Do you ever think about flooding? If so, do you think, ‘It’ll never happen to me’, or ‘I live miles from the river’? Or maybe you think ‘I’ve been flooded before. Now I worry every time it rains’?
The truth is flooding is something that should concern us all. Here in London, 1.25 million people live and work in areas of tidal and fluvial flood risk. Another 165,000 people are at medium risk of flooding from rainfall.
And there’s another thing. Flooding is also an equalities issue. Flooding can damage your home and possessions. The poorer you are, the less likely you are to have flood insurance, or able to recover quickly after a flooding event. Health research shows that more deprived communities are more at risk of risk of mental health issues because of flooding.
As well as damaging people’s homes, flooding can damage and even shut down important infrastructure like hospitals, schools, electricity substations, and transport networks too. Do you remember the heavy rainfall that caused travel chaos and closed some polling stations during the EU referendum in 2016?
With climate change, the risk of flooding is increasing. Winters are becoming warmer and wetter. There are also more extreme rainfall events during the summer in London. That is why it’s something we’re addressing in the draft London Environment Strategy.
We want to 'reduce risks and impacts of flooding in London on people and property and improve water quality in London’s rivers and waterways'.
If you’d like to tell us what you think of our plans, you can share your views on Talk London until 17 November 2017.
In the meantime, we can all do our bit to reduce our risk of flooding and the amount of time it takes to recover from flooding. That’s why we’re supporting London Prepared, the organisation that helps London cope with emergencies, with London Flood Week #LDNFloodWeek.