Without a thought for who the prime minister is this week, climate change is marching ahead and, following a summer of extraordinary record temperatures and wildfires, autumn is bringing our northern hemisphere a series of condensation-heavy storm systems of an intensity rarely seen before.
What used to be "once in a lifetime" floods are everywhere.
Londoners looked in horror at the impact on Pakistan of September’s floods that killed thousands, destroyed infrastructure and devastated the lives of a population nearly half the size of the UK. This month Nigeria has suffered its worst floods in a decade, with 600 lives lost and 1.3 million people displaced from their homes. Both tragedies made the headlines, but only briefly.
Many Londoners with links to affected countries are grieving these impacts while our city is facing its own serious flash floods for at least the third time in two years.
Returning to London from a visit to the coast on Sunday, I dodged violent winds, lightning and rain in stair-rods running to the station, only to face major rail disruption from fallen trees. Sitting in a packed, delayed train, I was depressed to see again so many social media videos from home showing town centre roads and shops flooded by sudden downpours.
And the risks of flooding in our cities go wider than property and businesses. They threaten our health and the natural systems that have only just struggled through the summer heat. All eyes are on the coast and on long-term underinvestment from water companies, as raw sewage haunts our beaches.
But in 2021, London too saw 192 storm overflows of sewage into our waterways whose immediate cause was exceptionally heavy rain like this week’s.
Those in power locally are starting to pay attention. Camden Council briefed me on its new community flood risk plans earlier this month and, in the London Assembly, following work by my colleagues Caroline Russell and Zack Polanski, we are pushing the mayor to make plans to both avoid these impacts and support people through extreme weather.
But it’s getting more urgent by the day, and we can’t afford to be distracted by the soap opera of politics when nature and human lives are at risk.
We need to plan for true resilience and adaptation, as well as action to stop climate change. This means urgent work on urban drainage and more information for people to know where to turn for help, with the reassurance that the emergency services will be funded and equipped to have our backs.
Sian Berry (Green Party) is a London Assembly member and a Highgate councillor.
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