Hundreds attend Bradford-on-Avon flood information event
Mark Dunn lives in an old mill next to the river and said: "For 360 days a year it's idyllic. For four or five days a year, it's pretty terrifying to see 30,000 litres of water go by your window a second."He explained he has been in the home for the last three big floods in the town - 2013, 2012 and 2024.
'Writing on the wall'
"We know we can't completely get rid of it, but I was hoping to hear about something to be offered to give the population some hope" he added, disappointed that the £11m protection scheme was scrapped.Mr Dunn felt the scheme would have been worth the money because of the impact of the floods in the area ,and said residents do end up feeling abandoned."The climate is only going to get worse. The writing is on the wall," he added.He said he did not hear what he wanted to hear at the event but added it was "good news" that the local MP and Environment Agency are not giving up on finding a solution.
Local Liberal Democrat MP Brian Mathew was at the event and told the BBC he has been speaking to the head of the Environment Agency about the issue."There's no single one solution," he said, adding that the original £11m plan "wouldn't have been enough".He added: "There's not a lot of point in spending a lot of money on what wouldn't have been enough anyway."Mr Mathew said people are concerned and worried, and that more does need to be done for his constituents.
"The voluntary flood wardens have been absolutely brilliant. In November, they were down at four in the morning, and they were there before us" said Mike Pugh, who runs art gallery SerenArts at the Tithe Barn workshops.He explained the community has been very supportive, but wanted to find out "who else can help form further up the ladder".
Having been there since 2009, he has experienced flooding four times, and has adapted, using plastic boxes and making sure everything can be lifted easily.Mr Pugh said it "appears to be an increasing problem".He added he uses the Environment Agency website which monitors water levels."You can calculate where it's going to get to. That's a good way of knowing when to press the panic button."
Mayor of Bradford-on-Avon Jack Vittles said he is "really, really pleased" that people have been able to speak directly to the agencies involved."A lot of people are realistic about what they can do in their own homes and they're clued up on that now."I want to make sure people get the full story" he added.The Environment Agency has said previously that it is "committed to supporting Bradford-on-Avon in adapting to flood risks through community resilience measures".Wiltshire Council and Wessex Water were among the other organisations there responding to residents.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Telegraph
5 hours ago
- Telegraph
Santa Claus village is melting in heatwave
The official home town of Father Christmas has been hit with a record-breaking heatwave, stoking fears that wildfires that have swept across Lapland will become more frequent. The Arctic city of Rovaniemi in northern Finland – usually associated with snow and the winter holidays – has been melting in the hot weather. Temperatures in Lapland, a region that crowns the tip of Norway and where it snows for seven months a year, have been hitting highs of 31C, more than 10C higher than the seasonal average. Ville Siiskonen, of the Finnish Meteorological Institute, said that while temperatures above 30C were unusual – 'a once in 10-year event' – the length of the heatwave was exceptional. 'For 15 consecutive days, the daily maximum temperature has exceeded 25C. This is the longest since records began in the early 1960s,' he told The Telegraph. The previous record was set in 1972 when a heatwave lasted 14 days. The extreme heat is expected to last till early next week. The highest temperature of the heatwave, 31.7C, was recorded at two locations, Ylitornio and Sodankylä, earlier this week. However, the hot weather has led to renewed concern over the fast pace of climate change in the Arctic, which is warming up to five times faster than the global average, according to the UN's intergovernmental panel on climate change. 'Due to climate change, these sorts of heatwaves in Lapland are expected to become longer and more intensive over this century,' Mr Siiskonen said. Emergency services have also been dealing with several dozen fast-spreading wildfires in the wilderness further north of Rovaniemi this week. Due to the size and remoteness of Lapland, fires often burn for long stretches before firefighters can arrive on the scene. Finnish authorities have warned the population that the risk of wildfires remains high. In Rovaniemi, schools and nurseries have cancelled some outdoor activities, authorities have told residents to check on their elderly neighbours and health officials are warning people of the need to stay hydrated. Despite the limited chaos, Sanna Kärkkäinen, managing director of Visit Rovaniemi, said that the heat has not affected the city's most popular tourist destination. 'The weather has certainly surprised locals and tourists,' she told The Telegraph, but the Santa Claus Village, where visitors can meet the man himself, 'remains open seven days a week'. Lapland's reindeer, with their thick coats, are suffering in the heat and are also being attacked by mosquitoes. The animals, which mostly roam freely, have been trying to move to higher ground or travel into villages or to the beach in search of relief. Toivo Koivu, a resident of Rovaniemi who has just finished travelling through southern Europe, said he was shocked to return to such heat. 'We thought that when we would come back to Finland it would be cooler, like normally, but no, it was the same weather as down south,' Mr Koivu told Reuters. It comes as other parts of Europe this summer have been gripped with heatwaves and wildfires. In June – which was the hottest June on record globally – authorities in Spain, Portugal, Greece and France were forced to issue extreme heat warnings as temperatures went above 42C.
BBC News
5 hours ago
- BBC News
Dunster Beach rescue: Mother saves two children from sea
A mother who rescued her daughter after she was dragged out to sea by strong currents has warned others things can go wrong "in a flash".On Thursday, Reverend Chloe Kingdon stopped on Dunster Beach in Somerset to allow her daughter and a friend to go for a dip, as they had done many times said the two children, aged 10 and 11, were paddling waist deep when they were suddenly swept off their Kingdon jumped in after them and worked hard to bring them back to shore, where an RNLI crew treated them for water inhalation. Rev Kingdon said the group were heading home at around 16:30 BST when the children began "nagging" her to go swimming. "They know the rules," she said. "They know not to go in very far, they know it's dangerous. "They were waist deep, jumping around and playing, and as I was watching them they suddenly disappeared out of view. "I've never known a current like it. It was really, really strange."I could just see their two heads bobbing up and down, and I'm screaming but they're too far away to hear me." A passer-by leapt into action, diving in after the children while the emergency services were from Minehead RNLI Lifeboat Station, the coastguard and the ambulance service were immediately lifeguards went to the neighbouring Blue Anchor beach by mistake, Rev Kingdon said she felt she could not wait any longer. She waded through the choppy water to reach her daughter, turning only to see her fellow rescuer clambering back to shore. "That poor man had to take the agonising decision to save himself," she told BBC Radio Somerset."The waves were too strong." 'It was a fight' Rev Kingdom managed to bring both children back to shore, where paramedics transported them to Musgrove Park Hospital for observation."Even when we think we are being responsible and respectful of the sea, in a flash, things can go wrong," she said. "It was a fight and the sea was determined to take us out further."Minehead RNLI said it sent two lifeboats to the area having heard two children were in trouble in the water."A bystander had bravely rescued the casualties, and all three required assessment for water inhalation," a statement added.
BBC News
6 hours ago
- BBC News
Bude sea pool hosts RNLI water safety event
Water safety experts and the RNLI have joined forces to offer advice on how to stay safe around the Cornish coast during hot weather.A public awareness event at Bude sea pool was held as part of World Drowning Prevention Day on of Bude Surf Lifesaving Club offered water self-rescue sessions together with interactive sea safety advice from the figures have revealed that young people are the most at-risk group for accidental drowning in the UK, according to the National Water Safety Forum. 'Real problem' Forum chair Mike Tipton, from Porthleven, said 40 percent of annual deaths from drowning in the UK involve people under the age of 40. "Over 25 percent of them are in the 20 to 29-year-old bracket and mostly males," he said."I mean that's a real problem."It also translates sadly into many years of life lost because it's around about 6,100 years of life lost every year in the UK because people die too soon due to drowning," said Mr Tipton. Among the events at Bude Sea pool are Find Your Float self-rescue sessions, which teach a technique used by a group of Cornish swimmers in an incident at sea six years Smith, 21, from West Cornwall, recalled how she was caught in a rip current while swimming at Gwithian with a group of advised her friends to lie on their backs and float while she swam ashore to get help."I think your instinct is definitely to try and fight it and panic and try to swim but no, that's definitely far more dangerous than just getting onto your back and staying afloat," she said.
