What's more current than the weather?

[DanaC]

In reference to the previous flooding - there wasn't really much the residents could do about that. Do you think flood hit and therefore uninsurable properties sell well ? Those people are,forthe most part, pretty much stuck with what they have. Housing is very expensive in this country. We have a housing crisis at the moment. Both in terms of rocketing numbers of homeless families at the bottom end of the scale in the rented sector, and people unable to get on to the ladder for buying. The value of the houses and business premises in the flood hit towns in 2012 plummeted.

In terms of the businesses in the town centres - it would pretty much sound the death knell of every town in the Calder Valley if all the independent businesses upped sticks and left because of floods. Not to mention these are communities - people living and working, often in the same towns they were born in. Something like half the town centre was under water in Hebden and in Tod.

What needs to happen is some kind of state insurance fund for major flooding.It is not acceptable that large chunks of these towns are going to end up nonviable for business because the insurance companies had to pay out on flood insurance a couple of times in a decade.

Likewise,it would be reallyfucking great if central government would refrain from cutting the budgets for flood defence strategies in the north. That'd be champion.


As to the family who watched til it was too late to escape - in that particular case the waters rose in minutes. It was very fast.