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By environment correspondent Alex Kirby
In
south-east England, local people say the floods of recent
days are the worst for 40 years.
In the
devastation of northern Italy, France and Switzerland, elderly
villagers say they can remember nothing like this happening
in generations.
But
there are common threads to suggest that both areas have
the same lesson to learn, and that their plight could soon
become unremarkable.
The
lesson is the folly of building homes and factories on flood
plains, the areas where rivers naturally overflow during
heavy rain.
Worried
The
spread of human settlement, of roads and steel and concrete,
means the floodwater has nowhere to go to soak away. So
it inundates the buildings that have invaded its space.
Rescuers
prepare to set out
The Association of British Insurers is concerned that developers
are building on flood plains and then abandoning householders
to the risk of flooding.
It is
urging the United Kingdom Government to intervene to prevent
this happening with the 3m new homes planned in England.
As flooding
becomes more frequent, more properties are at risk than
previously thought. Yet there have been decades of warnings
to central and local government.
The
Environment Agency says: "We are working hard to influence
policy and practice on development within the flood plain.
"The
results of improved flood risk mapping show that nearly
two million homes, businesses and other properties in England
and Wales are within the boundary of the flood plain - the
expected extent of flooding from rivers or the sea.
"We
are doing all we can to avoid this figure growing. Evidence
suggests that the results of our objections are having more
impact and as a result more applications are being turned
down."
In southern
Europe, the spread of homes and industry has had a similar
effect. And with towns and cities now invading the floodplains,
the effects ripple outwards, causing worse damage in the
undeveloped areas where the water is free to flow.
Certain
But
what has happened recently could soon become relatively
commonplace, if it is an early sign of climate change. And
not only environmental campaigners believe that it is.
England's
floods caused chaos
The ABI says: "It is now certain that global warming
is occurring. Furthermore, there is a reasonable consensus
emerging that we are in for a period of much more extreme
weather, resulting in more severe and more frequent floods."
Andrew
Dlugolecki is director of general insurance development
for CGNU, the UK's largest insurance group.
He told
BBC News Online: "You can say the floods in the UK
and southern Europe bear the fingerprint of climate change.
More
frequent
"There
are many other contributory factors - homes being built
in stupid places, for example.
"The
floods are not unprecedented, but they are unusual. And
I think they will become more common.
"The
latest work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
confirms that the climate is having an effect on the insurance
industry."
The
insurance industry is hard-headed enough to base its decisions
on money. It is taking the threat of climate change seriously,
wherever it occurs.
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