Floods last winter 'the worst on record' but Shropshire defences are hailed
Last winter's floods were the UK's "most extreme on record", experts have said.
An appraisal of the winter floods of 2015/2016, published on the first anniversary of Storm Desmond, reveals it ranks alongside the devastating flooding of March 1947 as the largest event of at least the last century.
November 2015 to January 2016 was the wettest three-month period in records dating back to 1910, while December was both the wettest and, on average, the warmest on record for the UK.
The highest-ever rainfall recorded in the UK was seen at Honister Pass in the Lake District with 341.4mm (13.4 inches) falling in the 24 hours leading up to 6pm on December 5, 2015, as Storm Desmond hit.
The worst of the damage struck in Cumbria with around 16,000 UK homes and businesses flooded in December alone.
Shropshire was affected by the intense rain, with flood defences put in place in Frankwell, Shrewsbury, and Ironbridge, to protect more than 2,000 homes and businesses.
A number of roads were closed as a result of the flooding, as well as Shrewsbury's Frankwell and St Julian's car parks.
The effect of the flood defences was hailed by Dave Throup from the Environment Agency who said they had prevented considerable damage.
Speaking at the time he said: "If we were talking about this even 20 years ago there would be significant floods in Shrewsbury, Ironbridge, and Hereford.
"We would be talking about quite a big flood event but now – it has taken a lot of resources – but there are a few flooded homes."
A boat team from Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service also travelled to Cumbria to help evacuate residents stranded in their homes.
The storm, which caused an estimated insurance bill of more than £1.3 billion, was part of a persistent pattern of weather which also included the major storms of Abigail, Frank and Gertrude.
Many rivers across northern England and Scotland saw record peak flows, as did the Mourne in Northern Ireland, the study by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in collaboration with the British Hydrological Society found.
The rivers Eden, Tyne and Lune in England saw record peaks of around 1,700 cubic metres per second – a volume of water that could fill London's Royal Albert Hall in less than a minute, the experts said.
Some 16,000 homes and businesses were flooded in December alone, with more flooding in January, although a further 20,000 homes were protected by defences.
Lead author Terry Marsh from CEH said: "At a national scale the winter floods of 2015/16 were the most extreme on record.
"The November to January period was the wettest three-month sequence in the UK rainfall series – which begins in 1910.
"The associated flooding was both extensive and repetitive, and total river outflows from Great Britain following the passage of Storm Desmond in December exceeded the previous maximum by a substantial margin."
Cumbrian resident Dr Ed Henderson, a co-author of the review from the British Hydrological Society, said the flooding had a devastating effect for many people.
"Thousands of Cumbrians, like people in other flood-affected parts of the country, have seen their lives upturned. Many have experienced life-changing financial losses and incredible stress.
"Speaking with flood victims, the words that come out are despair, fear and anxiety – fear of flooding again and the anxiety of an approaching winter.
"Floods don't just take your home, the place where you should feel safe, they often take your future as well."
The storms and flooding last winter followed the 2013/2014 flooding in southern England and other severe events including the 2005 and 2009 floods in Cumbria.
Natural variability from year to year makes it hard to attribute the trend towards higher river flows in the last five decades to climate change, but recent studies do point towards man-made global warming playing a role in recent floods, report co-author Jamie Hannaford from CEH said. And along with March 1947, which saw heavy rain and snow thaw after a freezing winter, causing flooding, the 2015/2016 floods are the largest such event of the last 100 years, the study said.
Last winter's floods were more extreme in scale but the 1947 events had a greater impact in terms of homes flooded and crops destroyed, in a country recovering from war and with only rudimentary flood defences.
