Are these floods worse than we used to get?

[denislawsbackheel]

Worst storm in living memory was in the forties.

 

[I'm With Stupid]

I'd guess flood defences are better now than they used to be. But perhaps that's putting too much faith in politicians.

 

[blue b4 the moon]

People around the OP are probably as much the reason as global warming, too much building on areas surrounding & squeezing rivers etc

 

[Kompany Car]

Certainly throughout the 20th century there has been times of severe flooding. Loads of Pathe news clips on YouTube if you have a look, 1953 in particular was very bad.
Problem is as @blue b4 the moon says, if you build on flood plains, there is less land to act as a temporary store for the water. This is made worse by culverts and drains not being maintained which should channel the water away. Furthermore whilst it isn’t a solution, dredging of rivers can help but it does have an impact on wildlife so is not preferred these days.

 

[worsleyweb]

People around the OP are probably as much the reason as global warming, too much building on areas surrounding & squeezing rivers etc

Thanks

 

[blue b4 the moon]

Certainly throughout the 20th century there has been times of severe flooding. Loads of Pathe news clips on YouTube if you have a look, 1953 in particular was very bad.
Problem is as @blue b4 the moon says, if you build on flood plains, there is less land to act as a temporary store for the water. This is made worse by culverts and drains not being maintained which should channel the water away. Furthermore whilst it isn’t a solution, dredging of rivers can help but it does have an impact on wildlife so is not preferred these days.

That's put much better than I did.

 

[Ancient Citizen]

As mentioned, the great storm of 1953 was far worse than anything we've seen since, global warming notwithstanding.
A massive storm struck the east coast, which also affected Holland, and resulted in hundreds dying in Britain, with
hundreds of properties destroyed. As it was not long after the war, many reports were restricted, as morale would affect
the nations recovery from the conflict. You can just imagine the effect this would have it such an event happened now,
Greta Thunberg's face would be all we'd be seeing.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/1/newsid_3749000/3749771.stm

 

[NeilYoungIsBack]

1287 - now that was a storm...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_England_flood_of_February_1287

 

[ganganvince]

People around the OP are probably as much the reason as global warming, too much building on areas surrounding & squeezing rivers etc

Too true what were traditional flood plains now housing estates with barriers which simply diverts the problem elsewhere.

 

[Tuearts right boot]

6 palms or 2 spans apparently.

A lot of folk on here know that, they're just not letting on