One year on …. yet more floods

November 25, 2010

A year ago Cumbria suffered a £300million flood, one year on and Cornwall is facing similar devastation. Towns, villages, shops and more than 100 homes were evacuated as heavy rain added to the already swollen rivers and the result – flooding up to 6ft deep in places.

But who’s to blame? Flooding the world over means people loose belongings, homes and even lives. In Cornwall flood warnings were in place but events like this remind us how vulnerable our infrastructure is and the need to make communities more flood resilient.

Advanced warnings won’t stop the floods but might give us more time to prepare and ensure every drain, culvert and ditch is clear to cope with the excess of water. Van Walt’s advanced combination of telemetry and sensors form a powerful early warning system, which is able to generate event specific alarms, for example when rivers rise to potentially dangerous levels.

It’s time to stop hoping for the best, preparing for the worst and stop being surprised at what happens, almost systematically anyway!