Brown links floods to climate change

London
July 25, 2007

BRITISH Prime Minister Gordon Brown has linked the country's worst floods in 60 years to climate change, as emergency workers warned the disaster was far from over.

Large swaths of central and western England have been submerged as rivers swelled and burst their banks during four days of heavy and persistent rain, leaving thousands without clean water or electricity and facing the prospect of more rain.

Water levels appeared to have peaked below a level that would have flooded a power station servicing 500,000 homes. But emergency services have said it could take some time for water to drain from devastated areas.

The largely rural counties of Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and Oxfordshire were the worst hit, forcing Royal Air Force helicopters to evacuate about 150 people in its biggest-ever peacetime rescue.

After a helicopter visit to the area, Mr Brown linked the floods to climate change and pledged £200 million ($467 million) in extra funding, plus a review to address future issues.

"Like every advanced industrialised country, we are coming to terms with the issues surrounding climate change," the Guardian quoted him as saying.

"We will have to invest in coastal defences, flood defences and, of course, drainage in infrastructure in the years to come."

Referring to the weekend storms, he said: "What we had was a month's rainfall in some places in an hour. This was unusual."

The Environment Agency said water levels in many of the worst-hit parts were set to peak.
In Gloucestershire, the worst-hit area, at least 150,000 homes were without water after a treatment works flooded, while 40,000 were without power. It could take up to two weeks to restore water supplies to some households, some reports say.

AFP, AAP