Rain lashes the West, bringing flash flooding and travel chaos

Heavy rain brought flash flooding to communities still suffering from last summer’s disaster, disrupting road and rail travel around the county today. (Tuesday 15th Jan 2008)

More than 1.2in (30mm) of rain was recorded overnight in Wales and the West Midlands, with gale force winds causing the cargo ship Ice Prince to sink off the Dorset coast.

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Managing Flood Risk

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Antarctic is losing ice ‘nearly twice as fast as ten years ago’

The rate of annual ice loss in the Antarctic has increased by almost 80 billion tonnes in a decade, a study has found.

Measurements using satellite radar readings revealed that in parts of the continent the rate of loss has speeded up by 140 per cent since 1996. Global warming is thought to be among the most likely factors and the data provides one of the most detailed assessments yet of the changes.

The findings challenge suggestions from previous research that the overall quantities of ice and snow in Antarctica could increase over the next century because of greater snowfall. The total annual loss was estimated at 196 billion tonnes, almost 50 times as much as the 4 billion tonnes of drinking water supplied to Britain’s taps each year.

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First new nuclear power plant 'will be completed before 2020'

The Government today gave the go-ahead for a new generation of nuclear power plants, provoking a sharply polarised response from the supporters and opponents of nuclear energy.

Announcing the plans in Parliament, John Hutton, the Business Secretary, said that the proposals made sound commercial and environmental sense, and hoped that the first new nuclear power station would be completed well before 2020.

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Early Flood Warnings

Thousands of people whose homes were flooded last summer were not warned early enough, a report has said.
The Environment Agency makes 33 recommendations and concludes it responded well to the emergency.

But it adds that 35,000 homes and businesses were not covered by an early warning system and that more money should be spent on urban drainage.

The worst of the floods - estimated to have cost £3bn - hit Yorkshire, Gloucestershire and Worcestershire.

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Oxfam Christmas Gifts

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Bangladesh Cyclone

Summary

A severe cyclone in Bangladesh has claimed more than two thousand lives. More than 15,000 people have been injured and thousands more are still missing.

Cyclone Sidr, which hit on 15 November, triggered a tidal surge that devastated three coastal towns and forced the evacuation of almost a million people.

During the storm, 500,000 homes were ripped apart and huge tracts of farmland have been flooded or severely damaged.

An estimated 2.7 million people have been affected across 25 districts.
Much of the country’s electricity and communications infrastructure remains down, further impeding the response operation.

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