marklynas.orgCornish village hit by flash flood 18 August 04
In the worst flash flood to hit the British Isles in nearly fifty years, what was described as a “wall of water” swept down onto the picturesque seaside village of Boscastle during an intense thunderstorm on Monday. Buildings were destroyed, dozens of cars swept away and people had to be winched to safety in rescue helicopters. Whilst disasters of this nature do occur from time to time, climate change seems to be giving the UK regular doses of increasingly heavy rainfall – a point made variously by both Friends of the Earth and the Guardian. According to the UK Government, flooding costs could escalate from the current £1 billion a year to £25 billion a year if nothing is done to cut back greenhouse gas emissions. Is anyone listening?
Comments
Lynn Vincentnathan
August 18th, 2004 at 05:10 PM
A 1987 article based on an East Anglica University study found the precipitation belt had been shifting away from Africa to northern Europe over several decades (including the Biafra drought in the 70s), and that fit the global warming model, if and when it were scienfically proven (which it was in 1995 at the .05 significance level = 95% certainty). As a layperson, I didn’t need 95% certainty to stop my killing of Africans and flooding of Europeans through reducing my greenhouse gases. We have now done so by more than half without lowering our living standard, and saving a great deal of money. The film HOT ENOUGH FOR YOU? and the article was what got me started. We don’t need any more certainty (50% would have been more than enough for me). We just need to start reducing. Source: Bradley, R.S., H.F. Diaz, J.K. Eischeid, P.D. Jones, P.M. Kelly, and C.M. Goodess. 1987. “Precipitation Fluctuations over Northern Hemisphere Land Areas Since the Mid-19th Century.” Science 237:171-175.
Vicki Falde
August 24th, 2004 at 11:43 PM
That storm must’ve reminded you, Mark, of the UK storm you wrote about in your book! Seems to be becoming the norm now. I have an aunt in Florida (US) that said that Hurricane Charley blew down 1/3 of her town’s trees a couple of weeks ago! I know it broke a barrier island in two, as well. And this is just seen as the START of GW/CC effects in the world! Ouch!