Flood alert Britain
■ Severe weather warnings across London and South East
■ Government admits that mistakes have been made
HOMES AND businesses in London and the South East are preparing for more bad weather, as the Met Office yesterday issued severe warnings for the whole of this week. Heavy rain, gale-force winds and ice are all forecast for the next four days.
Fourteen severe flood warnings have been issued along the River Thames in Surrey and Berkshire, while a yellow warning for ice was in place overnight and into today.
Properties along the Thames at Chertsey, Shepperton Green, Hamm Court, Shepperton Lock, Laleham, Staines and Egham, Runnymede Pleasure Grounds, Penton Hook, Horton, Wraysbury, Old Windsor, Datchet and Littleton Lane are all subject to severe flood warnings from the environment agency.
After an emergency meeting of the government’s national emergencies committee – known as Cobra – last night, Prime Minister David Cameron said he wanted to make it clear that “every resource is available to the local communities affected”.
“I want to assure the public and communities affected that we are doing all we can to get them back on their feet,” he added.
The row over flooding across Somerset and the South coast continued over the weekend after Labour accused the government of cutting spending on flood prevention and ignoring calls to dredge rivers six months ago.
Communities minister Eric Pickles apologised for the slow response and admitted mistakes had been made, telling the BBC’s Andrew Marr show: “We made a mistake, there’s no doubt about that and we perhaps relied too much on the Environment Agency’s advice. I am really sorry that we took the advice … we thought we were dealing with experts.”
Ministers were also under fire for failing to protect the railway line connecting Devon and Cornwall to the capital, which has been out of action since it was partially destroyed by rough seas last week. Cameron visited the Somerset Levels late on Friday afternoon, but left without visiting the worst hit village, Moorland.
The Prime Minister has been criticised by residents, business owners and politicians for his slow response to the flooding, which has so far claimed 40 homes in the Somerset area alone.
Ukip leader Nigel Farage called on the government to divert money destined for overseas aid to help those worst affected by the weather. “The government’s reaction to this has been pretty poor. They haven’t offered a penny for the farmers, for the people here,” Farage said during a visit to Somerset yesterday.
Pickles said Farage was having “a cheap populist hit.”
Last week Cameron pledged an extra £130m to help the worst-hit areas recover from floods that have kept some places submerged for over a month.
The pledge means £30m has been added to the 2013-14 budget to be spent immediately in Somerset. Another £100m will be added to the 2014-15 figure, taking spending to a total of £715m in the year ahead.
Figures from the Department for environment, food and rural affairs show flood protection funding was £670m in 2010-11 just before the coalition took office.
The budget was slashed by £97m in 2011-12 to £573m and has remained roughly the same ever since.
The insurance industry estimates that flooding will cost over £400m, although that figure is likely to rise in the weeks ahead.