for flood warnings where possible.” Lang added: “The winters are getting wetter and within that the extremes are getting more extreme.”
