London’s commercial and residential property face the risk of catastrophic flooding unless the city’s antiquated drainage systems are improved to cope with more frequent summer thunderstorms.
Edmund Penning-Russell of Middlesex Flood Hazard Research Centre has warned the Greater London Assembly’s (GLA) flooding committee that six inches of rain over 24 hours – a phenomenon which London witnessed in November 2000 – is already triggering flash floods which cause damage to thousands of offices and homes.
The GLA has also been told this week that owners of thousands of properties in London could be unaware that they are at risk of flooding. The Environment Agency has admitted that thousands of properties which are not marked in the flood plain could be at severe risk because of inaccurate maps.
Last year GARDIT, a research body which comprises Thames Water and the BPF among others, told the GLA’s environment committee that around 70m litres of water per day must be pumped out of London to prevent damage to tall buildings and London Underground tunnels.
At present, 20m litres of water is pumped out of the capital per day. London Underground pumps out 30,000 cubic metres of water a day from its tunnels – enough to fill around 3,000 swimming pools – with roughly 4,500 litres of this removed from Victoria Station alone.
The problem of increased flooding facing large sections of the country has prompted the RICS to call for a ‘flooding strongman’ to take control of national flooding policy. RICS president Peter Faulkner said today that the current system is “too slow, too complex and failing to deliver”.
Faulkner said: “The present system prevents the rapid response needed to put in place measures to deal with repeated flooding and the planning system is not sufficiently flexible or quick enough to stop building on run-off areas or flood plains, which adds to the problem.”
EGi News 21/03/02
