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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