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WET is the word. This winter, rainstorms of biblical proportions have left
Britain with swollen rivers, severe flooding, and thousands of people and
businesses in extremis. Floodline, the emergency helpline, reported receiving
over 500,000 emergency calls during one 10-day period. The costs of all this
unwanted water are huge, and the consequences long-term. So I was pleased when
the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Earth Sciences held a meeting recently
under the intriguing title “Floating Voters—Flooding in the UK”.

Allan Rogers—a geologist before coming to Parliament as MP for
Rhondda—chaired the meeting. He set the scene with two questions: what
lessons are to be learned, and what can be done to protect us in the future? The
answers are vital: insurance companies have said they may no longer accept
claims for flooding in flood plains. It’s an extraordinary attitude when you
consider that 5 million people in Britain—not to mention the Palace of
Westminster, home to the two Houses of Parliament—live and work on flood
plains, all of which at risk from flooding.

At the meeting, MPs and visiting geologists agreed that we need to find out
when and where particular flood plains have been active in the past 50 to 100
years. Flood plains, it seems, can and will move, and any that have long been
inactive can restart, often with a vengeance.

The government must be prepared to forget the expense, and set up a major
study of all significant flood plains. We need to know exactly what Britain
should be incorporating into its flood defence plans. With or without climate
change, one thing is certain—as far as floods are concerned, there will be
a “next time”.

DO WE really rule the skies? Take last October, when a flock of birds
collided with a Jaguar aircraft and caused a crash. “Bird strikes” create
enormous damage in civil and military aircraft, and are hugely costly for all
concerned. I asked junior defence minister, Lewis Moonie, what his department’s
current attitude was to the problem.

Moonie replied that all aircrews planning flight tracks need to be alerted to
concentrations of birds, including seasonal variations, within Britain’s
airspace. This is especially important at lower levels, where military training
flights are often organised. Flight plans require not only maps showing
prohibited and restricted areas, but also locations where birds are likely to be
concentrated. A bird hazard warning system can be implemented at any time to
advise aircrews of intense bird activity within their low-flying zones.

Aircrews must actively avoid areas where bird concentrations present a known
hazard to aircraft. Military air traffic control staff are required to notify
the RAF’s tactical booking centre at RAF West Drayton—where all low flying
has to be booked—whenever they see, or observe on their radar, large
concentrations of birds. Aircrews in return are required to radio to the nearest
military airfield any sightings they make of intense bird activity: details are
then forwarded to the tactical booking centre, said Moonie.

He went on to add that bird strikes affecting military aircraft have been
declining for several years. The MoD is working with ornithological experts to
improve data on the geographical distribution of birds across Britain.

As a regular air passenger myself, I believe that every precaution should be
taken to make flying safe. The possibility of bird strikes should be a factor
for developing countries when they plan airfields in remote areas. I have my
suspicions that the Brazilian planners busily clearing strips of the Amazon
forest for their new airfields have not got around to warning local bird life to
beware low-flying aircraft.