2014 Flooding on the Somerset Levels

The Geographical Association magazine autumn 2014 no. 28 Flooding on the Somerset Levels 2014 The record-breaking rainfall of winter 2013−14 and extensive flooding brought the Somerset Levels into the news. It will no doubt become a new flood case study. Simon Ross , GA consultant and Head of Geography at Queen’s College, Taunton, identifies some of the causes and impacts of the floods and asks questions about the future flood management of the area. he Somerset Levels and Moors is an extensive area of low-lying farmland and e t wetlands in Somerset bordered by the t e T z Bristol Channel and Quantock Hills to the west a G y and the Mendips to the north. It is drained by t n u several rivers, most notably the Tone (which o C flows through Taunton) and the Parrett, which t e s r flows to the Severn Estuary via Bridgwater. e m o Technically, the ‘levels’ are to the west, closest S : o to the Bristol Channel and the ‘moors’ are to t o h the east. P As much of the area lies at, or just a few North Curry, Somerset in February 2014. tidal for 18 miles). The weaker ‘ebb’ tides metres above, sea level, this is a natural water backed up and overtopped the river cannot clear out the silt, leaving a net gain wetland prone to seasonal flooding each winter. banks. in the river channels. Flooding is a natural occurrence – in fact the • For some 20 years, the rivers had not been word ‘Somerset’ is loosely derived from ‘land of extensively dredged so they were operating the summer people’. In the past, the area Flood action plan at a much reduced capacity. Many local A £20m flood action plan for a long term would have only been accessible by wooden people believed that the decision by the sustainable solution to flooding in the area was causeway in the summer and it would have Environment Agency not to dredge the developed by the Environment Agency together been abandoned during the winter floods. rivers was one of the main causes of the with local and national organisations in March It is only since an extensive network of extensive floods. To some extent this was 2014. The plan involves dredging the rivers to artificial channels were dug and pumping vindicated by the Prime Minister providing increase their capacity together with a range of stations installed, mostly during the last millions of pounds for emergency dredging other options aimed at improving the area’s hundred years or so, that the area has become after water levels dropped in the spring. flood resilience in the future, such as land extensively settled and used for agriculture. • Much of the silt that had clogged-up the management, business and community Today there are several thriving villages and the river channels came from the sea. The ‘flow’ resilience. area is important for agriculture and wetland tides are very strong in the area and silt is At the end of March 2014 a £5m dredging conservation. Through a programme of dredging washed up from the Bristol Channel and scheme started on a 5-mile stretch of the rivers and pumping, flooding was limited to certain carried many miles inland (the rivers are Parrett and Tone to prevent further flooding. areas and life could continue much as normal. The 2014 flood In a period of three months from December 2013 to February 2014 the Somerset Levels hit the national headlines as it suffered extensive flooding, first marooning several villages and farms and then inundating them. Hundreds of people had to be evacuated for several weeks as foul, sewage-laden water several metres high flooded their homes. The floods were the most severe ever known in the area. The extensive floods were caused by a combination of human and physical factors: • A prolonged period of extremely wet weather – in southern England it was the wettest January since records began in 1910 – saturated the ground and led to frequent over-topping of the rivers Tone and Parrett creating a huge lake covering some 11,500 ha. • High tides and storm surges swept water up the rivers from the Bristol Channel exacerbating the problem by preventing freshwater being discharged to sea. The page 24 The Geographical Association magazine autumn 2014 no. 28 Flooding on the Somerset Levels 2014 e t t e z a G y t n u o C t e s r e m o S : o t o h P Norton Fitzwarren, Somerset in February 2014. compensated and home owners moved to Flooding has a huge impact on people’s lives higher ground? both in the short term with all the disruption The aim of the dredging is to increase river • What will be the effect of climate change associated with inundation and then in the channel capacity by 40%. Some of the dredged in the future? Some models suggest that longer term when they have to pay higher silt may be used to construct protective the region will experience heavy rain and insurance premiums or cannot find buyers for embankments around villages and alongside more storm surges. Sea level change could their homes due to the flood risk. roads. have a significant impact in the longer For the future there a number of important term. issues to be considered: • Is dredging really the answer? If so, where Useful weblinks is the money going to come from? Some Conclusion www.gov.uk/government/publications/ engineers believe that dredging will have The harsh reality of the recent floods is that somerset-levels-and-moors-reducing- little overall impact and that other people have, over several decades, put the-risk-of-flooding measures such as controlled flooding and themselves at risk of flooding by occupying http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somerset catchment storage will need to be land that is historically and quite naturally _Levels considered. prone to flooding; the area is one huge low- • Should a barrage be constructed at lying floodplain. The area has been occupied www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england- Bridgwater to stop the advance of the sea and farmed because flooding was considered somerset-26808840 to be under control; this has clearly not been along the River Parrett? This will not stop http://metofficenews.wordpress.com/ the case and it is therefore completely freshwater flooding but would reduce 2014/02/06/uks-exceptional-weather- understandable that the local people feel so let seawater flooding and silting-up of the in-context channels. The cost of the barrage, together down. with dredging and the construction of While government agencies may have been www.carbonbrief.org/blog/2014/02/ additional pumping stations would cost an slow to respond, the local community and met-office-spells-out-climate-change- estimated £100m. community action groups such as the Somerset link-to-uk-flooding-in-four-graphs Community Foundation quickly sprang into • Should some areas of the Levels be set www.environment-agency.gov.uk/ action providing extremely effective relief and aside for flooding, with farmers homeandleisure/floods/152039.aspx support for the people affected by the floods. page 25.

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