Browse content similar to 12/02/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Hello and welcome to the One Show with Matt Baker. And Alex Jones. | :00:18. | :00:25. | |
Now, with the country still being drenched by rain and battered by | :00:26. | :00:28. | |
high winds and with parts of the country due to get another month's | :00:29. | :00:32. | |
worth of rain in the next two days, we are giving some of the people | :00:33. | :00:36. | |
worst affected the chance to speak to those at the top. Amongst them, | :00:37. | :00:41. | |
Countryfile's expert Tom Heap will be attempting to explain what is | :00:42. | :00:47. | |
causing this rain. It is good to have you with us. And Eric Pickles, | :00:48. | :00:51. | |
who has come straight from a COBRA meeting, is here to tell us how his | :00:52. | :00:55. | |
government are planning to get rid of the floodwater after the wettest | :00:56. | :00:59. | |
winter in 250 years. Thank you for joining us. I wish it was under | :01:00. | :01:05. | |
different circumstances. And back so soon. In Berkshire, Matt Allright | :01:06. | :01:09. | |
has set up an advice clinic with experts on insurance and flood | :01:10. | :01:13. | |
prevention. Iwan is in Worcestershire to find out the | :01:14. | :01:16. | |
multi-million pound flood defences there are going to hold out. And we | :01:17. | :01:21. | |
will find out what would happen if we continued to let the cedar its | :01:22. | :01:25. | |
worst from an international coastal erosion expert. And this time, we | :01:26. | :01:29. | |
are not going to blame it on the weatherman. But we do have John | :01:30. | :01:34. | |
Hammond with us. I don't make the weather, I just forecast it. Now, if | :01:35. | :01:39. | |
you would like to ask any of the people you can see a question | :01:40. | :01:44. | |
tonight, get in touch. On a more positive note, we want to celebrate | :01:45. | :01:47. | |
all of the flood heroes, so do send in a picture if you have got power | :01:48. | :01:52. | |
of the people who have been helping you and we will show them later. It | :01:53. | :01:57. | |
is going to be a busy old hour, but with all this talk of ad weather, we | :01:58. | :02:00. | |
need someone to bring a bit of sunshine to tonight's proceedings. | :02:01. | :02:05. | |
Just as well we have got lovely Shane Richie! How are you doing, | :02:06. | :02:15. | |
everybody? I have it on good authority that there will be a bit | :02:16. | :02:24. | |
of a storm happening over Walford. You are based around the Surrey | :02:25. | :02:30. | |
area. I know, I am a bit worried about this weekend. Sorry about | :02:31. | :02:41. | |
that! Where I live on the Downs, even just driving in today, it was | :02:42. | :02:45. | |
scary. Friends and family live in the Surrey area and they have been a | :02:46. | :02:49. | |
bit flippant about it, but now it seems serious full up and it seems | :02:50. | :02:54. | |
to affect the whole country now and not just down south. We are hearing | :02:55. | :03:00. | |
about Wales and northern England. It is across the board. Well, our man | :03:01. | :03:03. | |
with webbed feet, filter from all, has been in your area to meet some | :03:04. | :03:08. | |
of the people in Surrey who are most in need of help and a welcome smile. | :03:09. | :03:19. | |
This is the worst flood situation Chertsey has seen since March 1947. | :03:20. | :03:27. | |
Wow, this is Surrey. Knee deep. Overly deep. -- over knee deep. The | :03:28. | :03:35. | |
army, fire and follow the rescue services are ready to evacuate | :03:36. | :03:40. | |
people from their homes. While the rescue services are strained with | :03:41. | :03:44. | |
the demand of calls, we went to see how people are coping. Are you | :03:45. | :03:51. | |
staying put? We are trying to raise our furniture up a bit on boxes. We | :03:52. | :03:56. | |
have moved our kitchen stuff up. Has water come into the house yet? Not | :03:57. | :04:05. | |
yet. We have got no sandbags. Are you evacuating? Yeah. Have you been | :04:06. | :04:14. | |
told to? Because we have two young kids. We got evacuated at five this | :04:15. | :04:20. | |
morning. My sister, who lives up there, she came and picked us up. So | :04:21. | :04:25. | |
we are going to stay at her house. And then an hour or so later, we | :04:26. | :04:30. | |
have now evacuated from there. The speed it came up was really quick, | :04:31. | :04:35. | |
as if someone just opened something up and it was just rushing through. | :04:36. | :04:41. | |
The volunteer and rescue services are giving up their time to guide | :04:42. | :04:45. | |
people to safety. If you are a volunteer, what is your day job? I | :04:46. | :04:50. | |
work for Marks Spencer. What is your message? Only ring 999 if it is | :04:51. | :04:55. | |
an emergency. Please find your local rescue centre. Don't put yourself in | :04:56. | :05:05. | |
danger. District in Chertsey is one of the worst I have seen so far | :05:06. | :05:09. | |
today -- the street. That's roundabout has become a little | :05:10. | :05:15. | |
island. If evacuation is a last resort for the residents, desperate | :05:16. | :05:20. | |
to protect their property. Is it the first time you have inflicted? We | :05:21. | :05:24. | |
have been here more than ten years and never had a flood. In 2003, it | :05:25. | :05:37. | |
was not like this. Come here. I know, it is terrible. It is | :05:38. | :05:51. | |
shocking. Water is coming up from under the floorboards. It is one of | :05:52. | :05:54. | |
the countless homes ruined by dirty water. We just had a new setting as | :05:55. | :06:06. | |
well. It will be ruined now. Heartbreaking to see this go, | :06:07. | :06:11. | |
because so much effort has gone into it. Do you think anything could have | :06:12. | :06:17. | |
done? If they had dredged the river. Some people could make better | :06:18. | :06:25. | |
decisions than the so-called intelligent people in government and | :06:26. | :06:27. | |
the agencies. And you are at the sharp end of it. We are on the | :06:28. | :06:37. | |
receiving end. Although people have been evacuated to safety, the waters | :06:38. | :06:43. | |
are still rising. So until the weather improves, there is little | :06:44. | :06:48. | |
hope of returning home soon. Extraordinary. We are going to see | :06:49. | :06:54. | |
extraordinary images all evening. I hope some of those people benefit | :06:55. | :06:57. | |
from tonight's show. John, the reason we have got this map is | :06:58. | :07:02. | |
because we have got flood alerts in yellow and then the flood warnings | :07:03. | :07:05. | |
in red. You are going to tell us what is going on up and down the | :07:06. | :07:11. | |
country. There is severe weather up and down the country. All the | :07:12. | :07:14. | |
concentration at the moment is on the floods and the gales. But | :07:15. | :07:19. | |
further north across Scotland, it is cold. We have got a lot of snow, | :07:20. | :07:27. | |
good news for skiers. And that is because we are furthest away from | :07:28. | :07:31. | |
the jet stream. The jet stream is generating the wind and the rain | :07:32. | :07:34. | |
across the country. The way from that to the north, it is cold. It | :07:35. | :07:38. | |
makes you wonder how you can have all the flooding down there, and | :07:39. | :07:46. | |
this extraordinary snow up here. In Portstewart earlier today, we saw | :07:47. | :07:50. | |
snow. It is still on the northern side of the jet stream, so it is a | :07:51. | :07:55. | |
wintry nights to come. If you live in Northern Ireland, you may be | :07:56. | :07:57. | |
waking up to snow in the morning. The same applies across parts of | :07:58. | :08:01. | |
Scotland and northern England. We are concerned about blizzards across | :08:02. | :08:08. | |
the Pennines. We have very strong wind, 100 mile an hour gusts | :08:09. | :08:13. | |
spattering the coasts of Wales. More storm winds this evening. We have a | :08:14. | :08:18. | |
red warning from the Met Office for parts of West Wales and northern | :08:19. | :08:23. | |
England. Blackpool has 80 mile an hour gusts this evening. That will | :08:24. | :08:28. | |
cause serious damage. Does go to the eastern side of the UK. | :08:29. | :08:34. | |
Earlier in the winter, Hemsby had the strongest search for 60 years. | :08:35. | :08:45. | |
These areas are not immune from this crazy winter weather. Talking of the | :08:46. | :08:51. | |
coastal erosion, we are looking at houses that have just subsided. | :08:52. | :08:56. | |
Let's get into the flooding areas. All these areas are covered by flood | :08:57. | :09:01. | |
alerts severe warnings in some cases. Let's to Shrewsbury. The | :09:02. | :09:05. | |
River Severn is around four metres here. All this water is flowing off | :09:06. | :09:13. | |
the hills of Wales. So although the rain might be stopping for a time, | :09:14. | :09:16. | |
there is such a line between the rain falling over Wales and flowing | :09:17. | :09:21. | |
down to the River Severn. You expect that to rise? It is to peak tomorrow | :09:22. | :09:26. | |
morning and then perhaps come down a bit. But with more rain forecast, it | :09:27. | :09:31. | |
will go up again. The same applies to Worcester. At the moment, river | :09:32. | :09:36. | |
levels are at around five metres, very concerning. Again, it is set to | :09:37. | :09:39. | |
peak tomorrow morning and go down a bit but probably up again by | :09:40. | :09:45. | |
Friday. Iwan is in Worcester for us tonight. And raise bread and the | :09:46. | :09:53. | |
Thames Valley, where we have 14 severe flood warnings across parts | :09:54. | :09:58. | |
of the south-east, meaning danger to life. What's more, the river levels | :09:59. | :10:02. | |
have peaked for the time being. They will go down a bit, but there is | :10:03. | :10:06. | |
more rain in the forecast and only one way those river levels will go, | :10:07. | :10:10. | |
I imagine, with all that rain funnelling down the Thames. Andy | :10:11. | :10:17. | |
Somerset Levels? We saw the pictures earlier in the week of colossal | :10:18. | :10:21. | |
amounts of water spread over a vast area. Six metres of water across the | :10:22. | :10:27. | |
Somerset Levels. If it stopped raining tomorrow and did not rain | :10:28. | :10:30. | |
for weeks, it would still take a long time for that waters to | :10:31. | :10:34. | |
disappear. We have a before and after shot of Taunton, brought in by | :10:35. | :10:40. | |
Gill Mogg, who took this picture. This was the before shot, bone dry, | :10:41. | :10:44. | |
beautiful scene. After, covered in water. It shows how parts of the | :10:45. | :10:51. | |
country have been transformed. People are looking up to the skies | :10:52. | :10:55. | |
and saying, where on earth is this water coming from? Surely the skies | :10:56. | :10:59. | |
must be the by now. Where is that water appearing from? It is hard to | :11:00. | :11:06. | |
believe, but the atmosphere is actually a fluid. Meteorology is | :11:07. | :11:10. | |
fluid dynamics. You have all these air molecules, all of which can | :11:11. | :11:14. | |
carry moisture. And one of the reasons why we have got such a | :11:15. | :11:18. | |
strong jet stream this winter could well lie on the other side of the | :11:19. | :11:22. | |
world in Southeast Asia, where the sea water is particularly warm, so | :11:23. | :11:26. | |
there is a lot of moisture going into the atmosphere. That is | :11:27. | :11:29. | |
believed to be one of the factors which is driving such a strong jet | :11:30. | :11:33. | |
stream on this side of the globe. The stronger the jet stream, the | :11:34. | :11:36. | |
stronger the storms. The stronger the storms, the more wind and rain. | :11:37. | :11:41. | |
You are going to be sticking around and answering questions for us. So, | :11:42. | :11:46. | |
there is the situation across the UK. | :11:47. | :11:51. | |
If you are in one of the areas that has remained unscathed, count your | :11:52. | :11:57. | |
blessings. When you factor in the last few years, you realise how | :11:58. | :12:00. | |
extreme our weather has become and how much stress that is putting on | :12:01. | :12:02. | |
the country. This winter has the thousands of | :12:03. | :12:09. | |
people in Britain been a nightmare. The country has been battered by | :12:10. | :12:13. | |
storms and rain . The fact is that our weather is getting worse. Our | :12:14. | :12:18. | |
hot spells are getting hotter, our cold snaps are getting colder. And | :12:19. | :12:26. | |
of course, it is getting wetter. December 2013 was the wettest on | :12:27. | :12:31. | |
record for Scotland, but not England, whereas January 2014 was | :12:32. | :12:33. | |
the wettest on record for central and southern England and twice the | :12:34. | :12:38. | |
average for that region of the UK. 2012 was an interesting year. The | :12:39. | :12:42. | |
November floods were symptomatic of a very wet November, worries or | :12:43. | :12:48. | |
twice the average November rainfall. Average rainfall has | :12:49. | :12:51. | |
increased by five sent over the last 30 years, and the highest rainfall | :12:52. | :12:57. | |
statistics keep getting broken, year-on-year. And when it is not | :12:58. | :13:02. | |
wet, it is dry, to drive. You might enjoy a bit of sunshine, but | :13:03. | :13:08. | |
sunshine can also mean drought. Between April 2010 and March 2012, | :13:09. | :13:13. | |
we saw the joint driest 24 month period on record. We saw about 75% | :13:14. | :13:17. | |
of the rainfall we should have done in that two-year period, and that | :13:18. | :13:22. | |
led to worries about the summer of 2012 and the fact that there might | :13:23. | :13:25. | |
not be water in the reservoir is. That then gave way to what became | :13:26. | :13:29. | |
the wettest summer on record, so 2012 was a year of extremes. Talking | :13:30. | :13:35. | |
of extremes, did you know that our summers are getting hotter? The | :13:36. | :13:38. | |
hottest days in summer are now two degrees warmer in many places since | :13:39. | :13:44. | |
the 1950s. And in 2011, it hit 29 Celsius. | :13:45. | :14:25. | |
was the coldest month of December. Tying it all together, what it's | :14:26. | :14:27. | |
really interesting is that we are going from one extreme to the next. | :14:28. | :14:33. | |
Four of the five wettest years in the UK have happened since the year | :14:34. | :14:38. | |
2000. We are seeing the trend towards warmer and wetter summers | :14:39. | :14:42. | |
since then, and all the indicators are pointing to the fact that the UK | :14:43. | :14:47. | |
is getting wetter over time. That is the interesting, worrying factor in | :14:48. | :14:52. | |
all of this. So is there worse to come? That is the question that we | :14:53. | :14:59. | |
will try to solve. Eric Pickles has come straight from the COBRA | :15:00. | :15:03. | |
meeting. David Cameron started and you ended up finishing it because he | :15:04. | :15:08. | |
had to leave. What were you talking about? Clearly the wind that is at | :15:09. | :15:14. | |
very high levels. Going through Wales and the Northwest. Maybe by | :15:15. | :15:19. | |
about midnight it will ease off, but of course in that time it will take | :15:20. | :15:25. | |
down power lines and take out trees. We will probably have to stop the | :15:26. | :15:28. | |
trains for a little while to avoid problems. The second thing we were | :15:29. | :15:34. | |
looking at was getting ahead of the flooding, recognising that there is | :15:35. | :15:41. | |
another bout of rain coming towards us, which will mean more flooding in | :15:42. | :15:46. | |
the Thames. We are really organising, getting round, knocking | :15:47. | :15:50. | |
on doors to try and warn people about this. Is that the conclusion, | :15:51. | :15:56. | |
just telling people? Yes, and that is the sensible thing to do. The | :15:57. | :16:00. | |
police, the army and wardens have been doing that. Next week will also | :16:01. | :16:05. | |
be difficult so what we are doing is extending a lot of the protection | :16:06. | :16:09. | |
around strategically important things, like pumping water, | :16:10. | :16:16. | |
electricity, to ensure that people's lives can go on. The last | :16:17. | :16:21. | |
thing we want to do is scaremonger of course. Within that meeting, what | :16:22. | :16:27. | |
is the feeling? Could this be the beginning of the end? No. People can | :16:28. | :16:34. | |
be assured of that. In terms of by and large our flood defences, they | :16:35. | :16:41. | |
have held. We are probably saved by them to the tune of 1.3 million | :16:42. | :16:46. | |
properties. If you are stuck in the Somerset Levels, in Chertsey, in the | :16:47. | :16:50. | |
Thames Valley, that is no comfort for you because of the flooding that | :16:51. | :16:54. | |
is affecting your properties. Particularly difficult in the Thames | :16:55. | :16:59. | |
Valley. You will probably remember from school geography lessons that | :17:00. | :17:02. | |
the Thames Valley has a lot of gravel and once it gets a lot of | :17:03. | :17:07. | |
water in, it goes below any barrier and comes up in different places. In | :17:08. | :17:14. | |
terms of getting help and working with people for the recovery, we are | :17:15. | :17:21. | |
going to be offering people up to ?5,000 when they start the process | :17:22. | :17:25. | |
of redecorating to put something in to give them more protection against | :17:26. | :17:32. | |
water. We have seen a lot of reaction to the flooding, but there | :17:33. | :17:35. | |
are lots of things that need to be done looking ahead to next year to | :17:36. | :17:39. | |
prevent this kind of thing, that goes without saying. What is | :17:40. | :17:43. | |
particularly striking about this flooding, we have had all kinds of | :17:44. | :17:47. | |
different water events. Coastal flooding, river flooding, ground | :17:48. | :17:52. | |
water flooding, and flash floods. The four horsemen of the apocalypse | :17:53. | :17:56. | |
when it comes to flooding. And this is what is quite unusual, the | :17:57. | :18:05. | |
duration of the floods. The length of time the water has been hanging | :18:06. | :18:08. | |
around. Where I do have sympathy with the Government is that this | :18:09. | :18:10. | |
makes it very tricky for them. They can't say that they can see the end | :18:11. | :18:13. | |
of the pain because it appears to be going on and on. The difficult | :18:14. | :18:16. | |
question alongside the relief effort that the Government have to tackle, | :18:17. | :18:23. | |
the questions going forward, how can we tackle it again? People have come | :18:24. | :18:30. | |
into the audience to pose questions for Eric and Tom. Alice, I was | :18:31. | :18:35. | |
horrified when I heard about your situation. Just tell Eric, Tom and | :18:36. | :18:39. | |
Shane where you are living and what your situation is. We have had flood | :18:40. | :18:45. | |
water damage since the beginning of January. We have electricity but no | :18:46. | :18:51. | |
heating. We can't flush the toilets anymore really. We are sharing at | :18:52. | :18:59. | |
our friends' houses. -- showering. We have had this before and we know | :19:00. | :19:03. | |
it will happen every year to a certain level. We are beginning to | :19:04. | :19:06. | |
redesign the house ourselves. That is your house. That is the kid's | :19:07. | :19:17. | |
play room. And you have a four -year-old and also a two -year-old. | :19:18. | :19:23. | |
What is your question to Eric? We are doing what we can to redesign | :19:24. | :19:26. | |
the house to cope with flooding in the future. We want to know what | :19:27. | :19:32. | |
help we will get for the clean-up, and what help will be get to | :19:33. | :19:38. | |
rebuild? And to stop having the water in in the future? You have | :19:39. | :19:43. | |
been through it before, by the sounds of things, and you will know | :19:44. | :19:47. | |
that it takes a long time to dry out the house. Just when the floods go, | :19:48. | :19:52. | |
that is when the jobs begin. We will be offering you some help to try and | :19:53. | :19:56. | |
make your house that little bit more secure. They did talk to me a little | :19:57. | :20:02. | |
bit about you but because I did not know your surname I was trying to | :20:03. | :20:06. | |
find things out. You have electricity back on now. We have | :20:07. | :20:12. | |
electrics but the boiler is underwater. These nice people are | :20:13. | :20:17. | |
going to give me your surname and address and we will talk to the | :20:18. | :20:21. | |
power companies on your behalf. What a terrible experience. How many kids | :20:22. | :20:27. | |
have you got? Two. They are brave and they are coping really well. I | :20:28. | :20:32. | |
am pleased to hear that. That ?5,000, it is in response to | :20:33. | :20:37. | |
cleaning things up but is it also about making houses flood proof? It | :20:38. | :20:42. | |
is exclusively about making houses more flood proof. We will be funding | :20:43. | :20:50. | |
more councils. Is it open to everybody? They will be looking to | :20:51. | :20:55. | |
the councils to help people out with the process, with hardship and the | :20:56. | :21:04. | |
like. We will find that 100%. Another question from joke from | :21:05. | :21:07. | |
Chertsey. Thank you for coming in. It is your livelihood that has been | :21:08. | :21:16. | |
affected. -- Joe from Chertsey. I have stables and the horses cannot | :21:17. | :21:20. | |
be exercised and they cannot eat any grass. We cannot access the stables. | :21:21. | :21:24. | |
Police and local people are trying to run the streets but there is | :21:25. | :21:27. | |
borderline anarchy with people disagreeing about whether they | :21:28. | :21:30. | |
should be allowed down there. Why don't we have more local police | :21:31. | :21:34. | |
policing the streets because they have been drafted in from other | :21:35. | :21:38. | |
areas and they are not familiar with us and what is going on? There will | :21:39. | :21:46. | |
also be troops from the community -- who have a community function. If | :21:47. | :21:50. | |
you give me your address afterwards, I will speak to what is called Gold | :21:51. | :21:54. | |
command, the person in charge of your area, to check that we are | :21:55. | :22:01. | |
offering help. Where are the horses? Locked up in their stables. They are | :22:02. | :22:05. | |
racehorses, for racing, and we cannot even let them out. They are | :22:06. | :22:08. | |
highly strung at the best of times. I don't know what is happening. We | :22:09. | :22:14. | |
are waiting to see that nobody seems to have any information. You don't | :22:15. | :22:20. | |
feel supported? Definitely not. In terms of the local governments, and | :22:21. | :22:25. | |
Environment Agency, they have to inform people what is going on | :22:26. | :22:33. | |
because you need some kind of information. Is that your farm? | :22:34. | :22:43. | |
Those are my stables. Go on? It is easy to show sympathy with | :22:44. | :22:46. | |
individuals in this room but where do you draw the line? Hundreds of | :22:47. | :22:50. | |
people had their homes flooded before Christmas up in the North. | :22:51. | :22:56. | |
20,000 homes were affected. They will be asking where their money is. | :22:57. | :23:03. | |
We are now drawing a line to make sure they are included. So it is | :23:04. | :23:09. | |
only this winter and not previous years? I think we can only deal with | :23:10. | :23:14. | |
the flood that we have got and it is not unreasonable to try to make sure | :23:15. | :23:19. | |
those folks are well looked after. But are you setting a precedent in | :23:20. | :23:23. | |
terms of future flooding? So we should. Is that a guarantee? Money | :23:24. | :23:30. | |
from the Government after flooding? We are trying to make people dry and | :23:31. | :23:35. | |
safe. We will be spending money on flood defences but also we will be | :23:36. | :23:41. | |
helping out businesses. We will be helping out farmers. And also with | :23:42. | :23:44. | |
someone like that, you may say it is just one person, but once they have | :23:45. | :23:47. | |
gone through the process of the flood, it is like being burgled. | :23:48. | :23:53. | |
When floodwaters go, you clean-up, but every time it rains you start to | :23:54. | :23:57. | |
worry and they need some assurance and we should not be frightened of | :23:58. | :24:03. | |
creating a precedent. There we go. Let's go live to Wraysbury in | :24:04. | :24:06. | |
Berkshire where the flood advice clinic is filling up. | :24:07. | :24:13. | |
Yes, we are in the Baptist church Hall in Wraysbury. You can tell it | :24:14. | :24:19. | |
gives Wraysbury because almost everybody is wearing waders. They | :24:20. | :24:22. | |
have had a month of absolute misery thanks to the flooding. The next | :24:23. | :24:27. | |
couple of days could make their lives even worse. Are you all | :24:28. | :24:31. | |
right, everybody? They are made of strong stuff, it turns out here, in | :24:32. | :24:36. | |
Wraysbury. Let's remind ourselves what is taking place. Then, you have | :24:37. | :24:42. | |
been working on flood relief and you are a resident. -- Ben. We sought | :24:43. | :24:56. | |
the flooding affecting the Westside of Wraysbury. We had a consultation | :24:57. | :25:03. | |
meeting to prepare ourselves for the worst. We got information back from | :25:04. | :25:07. | |
the Environment Agency and there was a lot of water coming our way in the | :25:08. | :25:13. | |
next two or three days. It was after the initial flooding, the period | :25:14. | :25:16. | |
when people would have been getting their houses back in order, bringing | :25:17. | :25:21. | |
up builders, and then the waters came back? People were refurbishing | :25:22. | :25:27. | |
their houses and then it came back, a second blow. Do you feel like you | :25:28. | :25:32. | |
have been given help and that it was spotted early enough? Not at all. | :25:33. | :25:37. | |
The only help came when Sue Burroughs made her plea on Monday | :25:38. | :25:42. | |
morning and then it came in. So you link that to the media attention | :25:43. | :25:45. | |
that Wraysbury has got and other places might not be getting? | :25:46. | :25:51. | |
Absolutely. I know that you have more sandbags filling to do. Thank | :25:52. | :25:57. | |
you for coming down. At The One Show we can provide an expert whose email | :25:58. | :26:03. | |
addresses you would not normally get. Matt Cullen from the | :26:04. | :26:07. | |
Association of British Insurers is talking about the claims after the | :26:08. | :26:14. | |
rains. And a director of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. | :26:15. | :26:18. | |
He is talking bricks and mortar, how to protect your houses and how to | :26:19. | :26:22. | |
fix them afterwards if it is too late. And Mary, a flood survival | :26:23. | :26:28. | |
expert. Flooded 12 times herself, using that experience to help other | :26:29. | :26:33. | |
people now. But the most important person, Andrew. How are you doing? | :26:34. | :26:38. | |
In the studio we have got Eric Pickles. I know you have got a | :26:39. | :26:42. | |
question for him. This is a golden opportunity to ask him something. I | :26:43. | :26:47. | |
want to know about the response time basically and what can we do to make | :26:48. | :26:51. | |
sure it does not happen again? More importantly, we need to know what we | :26:52. | :26:56. | |
as a community can do so this does not happen again. You want to know | :26:57. | :27:02. | |
what you can do so you are taking responsibility yourself? Tell us | :27:03. | :27:17. | |
what we can do to protect ourselves? We want to know because it can't | :27:18. | :27:19. | |
happen again like this. There you go, that is the question. Most of | :27:20. | :27:23. | |
the flooding there is coming from ground water, so we cannot put in | :27:24. | :27:27. | |
sandbags to prevent it. What we have to look at individually is making | :27:28. | :27:32. | |
people's homes as sustainable as we can. Quite a lot of that water that | :27:33. | :27:36. | |
we are seeing is coming up through people's floorboards. Generally the | :27:37. | :27:42. | |
water table there is completely saturated. So in answer to that | :27:43. | :27:47. | |
question, what can they do? A lot of troops right now are building up | :27:48. | :27:54. | |
sandbags. We are doing our best to try and mitigate the flooding. But | :27:55. | :28:01. | |
ultimately we are going to have to look at the security of particular | :28:02. | :28:09. | |
houses. Go on. Let's look into the future now and look ahead. We have | :28:10. | :28:12. | |
had this scenario over three months. If we get the same whether next | :28:13. | :28:17. | |
year, what will be done from after the clean-up to the beginning of | :28:18. | :28:20. | |
next year to try and help this situation? Just to understand how | :28:21. | :28:27. | |
difficult it has been, most of the flood defences have held, which is | :28:28. | :28:32. | |
great. We do have an agreed programme in which we are going to | :28:33. | :28:39. | |
improve them. In the short term, we are looking at helping farmers, | :28:40. | :28:43. | |
businesses, individuals that have suffered from the flooding. But | :28:44. | :28:51. | |
experts tell us this kind of level of flooding is exception of -- | :28:52. | :28:58. | |
exceptional but we do have to plan for it for the future. This will | :28:59. | :29:03. | |
cost an incredible amount of money. Some viewers have been asking | :29:04. | :29:07. | |
questions. Would you consider giving up HS2 to give that money to flood | :29:08. | :29:15. | |
defences? It is not a binary choice. We can put in flood defences and | :29:16. | :29:20. | |
have HS2. There is such a lack of capacity on that line. If we didn't | :29:21. | :29:25. | |
do that, we would be condemning people travelling in the North West | :29:26. | :29:32. | |
two decades of misery. Tom, how much would we have to spend? We currently | :29:33. | :29:37. | |
spend 615 million and the government has added 132 that in response to | :29:38. | :29:42. | |
the current floods. A report says we have to raise that to at least one | :29:43. | :29:46. | |
early in a year to maintain the current level of defence. The | :29:47. | :29:49. | |
current level does not appear to be adequate, so it looks like it should | :29:50. | :29:54. | |
be more than that. We are going to step up the pace. The prime minister | :29:55. | :29:58. | |
is determined that we are going to do what we can. We have got to | :29:59. | :30:05. | |
concentrate on the recovery, but in the long-term, we have a plan of | :30:06. | :30:11. | |
increasing the amount of money we are spending on flood defences. But | :30:12. | :30:15. | |
we will not be able to make it per assessment from the Somerset Levels | :30:16. | :30:19. | |
across the Thames Valley until the water has subsided a bit more. | :30:20. | :30:26. | |
Hopefully, as we move towards the end of February, we will get a | :30:27. | :30:31. | |
normal winter weather. It will be wet but not as bad as this. Eric, we | :30:32. | :30:37. | |
know you have to go, so we . You there, but thank you for joining us. | :30:38. | :30:44. | |
-- we will leave things there. Time to test our reflex is now and take a | :30:45. | :30:52. | |
break from the bad weather. Let's see if you can recognise this voice. | :30:53. | :31:00. | |
Here comes that Mallett. He will need to make a fast recovery. | :31:01. | :31:08. | |
Michael's turn now, that mallet hurtling towards its target like a | :31:09. | :31:11. | |
heat-seeking missile. Come on, Michael! I don't believe it! He has | :31:12. | :31:19. | |
missed two. And Jason has seized his moment. Smashing! He has done it. If | :31:20. | :31:30. | |
you love your slow-mos, this is the show for you. If you are TV geek and | :31:31. | :31:35. | |
if you love slow-mo, Saturday night. It has been on for three | :31:36. | :31:40. | |
weeks and then it had a break for the rug day. -- rugby. If people | :31:41. | :31:45. | |
have not caught it, give us a synopsis. It is just bonkers. It is | :31:46. | :31:57. | |
a game show about people's quick responses and their mental and | :31:58. | :32:00. | |
physical agility and how quick their reflexes are. More importantly, the | :32:01. | :32:05. | |
cameras that catch their reflexes on screen, it is incredible. I am often | :32:06. | :32:09. | |
seeing it on TV for the first time, because I don't get to see it when I | :32:10. | :32:13. | |
am presenting it. And Ken Bruce doing the voice-over is very funny. | :32:14. | :32:17. | |
When the games are played in real-time, you can hardly see it. It | :32:18. | :32:22. | |
is just second. But the joy of it is that if you are competitive, you | :32:23. | :32:26. | |
want to do well, but you are not necessarily competing against the | :32:27. | :32:30. | |
other person. You are desperate to make sure your reflex are first. | :32:31. | :32:34. | |
Some of the games are very simple, whether it is try to catch a | :32:35. | :32:37. | |
ping-pong ball or throwing a pot of paint! I bet that is fun. There is | :32:38. | :32:47. | |
another one where we sit on giant balloons and they explode. Watching | :32:48. | :32:53. | |
them on the day is funny in itself, but watching it back in slow-mo | :32:54. | :32:57. | |
makes it a totally different show. The teams play in families. How | :32:58. | :33:02. | |
would your family do? Are you competitive? No. My wife is very | :33:03. | :33:09. | |
competitive. Seriously, to the point where I have to get her in a head | :33:10. | :33:13. | |
lock to hold her down occasionally. She loves watching the show, and she | :33:14. | :33:18. | |
is forever shouting at the TV. My children are competitive as well. | :33:19. | :33:21. | |
One of the episodes coming up, we have got Austin Healey against Iwan. | :33:22. | :33:29. | |
Watching two sportsmen, these guys are so competitive by nature. We | :33:30. | :33:36. | |
should do a One Show version. Or EastEnders versus Corrie. Speaking | :33:37. | :33:42. | |
of EastEnders, which do you prefer? Is it acting or do you like doing | :33:43. | :33:46. | |
this type of stuff? I am first and foremost an actor, that is my | :33:47. | :33:52. | |
passion. But back in the day in the 80s, when I was out of work as an | :33:53. | :33:55. | |
actor, I got sidetracked into hosting game shows and doing the big | :33:56. | :34:00. | |
TV Saturday night shows, whether it was the key numbers or win, lose or | :34:01. | :34:04. | |
draw or the Shane Richie experience. But that was because I was out of | :34:05. | :34:08. | |
work as an actor. Thankfully, I am not out of work as an actor at the | :34:09. | :34:13. | |
moment. But EastEnders were kind enough to let me do this. You are | :34:14. | :34:17. | |
early and for an audience. We came to see you doing panto, and have | :34:18. | :34:22. | |
such a ball. We often played clips of people's early parts of their | :34:23. | :34:28. | |
career and it is quite amusing. This one takes the biscuit! | :34:29. | :34:39. | |
Here we go! Here we go! | :34:40. | :34:42. | |
got to keep on dancing. got to keep on dancing. | :34:43. | :34:47. | |
playing. playing. | :34:48. | :34:53. | |
the passion. the passion. | :34:54. | :35:03. | |
# Just walking through the door. Oh, that hurts! I loved your hair. | :35:04. | :35:13. | |
My mullet. I was what, 21? That was a Saturday night special. And it was | :35:14. | :35:23. | |
rubbish! No, it wasn't! I was a big fan at the time of David Bowie. I | :35:24. | :35:27. | |
think Wham or just starting. The only place you could do stand-up | :35:28. | :35:35. | |
comedy was on shows like that. I never wanted to be a singer, but | :35:36. | :35:38. | |
they said, always come on with a song. Get on with the song! So short | :35:39. | :35:43. | |
of having a load of dancers doing pom-poms around me, that was it. | :35:44. | :35:49. | |
There were only three channels then. To see Shane's new game show, | :35:50. | :35:55. | |
Reflex, it is on BBC One on Saturdays at 5:15pm. In the first | :35:56. | :35:58. | |
half of the show, we saw how badly affected you have been by the | :35:59. | :36:03. | |
floods. Still to come, we look more into the future and ask how and if | :36:04. | :36:10. | |
we can flood-proof Britain. Here is Lucy, looking at the size of the | :36:11. | :36:13. | |
task ahead. Flood defences in the UK have never | :36:14. | :36:17. | |
been so important, and our most well-known flood defender is the | :36:18. | :36:24. | |
Thames Barrier. What does the barrier actually do? What is it | :36:25. | :36:28. | |
doing now? At the moment, the barrier is open, so it is letting | :36:29. | :36:33. | |
the water from the Thames run out to the sea. At the next high tide this | :36:34. | :36:38. | |
evening, the flood barrier will, and stop the sea water coming up the | :36:39. | :36:44. | |
Thames. Without the Thames Barrier, floodwater travelling downstream | :36:45. | :36:47. | |
would meet the tidal surge going the opposite way and could cause much | :36:48. | :36:53. | |
greater flooding. If that happened, the sea water and the floodwater | :36:54. | :36:58. | |
would meet and cause a temporary peak, and that would increase the | :36:59. | :37:01. | |
flood risk in places like Teddington. Since it opened in | :37:02. | :37:04. | |
biting 82, the barrier has had to close around 150 times. But one | :37:05. | :37:09. | |
fifth of those has happened in the last few months, which illustrates | :37:10. | :37:14. | |
how bad the conditions we are currently experiencing are. Does | :37:15. | :37:17. | |
this mean London is completely safe from flooding? You can never say | :37:18. | :37:25. | |
never. But this offer is about a one in 1000 year protection for the | :37:26. | :37:29. | |
people of London. Everybody will be demanding this level of protection, | :37:30. | :37:35. | |
won't they? We in the Environment Agency work extremely hard to ensure | :37:36. | :37:39. | |
that every pound we spend delivers the maximum benefit in terms of | :37:40. | :37:45. | |
people protected, people's lives and properties protected and people's | :37:46. | :37:50. | |
businesses protected. But the events of the last few weeks have reminded | :37:51. | :37:56. | |
us how destructive water can be. So is the answer to spend more money on | :37:57. | :38:00. | |
defences, or do we just have to accept that whatever we do, flooding | :38:01. | :38:05. | |
is going to happen? Professor Richard Ashley is a civil engineer | :38:06. | :38:09. | |
who believes the UK has the know-how to cope with the floods. The UK is | :38:10. | :38:16. | |
actually leading globally on floods. We know how to do it. What is | :38:17. | :38:21. | |
holding us up is a lack of a goodwill. The Environment Agency | :38:22. | :38:24. | |
have a backlog of schemes, all shown to have high benefit cost ratios, | :38:25. | :38:29. | |
which are not being funded. If we had an infinite supply of money, | :38:30. | :38:36. | |
could we hold back the water? We could go the way the Dutch have | :38:37. | :38:41. | |
gone. They are investing 1 billion euros a year in 10,000 year | :38:42. | :38:46. | |
protection schemes. Some of the most valuable land in towns and urban | :38:47. | :38:53. | |
areas is actually on flood plains. It is perfectly possible to build on | :38:54. | :38:58. | |
a flood plain. In Hamburg, there is a whole district which is being | :38:59. | :39:05. | |
built to flood regularly. Yet it is a major commercial district. We can | :39:06. | :39:11. | |
do it. It is not cheap. In terms of investment, where are we now and | :39:12. | :39:14. | |
where do we need to be? We suggested that you would need to spend ?1 | :39:15. | :39:17. | |
billion a year to keep pace with climate change. We are nowhere near | :39:18. | :39:22. | |
that level. We are below half ?1 billion a year. And falling. We need | :39:23. | :39:28. | |
to implement adaptation to climate change measures across the board, | :39:29. | :39:32. | |
not just in the flooding area. But politicians find this too difficult | :39:33. | :39:38. | |
to do. It is to long-term thinking, not the year and now. The issues are | :39:39. | :39:42. | |
not technical, they are political and economic. We will speak to Lucy | :39:43. | :39:53. | |
later. So it needs to be raised to 1 billion. Eric Pickles was a bit | :39:54. | :39:58. | |
cagey on that. We will see. Anyway, Iwan is in Bewdley in | :39:59. | :40:01. | |
Worcestershire, a town which has the defences that other parts of the | :40:02. | :40:08. | |
country are clamouring for. Yes, what a week of whether we have had. | :40:09. | :40:12. | |
At the weekend, I was in Cornwall, chasing storms. It feels like the | :40:13. | :40:17. | |
water is chasing me. This is the River Severn, the largest river in | :40:18. | :40:21. | |
the UK, but in 2007, it burst its banks, it was disastrous. The M5was | :40:22. | :40:31. | |
closed. The danger is tonight that just down the road, 18 miles away in | :40:32. | :40:37. | |
Worcester, the water levels are up to five .65 metres. The Environment | :40:38. | :40:44. | |
Agency are warning that it could peak tomorrow at about five .18 | :40:45. | :40:49. | |
metres. This is a beautiful town and everyone has come out. Everyone | :40:50. | :40:53. | |
thinks they will stay dry, but will they? John Champion, local | :40:54. | :40:58. | |
councillor. This barrier looks simple to me, but it is going to | :40:59. | :41:04. | |
save the town? Absolutely. It is a complex system that looks simple, | :41:05. | :41:08. | |
but does the job effectively. You can see the barrier is the whole | :41:09. | :41:11. | |
length of the quayside tonight, keeping hundreds of houses drive. | :41:12. | :41:16. | |
You must be slightly concerned, though. It is worse than in 2007, | :41:17. | :41:20. | |
and I think it will be higher tomorrow. Obviously, we are planning | :41:21. | :41:26. | |
for all scenarios, but we are confident so far that the barriers | :41:27. | :41:30. | |
should keep the town dry. We will keep checking local media. I was | :41:31. | :41:36. | |
chatting to a lady who said she has been here for 45 years. She said | :41:37. | :41:40. | |
before the barriers, swans used to be swimming up the road. So they are | :41:41. | :41:45. | |
doing their job at the moment, but is it money well spent? Absolutely. | :41:46. | :41:50. | |
Tonight on Bob properties that should have water in them are bone | :41:51. | :41:55. | |
dry because of the barriers. It is money well invested. We are seeing | :41:56. | :41:59. | |
the town open for business tonight. People are using the shops and | :42:00. | :42:01. | |
restaurants that would otherwise have been closed. It is vital for a | :42:02. | :42:06. | |
town like this that the barriers are doing their job. So you feel lucky | :42:07. | :42:11. | |
you have got this system in place, because other places are not so | :42:12. | :42:16. | |
lucky. Absolutely. They are working as they should. Everyone I have met | :42:17. | :42:21. | |
tonight has been delightful. It is a beautiful place. I hope you stay | :42:22. | :42:27. | |
dry. Back to a very warm London. Usually seem to have it sussed. This | :42:28. | :42:32. | |
time next year, we might see more of those. Time now to go to Marty's | :42:33. | :42:37. | |
city of Leeds were new technologies planned to protect the city. For | :42:38. | :42:41. | |
some areas of Britain, January 2014 has been the wettest since records | :42:42. | :42:45. | |
began. Parts of the UK are suffering | :42:46. | :42:48. | |
unbelievable damage, and there is a clear need for a national debate on | :42:49. | :42:54. | |
flood warning and preparation. So, technology is being put into place | :42:55. | :42:58. | |
to help addicts when and where floods may happen. Hopefully, | :42:59. | :43:04. | |
prevent some in the future. In my home city of Leeds, there have been | :43:05. | :43:09. | |
several major flood alerts in recent years. Adrian Gill is in charge of | :43:10. | :43:15. | |
flood management. Here we have got a photograph taken from where we are | :43:16. | :43:21. | |
standing in 2007 when we were within centimetres of water causing | :43:22. | :43:25. | |
widespread disruption to the city centre and damage to property. This | :43:26. | :43:29. | |
would have been catastrophic for the centre of Leeds, so the city is | :43:30. | :43:35. | |
investing in major flood fences. The Environment Agency have designed a | :43:36. | :43:40. | |
high-tech boat to find out what is happening in the River and exactly | :43:41. | :43:44. | |
where the potential overflow points might be. Adrian, it is a lovely | :43:45. | :43:50. | |
remote-controlled boat, but why is this a clever piece of technology? | :43:51. | :43:57. | |
Firstly, we have a GPS unit on the top which tells us where the boat is | :43:58. | :44:02. | |
on the river. It also has an acoustic device which sends sonar | :44:03. | :44:04. | |
pulses down to the river bed, which measures the depth of the water and | :44:05. | :44:08. | |
the velocity the water is travelling at. In the last few months, they | :44:09. | :44:12. | |
have developed new software that allows them to make a 3-D map of the | :44:13. | :44:17. | |
river channel. Here we have dark blue areas, which are the deep areas | :44:18. | :44:22. | |
of the river. And the red areas are the shallow areas. It is knowing | :44:23. | :44:31. | |
where the shallow areas are that help the team pinpoint bottlenecks, | :44:32. | :44:33. | |
causing flooding when there is a huge surge of rainfall. With this | :44:34. | :44:39. | |
information, they can come up with specific flood prevention plans. We | :44:40. | :44:44. | |
are doing a number of things in the centre of Leeds. Raising walls, | :44:45. | :44:49. | |
building new walls. It will be the first sitting in Britain to use | :44:50. | :44:58. | |
adjustable weirs. We will be replacing two existing ones with two | :44:59. | :45:03. | |
movable ones that can be lowered as the rivers rise. They can be dropped | :45:04. | :45:06. | |
by one metre which will radically reduce the risk of flooding. Key to | :45:07. | :45:12. | |
all this defence is having sufficient warning as to when the | :45:13. | :45:16. | |
rain is coming. The Met Office used to rely on dedicated human weather | :45:17. | :45:20. | |
spotters, but North Yorkshire is home to the finest station in a | :45:21. | :45:25. | |
network of rainfall radar is home to the finest station in a network of | :45:26. | :45:27. | |
rainfall radars, providing more precise rain data. Inside the dome | :45:28. | :45:34. | |
we have a weather radar which is spinning around, sending out | :45:35. | :45:38. | |
microwave radiation all the way around 360 degrees. The idea is that | :45:39. | :45:44. | |
it picks up rain drops when they fall out of the clouds. The | :45:45. | :45:50. | |
technology is so precise that it can detect tiny drops 100 miles away. | :45:51. | :45:59. | |
Less than a millimetre. The particle size is so small that it does not | :46:00. | :46:03. | |
make a splash when it hits the puddles. It can predict exactly | :46:04. | :46:08. | |
where the rain is coming from and when. That yellow colouring is heavy | :46:09. | :46:13. | |
rain and it is coming our way. How long will it take before it gets to | :46:14. | :46:20. | |
us? At that speed, in the next hour. And how much? Maybe two millimetres. | :46:21. | :46:26. | |
With a prediction like that, we have to put it to the test. With fierce | :46:27. | :46:39. | |
winds blowing, the accuracy of the rainfall measurement will be | :46:40. | :46:40. | |
compromised but the timing should not be affected. Within an hour, the | :46:41. | :46:43. | |
rain rolls in. OK, about one millimetre. You said about two. It | :46:44. | :46:46. | |
demonstrates that we can time the arrival of the rainfall and be | :46:47. | :46:50. | |
pretty sure how heavy it will be. It is coming down much harder now. | :46:51. | :46:56. | |
Let's go back! With the extra rain, Kevin's prediction proves to be spot | :46:57. | :47:00. | |
on, but as current events have proved, it will take more than | :47:01. | :47:03. | |
ground-breaking technology to make the flood seems today a thing of the | :47:04. | :47:10. | |
past. Lucy has joined us now with Jaap | :47:11. | :47:13. | |
Flikweert who advises on flood defences and coastal erosion | :47:14. | :47:19. | |
management. How much, in terms of what we spend in the UK on flood | :47:20. | :47:24. | |
defences, how does that compare to the Netherlands? It is about half | :47:25. | :47:28. | |
compared to what we spend in the Netherlands. It is a very different | :47:29. | :47:33. | |
situation of course. Hear about one sixth of the country is at risk and | :47:34. | :47:36. | |
in the Netherlands, it is two thirds, the four main cities, so it | :47:37. | :47:41. | |
is vital to the nation to sort it out. We did not expect this much | :47:42. | :47:53. | |
rain, that is fair to say, but when you see the situation over here, do | :47:54. | :47:56. | |
you think, goodness me, they are in real trouble? It is not that simple. | :47:57. | :48:01. | |
The priorities are different. Once I had been here for a few years, I | :48:02. | :48:07. | |
realised it was more a question of political priorities rather than the | :48:08. | :48:10. | |
single national priority of stopping flooding. It is a national decision | :48:11. | :48:18. | |
of how much to spend on it. You are nodding in agreement. The difference | :48:19. | :48:22. | |
between Holland and here, apart from the geography, or perhaps because of | :48:23. | :48:27. | |
the geography, keeping out the water is what being Dutch is, if you will | :48:28. | :48:31. | |
forgive me. It is easy for politicians to make it a priority if | :48:32. | :48:35. | |
two thirds of your land is below sea level. By god it has to be a | :48:36. | :48:39. | |
priority. We spent half, but we have a bigger country to defend and more | :48:40. | :48:45. | |
population. The amount that we do spend is a lot less per area or per | :48:46. | :48:53. | |
person. There are actually about the same number of people at risk. With | :48:54. | :48:59. | |
more rain predicted, people will be worried about being flooded. Lots of | :49:00. | :49:03. | |
people have learned the hard way but what advice can you give? The first | :49:04. | :49:08. | |
thing to say is that you have to take a lot of care. But water is | :49:09. | :49:12. | |
horrible. Sewage, animal waste, contamination. It make sure you are | :49:13. | :49:18. | |
wearing protective clothing, watch your step, look for manholes, sharp | :49:19. | :49:22. | |
objects. Don't have anything to do with electrics in flood water. It | :49:23. | :49:26. | |
sounds obvious but it is important to stress these things. People are | :49:27. | :49:30. | |
in positions that they have not been in before. If you are insured, you | :49:31. | :49:34. | |
need to contact your insurance company and make an appointment with | :49:35. | :49:40. | |
your loss adjuster. That is absolutely fundamental. What else | :49:41. | :49:44. | |
should you make sure you do in terms of insurance to make sure you can | :49:45. | :49:57. | |
claim for as much as possible? It is so difficult but keep hold of all | :49:58. | :49:59. | |
correspondents. I know letters might have washed away, but keep hold of | :50:00. | :50:01. | |
everything, including receipts. Do something practical. Take a | :50:02. | :50:03. | |
permanent marker and mark on the wall of a room that has been flooded | :50:04. | :50:06. | |
where the highest watermark is, in all of the rings, not just one. This | :50:07. | :50:14. | |
is just making sure your claim is valid. David asks why we don't build | :50:15. | :50:23. | |
houses to a three tyre with a gap underneath -- two or three feet | :50:24. | :50:33. | |
higher? Instead of getting the water away, we could build houses in a way | :50:34. | :50:40. | |
that they don't get destroyed. That is what we see historically in | :50:41. | :50:44. | |
Queensland and New Orleans, houses on stilts. They are still doing | :50:45. | :50:49. | |
that. They are good ideas. Thank you. Please stick around. Tonight we | :50:50. | :50:54. | |
are asking you to nominate people who have acted beyond the call of | :50:55. | :50:58. | |
duty in bad weather and have put other people's needs before their | :50:59. | :51:02. | |
own. 100 years ago in Winchester, another town where people are | :51:03. | :51:06. | |
crossing their fingers as water levels rise tonight, one man's | :51:07. | :51:10. | |
efforts were so heroic that he saved the city's Cathedral. Ever been | :51:11. | :51:18. | |
swimming in a cathedral? Here in Winchester, it is a real | :51:19. | :51:23. | |
possibility. This is the crypt, the lowest part of the cathedral. Today | :51:24. | :51:28. | |
it is flooded. The crypt floods because the cathedral is built on | :51:29. | :51:33. | |
land with a high water table. At the turn of the 20th century, the | :51:34. | :51:37. | |
building developed large cracks and was in real danger of collapse. It | :51:38. | :51:45. | |
needed underpinning with new foundations. The work began in | :51:46. | :51:50. | |
1906. It would take six years and a Herculean effort by one man. And he | :51:51. | :51:55. | |
was a deep sea diver. And this is the man himself. He is called | :51:56. | :52:00. | |
William Walker and he saved this crumbling cathedral almost | :52:01. | :52:04. | |
single-handedly with one of the most remarkable feats of diving ever | :52:05. | :52:09. | |
achieved. The cathedral is built on a layer of peat. Over the ages, it | :52:10. | :52:14. | |
had compressed. It was what lay beneath it that caused the problem. | :52:15. | :52:19. | |
Every time they got down and dug through it, up the water would | :52:20. | :52:25. | |
bubble. Why didn't they pump it out? The water is bubbling up, dragging | :52:26. | :52:29. | |
with its solid material, so there is a very great fear that the | :52:30. | :52:32. | |
subsidence will be increased by the pumping activity. The engineer in | :52:33. | :52:38. | |
charge, Frances Fox, had an ingenious idea. William Walker, a | :52:39. | :52:44. | |
diver for the Navy at Portsmouth dockyard, was recruited to work | :52:45. | :52:50. | |
under water, manhandling bags of cement in specially dug trenches. | :52:51. | :52:55. | |
Working entirely by feel, he would lay the cement bags at the bottom of | :52:56. | :52:59. | |
the Trent, get out his diving knife and cut them open. -- the trench. He | :53:00. | :53:06. | |
was working in a soup of cement, extremely nasty if you are working | :53:07. | :53:11. | |
with your bare hands. Civilly created this field so they could | :53:12. | :53:15. | |
safely pump out the water and then build the new foundations? -- so he | :53:16. | :53:28. | |
created a seal? Yes, he worked six days a week and hardly had a | :53:29. | :53:33. | |
holiday. One of the great stories of engineering. There were 26,000 bags | :53:34. | :53:40. | |
of cement. The work allowed them to underpin the foundations of the | :53:41. | :53:42. | |
cathedral and keep it standing until today. The Historical Diving Society | :53:43. | :53:49. | |
has an exact replica of the suit. Wearing it gives me some insight | :53:50. | :53:56. | |
into his achievement. And this is exactly what he would have one? It | :53:57. | :54:01. | |
has not changed. The design goes back to the 1840s. It weighs 190 | :54:02. | :54:12. | |
pounds. That is more than me! Walker would have had a dedicated dresser | :54:13. | :54:17. | |
to help put it on. And a pair of men to pump air into his helmet. This | :54:18. | :54:23. | |
weighs a tonne. The helmet normally presses down on the chest, but it | :54:24. | :54:27. | |
pushes your whole body forward so your back and neck are aching. It is | :54:28. | :54:34. | |
about to get heavier. The weight, including lead boots and heavy brass | :54:35. | :54:38. | |
plates, was required to keep him anchored underwater. | :54:39. | :54:43. | |
These are just the tasks that Walker would have done, picking up sandbags | :54:44. | :55:01. | |
and moving them, slowly, day after day, year after year, to build the | :55:02. | :55:07. | |
foundations that saved the cathedral. This is brilliant. I am | :55:08. | :55:13. | |
really enjoying myself. Wearing a replica of the suit has given me a | :55:14. | :55:16. | |
small taste of the huge efforts he made in the mud filled trenches | :55:17. | :55:21. | |
under Winchester Cathedral. Underwater, it is so much more | :55:22. | :55:26. | |
comfortable. It is very different doing it in a warm swimming pool for | :55:27. | :55:30. | |
ten minutes and it is doing it in cold, deep, dark waters every day, | :55:31. | :55:39. | |
twice a day for years and years. What a hero. Thank you. Now it is | :55:40. | :55:44. | |
time to go back to Wraysbury. How are things? | :55:45. | :55:50. | |
I have something to show you. This is someone's kitchen door, UPVC. You | :55:51. | :55:56. | |
can see the water is halfway up and squirting through the keyhole. That | :55:57. | :56:02. | |
is what life is like for a lot of residents in Wraysbury and some of | :56:03. | :56:06. | |
them have come to talk to our Flood Forum and get some advice. We are | :56:07. | :56:14. | |
going to talk to Matt. Can you give an idea of the questions people are | :56:15. | :56:18. | |
asking? I am giving advice on what to do if you have flooded. People | :56:19. | :56:23. | |
pay insurance premiums for this kind of event. Are they trusting | :56:24. | :56:30. | |
insurers? I am getting good feedback overall. People have learned lessons | :56:31. | :56:34. | |
since 2007 when the response may not have been as good as it is now. Gary | :56:35. | :56:41. | |
is from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. What is it that | :56:42. | :56:46. | |
people have been asking you? Mostly structural problems, what to do when | :56:47. | :56:51. | |
they have been flooded, resilience measures to resist flooding in the | :56:52. | :56:56. | |
future. We have free consumer advice available on our website and also | :56:57. | :57:00. | |
specialist surveyors like myself can come and look at the property and | :57:01. | :57:02. | |
specialist surveyors like myself can come and look at the property and | :57:03. | :57:06. | |
give future advice. Lovely. Good work. Mary, you have been through it | :57:07. | :57:11. | |
and you have got the T-shirt. You know what these people are going | :57:12. | :57:14. | |
through plus a bit more. What are they asking you? Really it is how to | :57:15. | :57:19. | |
move forward from this and my advice is don't point the finger of blame. | :57:20. | :57:25. | |
It is nobody's fault. We have to deal with this, move forward and | :57:26. | :57:28. | |
work in partnership to make sure it does not happen again, and work | :57:29. | :57:32. | |
together in harmony. Really important. Terrific, thank you. A | :57:33. | :57:38. | |
very positive note to finish on. The people of Wraysbury really need that | :57:39. | :57:43. | |
right now, quite frankly. More weather coming and it could get | :57:44. | :57:47. | |
worse before it gets better. I can't believe the picture of those | :57:48. | :57:51. | |
people's back door with what all the way up. Just awful. -- water all the | :57:52. | :58:01. | |
way up. I have been a weather forecaster for 24 years and I have | :58:02. | :58:06. | |
never seen a spell like this. There are lots of heroes out there. Brad | :58:07. | :58:11. | |
from Eton was helping evacuate members of the public in Wraysbury. | :58:12. | :58:19. | |
The North Somerset Young Farmers Club. They are collecting hay bales. | :58:20. | :58:29. | |
An Essex Young Farmers, it is incredible what they are doing as | :58:30. | :58:36. | |
well. And this is Sarah's daughter trying to organise food for the hard | :58:37. | :58:41. | |
workers. And Flood heroes in Taunton, the drop-off centre, | :58:42. | :58:45. | |
behind-the-scenes, sent in by Vicky Smith. A very big thank you to | :58:46. | :58:51. | |
everyone who got in contact tonight. Very sorry if we could not | :58:52. | :58:55. | |
answer your questions, we did not expect Eric Pickles to leave so | :58:56. | :58:59. | |
soon. Thank you for joining us and it has been difficult to answer all | :59:00. | :59:03. | |
the questions. Difficult for you across the country as well and our | :59:04. | :59:07. | |
thoughts are with you. More on Newsnight tonight with Jeremy | :59:08. | :59:13. | |
Paxman, presenting a live show from Hull. That is news to me! I have | :59:14. | :59:21. | |
just read it. Thank you to Shane and tomorrow Timothy small will be here | :59:22. | :59:25. | |
from seven o'clock as usual. -- Timothy Spall. Good night. | :59:26. | :59:31. | |
Hello, I'm Ellie Crisell with your 90 second update. | :59:32. | :59:34. | |
Britain takes another battering. Hurricane force winds are hammering | :59:35. | :59:38. | |
Wales and Northwest England. It has disrupted road and rail links and | :59:39. | :59:41. | |
brought down power lines. A month's rain could fall in two days. Your | :59:42. | :59:46. | |
local forecast coming up. Joanna Dennehy admitted killing | :59:47. | :59:47. | |
three men. Today, | :59:48. | :59:49. |