Geographies of UK flooding in 2013/4

摘要: Between December 2013 and February 2014, an extreme storm surge, a series of intense storms, the cumulative effects heavy persistent rainfall caused widespread flooding throughout UK, prompting renewed public scientific debates on who, or what, might be to blame. The divided fairly evenly into two diametrically opposed groups, first blaming government (who initially responded by trying shift blame their expert advisors), attributing mounting flood losses prolonged misery lack investment in defences river dredging. second group blamed farmers for over-intensive agriculture upstream catchments, inappropriate development floodplains, poor judgement part victims choosing live, work farm areas vulnerable inundation. floods resulted from protracted sequence deep, Atlantic depressions that followed more southerly track than usual due position configuration planetary jet stream. This prompted second, no less polarised, debate concerning whether meteorological characteristics provided evidence climate change has started influence not only probability UK flooding, but also its nature, spatial distribution duration. Both are intrinsically geographical, this commentary sets out how understanding geographies can help frame inform them. is addressed through consideration these geographies, characterised as physical, rural, urban, social, economic political. While individual event (or even clustered floods) cannot alone prove anything, winter reinforce conclusions Government's Flood Foresight study, which was commissioned response 2000 (Millennium) Floods updated following nationwide summer 2007.