The BBC were rather dishonestly using flooding in the Somerset Levels to promote the idea that we are suffering from extreme weather brought on by global warming….the floods were very unusual we were told.
Which is odd because their own description of the Levels says this:
This unique landscape is one of the lowest, flattest areas in the country. In ancient times it was known as the summerlands… because it was too wet to use in the winter… and it is thought this is where the county of Somerset got its name.
The Parrett Catchment Flood Management Plan tells us that, of course, climate change is one factor, but that other elements play an important role in aggravating the flooding.
‘The oldest man living does not remember such great floods and so much water. Everything beyond Bridgwater is like a sea.’ 1809
The catchment has a history of flood risk, generally due to the high rainfall that can lead to extensive flooding of the river valleys.
Much of the flooding is due to….a combination of surface water, fluvial and sewer problems. Recent flooding has been strongly driven by local surface water problems, exacerbated by some farming practices which have increased field run-off locally.
Certainly where I live small changes to drainage, digging out the ditches and changes in how fields are managed has a dramatic effect on whether there is flooding. This year there has been no flooding in the usual locations….that’s despite fairly constant rain.
We are always told by Harrabin and Co that it isn’t a problem of the amount of rain but that it will now fall in intense bursts due to climate change:
‘The issue is the way it falls in sudden bursts not the amount of rain.‘
However…it always flooded before with the ‘regular’ type of rainfall…and that is the rain we’ve been having recently…so climate change hasn’t been the cause of massive ‘intense bursts’ round here.
By coincidence WUWT has posted something on coverage of this very subject today:
Flooding In The Somerset Levels – A Case Study
As can be seen, although December rainfall was higher than average, it was not abnormally so. I have also included the November map, to show that that month was around or below average for Somerset, so there is no evidence of a long term build up of water.
The graph makes clear that last month’s rainfall was not unusual in any way. Since 1910, it ranks as the 19th wettest, in other words a once every 5 year event. The rain in December does not even compare with years such as 1934, when 307mm was recorded. In fact, it is noticeable that all of the really wet Decembers occurred prior to 1970.
One of the quotes we get highlighted is that ‘the rainfall is unusual…two years of floods in a row’.…but from the graph above you can see that two years in a row of heavy rain is not unusual long term.
Nothing unusual on that graph either…if anything rain dropped off in the last decade.
Here is George Monbiot, slumming it in the Daily Mail…presumably this little bit of heresy didn’t get past the censors at the Green Guardian…..
Drowned by EU millions: Thought ‘extreme weather’ was to blame for the floods? Wrong. The real culprit is the European subsidies that pay UK farmers to destroy the very trees that soak up the storm
We all know what’s gone wrong, or we think we do: not enough spending on flood defences. It’s true that government cuts have exposed thousands of homes to greater risk, but too little public spending is a small part of the problem.
It is dwarfed by another factor, overlooked in public discussion: too much public spending.
Vast amounts, running into billions, are spent every year on policies that make devastating floods inevitable. This is the story that has not been told, a story of destructive perversity.
Instead of a steady flow sustained around the year by trees in the hills, by sensitive farming methods, by rivers allowed to find their own course and their own level, to filter and hold back their waters through bends and braiding and obstructions, we get a cycle of flood and drought. We get filthy water and empty aquifers and huge insurance premiums and ruined carpets.
And all of it at public expense.
Flood and drought caused by bad land management? And you thought it was global warming.
It’s even worse than that. A significant factor is that the same generation hippies which has infested the BBC has also infested the Environment Agnecy, which now has a policy of ‘allowing Nature to take its course’.
Where our Victorian forefathers used to pride themselves on building sea defences (many of which are still working well) the current generation of bien pensants seek to appease a vengeful Nature by making sacrifices.
I read somewhere that the head of the EA in Somerset was quoted as saying she would like to put a limpet mine on every pump used to keep the levels above water.
I’m opening a book on which university she went to and which arts degree she holds. I’m offering no bets on how the imbecile votes.
Actually Monbiot’s article IS in the Guardian – and appeared there before the Daily Mail’s.
Cheers…stand corrected
Noted some UKIP bloke…a councillor no less!…blaming the floods on God being cross with the gay marriage agenda.
Some gay Anglican advocate referred to his views as “primitive”.
In my Book, that`s a compliment!
And if the Cof E and BBC combine to howl you down…you`re in the right place.
Certainly far more likely that anything that Gore and Harrabin could ever come up with!
And-given the need for more houses, seeing as no-ones getting married, more divorces and more complex childcare needs…there`s more need to build on those flood plains we once would not have left alone.
So he`s right in his way.
That ‘UKIP councillor’ was a defector from the Tories and the story was part of a concerted effort to smear UKIP – in this case shared between the Tory lapdog Mail and the Labour/Green/Liberal lapdog BBC.
Strange bedfellows – but a useful measure of how terrified our lords and masters are of anyone daring to challenge their right to run the country.
Bring on the piano wire!
“the story was part of a concerted effort to smear UKIP”
Bless. Was it the Mail and the BBC that forced David Silvester to write his bizarre letter to his local newspaper? No. It was his own views.
At least he didn’t upvote his own views five times and use different screennames trying to make it appear like he was a new user each time. Unlike some attention-seeking little gits I could name.
Such as who? I’ve never done anything like that, although you’ve repeatedly implied that I do, while presenting no evidence.
So if you could name people, why don’t you? Is it because you know you’re lying, but are too much of a coward to admit it?
So, let’s see now. A local councillor (local concillor you note, not an MP) holds views which don’t meet with the approval of the liberal elite. And this is deemed worthy of splash treatment in the house organs of the Tory and Labour/Liberal/Green parties?
Strange how rarely we hear about similar gaffes from those approved of by the righteous, isn’t it?
What does the Koran say about homosexuality and what do Muslim councillors say about that ?
To be fair, Sky have been pushing the UKIP ” looney bigot” story as well. It seems that the MSM, being establishment drones, are bigging up any negative UKIP story because they see the party as a credible threat to the established political order. A Sky reporter even doorstepped the UKIP councillor at his home .
One does wonder if a Muslim councillor had said such a thing, he would have been treated by the media in the same way. Perhaps some brave reporter should visit the local mosque and canvas the views of the imam and his flock?
The UKIP councillor is certainly entitled to his views, of which I disagree but found amusing, but feel he’s only being treated by the MSM this way because he’s a devout Christian – a religion that always has an open season for ridicule and contempt by this county’s media.
By the way, I am an atheist but a believer in freedom of speech and expression.
Very interesting interview with Piers Corbyn on the Friday edition of Alex Jones program. He runs the websit “weatheraction.com”.
“the warmists can not expalin fluctuations in the jet stream with their c02 model because it is actually affected by emmissions from the sun ” “even the Vikings new that sightings of the aurora borealis preceded storms”
The BBC’s bias on climate change is also discussed – I wonder why we have not heard of Piers Corbyn on the BBC ?
Move to 1 hour and 40 minutes into the program to hear the interview –
You wonder why Pier Corbyn is not on the BBC? Maybe this answers your question:
Corbyn’s predictions are based on what is called “The Solar Weather Technique.”[6] The technique “combines statistical analysis of over a century of historical weather patterns with clues derived from solar observations.”[1] He considers past weather patterns and solar observations and sun-earth magnetic connectivity. Conventional meteorology claims that such influences cause minimal impact on the Earth’s atmosphere.[7] Corbyn has declined to publish the details of his method.
Corbyn is also sceptical of the theory of Anthropogenic Global Warming, and a dissenter in reports about the storms in Europe in 2000[8] and in Martin Durkin’s documentary The Great Global Warming Swindle. Corbyn has stated that the anthropogenic contribution to global warming is minimal with any increase in temperature due to increased solar activity. In 2008 Corbyn went even further than being sceptical, and took an absolutist, certain position by stating, “… CO2 has never driven, does not drive and never will drive weather or climate. Global warming is over and it never was anything to do with CO2. CO2 is still rising but the world is now cooling and will continue to do so.”[9]
And of course there is still the matter of Piers not following the *BBC Narrative* on Climate Change and was dropped from the Climategate21;
http://www.habitat21.co.uk/energy160.html
within the *specialists* you will see a name of Cheryl Campbell, executive Director of : Televison For the Environment. Who the hell are they you ask:
http://tve.org/our-partners/current-funders/index.html
The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round.
And why was Cheryl Campbell deemed to be a *specialist*? The answer might be here:
http://tve.org/about/tve-people/index.html
Good grief! And just look at the bottom of that page at the funding sponsors of that sorry crew – talk about a hall of infamy!
My apologies – I missed your preceding post.
You all might want to have a further look at TVE:
http://www.castingcallpro.com/uk/cview.php?uid=2013
I often use the road from Street to Taunton but never in weather like this. Never have. There is no point. It has always been prone to flood. I thought most people knew that.
Metropolitans never seem to look up at the sky. My 4 year old grandson can read the sky and the wind and already knows much about the weather and how the day is going to turn out.
The sad liberal metros cannot do this. If they did they might find that this weather is not at all unusual. My grandson is waiting for the wind to back around to the East and then he hopes for some good frosts and maybe snow.
When it does, if it does, the metro liberals wil be as amazed as they are now by the rain. Idiots the lot of them.
I live in a valley where the extensive water meadows have stayed mostly intact although not managed as they should be.
They are working well and keeping the properties clear of the floods. Our ancestors were not daft. The only built where the meadows protected them.
I doubt if the average metro liberal knows what a water meadow is but knows all about global warming. It is the sort of ignorance they are famous for.
My parents have a chalk stream (winter bourne) behind their house. This regularly floods the adjacent water meadow (the clue is in the name) but this year is seriously threatening the house.
When we finally tracked down an environment agency official it transpired that the culverts are blocked by vegetation from the multiple willow trees that have been planted and not pollarded as previously.
The Somerset Levels used to be a much wetter than they are now, until they were drained. That’s where the battle of Sedgemoor was fought, in 1685. In prehistoric times, ingenious locals fashioned a system of wooden walkways, to enable them to cross the Levels while keeping their feet dry. It’s hardly surprising that the terrain remains prone to flooding. When I lived in Bristol, I used occasionally to drive down to Bridgewater. There is a very pronounced escarpment between the high ground and the Levels.