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Fierce storm and flood predictions to be aided by new research programme

22 November 2005

"Sea, I command you to come no further! Waves, stop your rolling!. Surf, stop your pounding! Do not dare touch my feet!"
King Canute, 11th Century.

Sea levels are rising, fierce storms and heavy floods are on the increase. The financial cost of flood damage to property in the UK is high. The extent of emotional and psychological damage is immeasurable.

The Natural Environment Research Council's £6m Flood Risk from Extreme Events (FREE) programme, which is being launched on Monday 28 November, may not be able to halt the advancing waves but it can take steps to improve predictions of when and where floodwater will invade people's lives, and provide solutions to deal with the problem.

Professor Paul Hardaker, the Met Office's Chief Advisor to Government and Chairman of the FREE Steering Group, said, "We know that the risks from flooding are increasing, that they cause huge amounts of damage and that they create immense misery for the people affected by them. The FREE programme is aimed directly at helping to improve the protection of people, property and our national infrastructure."

FREE aims to address the problem of flood risk in the UK by improving predictions of locations that are most likely to be affected; by finding ways to reduce the uncertainty in these predictions; and by investigating how our changing climate is increasing the risk of flooding.

Elliot Morley, Environment Minister, said, "Because our climate is changing we have to adapt to rising sea levels and the increasing frequency of extreme rainfall events. The Government's flood management work already takes account of our changing climate. This new programme will complement our own research work and develop knowledge about the impacts of climate change, allowing us to better protect homes and people from flooding in the future."

The programme will bring together meteorologists, hydrologists and oceanographers to tackle these research challenges. It will build on existing science, link with other related research programmes and provide a hub for promoting greater inter-disciplinary research. The outputs from the programme will help to inform government policies on a range of aspects associated with the mitigation of flood risk.

Further information

NERC Press Office
Natural Environment Research Council
Polaris House, North Star Avenue
Swindon, SN2 1EU
Tel: 01793 411561
Mob: 07917 557215

Notes

1. Flood Risk from Extreme Events is being launched at 14:30 on 28 November 2005 at DEFRA, 3-8 Whitehall Place, West Block, London SW1A 2HH.

2. Journalists are very welcome to attend. Due to security and as places are limited, please register by contacting Jo Kerslake.

3. The Natural Environment Research Council is one of the UK's research councils. It uses a budget of about £350m a year to fund and carry out impartial scientific research in the sciences of the environment. NERC trains the next generation of independent environmental scientists. It is addressing some of the key questions facing mankind, such as global warming, renewable energy and sustainable economic development.

Press release: 54/05

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