Floods are becoming more common. Storms in winter 2015 have caused devastating floods across large areas of the UK, including Yorkshire. Millions of pounds of damage have been caused to infrastructure and homes. Flood events can also be detrimental to river ecology and can increase the delivery of pollutants to the channel.
There are several reasons for the increased frequency and magnitude of flooding and the exact causes of flood events are difficult to determine. There is an increasing body of evidence to suggest that extreme daily rainfall rates are becoming more intense as a result of climatic warming.
Changes to the way we manage the landscape is also contributing by reducing the amount of water stored in the catchment and causing water to be delivered to the channel more rapidly. These changes include deforestation, moorland drainage and soil compaction.
Further, half the houses built in Britain in the last 60 years have been on floodplains. This has increased our vulnerability to flooding.
With a greater magnitude of flood events flood defenses are under increasing pressure and there is an increasing focus on the use of natural flood management techniques to contribute to reducing flood waters. See our Guide to Natural Flood Management techniques.