Floods in England 2013–2014

Floods in England 2013–2014
	View of Burrowbridge in Somerset , South West England on February 14, 2014
storm	Atlantic winter storms with heavy rain
Data
Beginning	5th December 2013
Climax	February 25, 2014
consequences
Damage amount	€ 1 billion

Map with all linked sites: OSM | WikiMap

The floods in England in 2013–2014 caused severe damage from the beginning of December 2013 to mid-February 2014, particularly in the regions of South West England and South East England .

meteorology

According to the Met Office , the reason for the floods was the heaviest winter rainfall since records began in 1910. The December – January phase was the wettest since 1876. The rainfall was the result of numerous strong North Atlantic lows , including several severe storms such as Hurricane Dirk on Christmas Eve. These steered intense atmospheric rivers towards Western Europe, at least 18 of which hit mainland England from December 2013 to February 2014. On the other hand, the deep cores then remained for a long time over the British Isles, with strong southerly currents over the mainland, which led to an exceptionally mild winter season, extremely rich in foehn storms in the Alps , but also with severe storms in southern Europe .

A connection between the various extreme weather conditions in early 2014, such as the floods in England, the cold spell in the northeastern United States and the drought in California , and the possible connection to climate change is discussed. Schaller et al. a. (2016) was able to use a weather and climate model to prove that the floods can indeed be traced back to man-made climate change .

Two years later, from December onwards, heavy floods occurred again in a similar general weather situation.

Wind Speed Anomaly, Northern Hemisphere, Jan-Feb 2014 (NOAA)

World map of the combined pressure and temperature anomaly , Dec. 6, 2013 - Jan. 5, 2014, America center right: The animation shows the blockage situation of the strongly dampened west wind drift due to the extremely strong Arctic oscillation until the end of December and the explosive formation of the Siberia heat anomaly , with the cold waves over North America and Central Asia. The warm air over the Atlantic with the air mass limits directed towards the British Isles controls tropical air masses to Europe. The southern hemisphere is abnormally calm.
(NOAA / NCEP / CPC 10-hPa Temp Anoms, moving 11-day average)

The Northern Hemisphere with low pressure systems , high troughs and Jetstream , Jan. 5, 2014, Europe right: relocated Against America high polar low and südgedrängtes low over central Canada (below). At the same time a mighty Iceland low ( Hercules ), a high altitude low over central Siberia (above) and a strong North Pacific low (left).
(NOAA / NCEP / CPC Northern Hemisphere, potential 500 hPa)

consequences

The counties of Surrey , Berkshire , Somerset and Kent were particularly hard hit . A total of around 5,000 houses had been flooded by mid-February 2014, and around 140,000 houses and apartments were affected by power outages .

In Berkshire and Surrey, the Thames reached levels that have not been measured since the 1980s. Also in London , where the Thames overflowed its banks and the highest water level was expected in 60 years, residents had to evacuate their houses. Greater flooding of London was prevented by the Thames Barrier .

The coasts were also affected, where severe erosion damage occurred several times.

Figures for flood damage are at a total of at least $ 1.5 billion (about 1 billion euros, 1.4 billion pounds ), one of the 20 most serious damage events of the year worldwide .

David Cameron's administration's crisis management and late-breaking disaster relief efforts came under fire, and state environmental director Lord Smith was advised to resign.