Flooding Fierce Earth


Flooding

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Today on Fierce Earth, we look at the awesome power of flooding

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and find out what happens when it rains too much

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and water suddenly becomes our enemy.

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It can play havoc with people's lives.

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I had no idea that water could do so much damage.

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It was something I would never want to go through again.

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A tiny amount can sweep you off your feet.

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It's the force of the water,

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you're fighting for your life in no time.

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And we discover new technology that can save your life.

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The Fierce Earth team investigate why floods occur,

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and learn how best to survive them.

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What happens when the ground shakes, the seas rise up,

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and the air tears itself apart?

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The Fierce Earth team move in,

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taking on the most powerful forces on the planet.

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Get ready for Fierce Earth - the Earth and how to survive it.

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Water is one of nature's most important gifts.

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It covers more than 70% of the Earth

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and is vital to all forms of life.

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Rainwater plays a big role in the Earth's weather system.

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Most importantly for humans and animals,

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rain provides water to drink.

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But when there is too much water,

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or a lot of water in the wrong place, it can cause flooding.

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Have you ever watered a plant?

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A little water will soak the soil,

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too much and it will rise out and over the top.

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The soil in this pot is like our Earth.

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It can soak up a little bit of water, but it cannot hold too much.

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When it rains really heavily,

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there is only one place for the water to go, up and out.

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Well, that's what happens in a flood.

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And there has never been more flooding around than at the moment.

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2012 was one of England's wettest, most soggiest years on record.

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This is set to be the wettest April in 100 years.

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The torrential rain caused chaos

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and flooding across some parts of the country.

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Leading to almost 8,000 properties being flooded.

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Railway lines were closed leaving people with no way to get home.

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'Thousands of rail passengers were left stranded,

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'every single river in this county is now on flood alert.'

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Flooding has never been more of an issue,

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but what is it actually caused by?

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There are a few different types of flooding.

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One is river flooding.

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When a river can't cope with the amount of rainfall

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and it overflows, spilling out onto the land.

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Surface or flash flooding happens when there is heavy rainfall

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in a short amount of time and the land cannot hold any more water.

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This type of flooding also happens in towns or cities

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when drainage systems overflow.

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So what's it like to be caught in a flash flood?

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I have been told that as little as 25 centimetres of water is enough

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to knock you off your feet.

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But normally that amount of still water only reaches up to

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an adult's knee, and it's possible to walk through.

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The problem is not the amount of water,

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it's the speed it travels.

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When it's fast-flowing water, it can become super-powerful

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and may be deadly.

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My Fierce Earth challenge today is to experience what it's like to

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be caught in a flash flood.

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And to see if just 25 centimetres of fast-flowing water

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can knock me off my feet.

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I know all about life on the edge.

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I've climbed to the top of the world's highest mountain.

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Frozen in the Antarctic.

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And parachuted off the planet's biggest cliffs.

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What I'm about to do is very dangerous.

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On hand is one of the UK's leading flood safety trainers.

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I have been doing swift water rescue training

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for the last seven years full-time.

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Leo has definitely been thrown in at the deep end today.

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Any tips you can give me?

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If you can put one foot forward, and lean into the flow,

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that's going to give you an advantage.

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Then think about trying to minimise your surface area.

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So there's less area for the water to push on?

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The important thing is once you get washed away,

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not to try and stand up.

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What you want to be doing is rolling onto your back,

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feet downstream and try to remain as calm as possible.

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Easier said than done.

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And it's all about, it's just about trying to control yourself really.

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Controlling your breathing and trying to stay calm

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as well as controlling your body position in the water.

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-Try not to drink too much of the river.

-Yeah, top tip.

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'Sounds straightforward, but I'm still scared.

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'Good job I'm wearing a fully protected dry suit

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'and safety helmet and there are five emergency trained

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'experts on hand to pull me out of the water if anything goes wrong.'

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OK, release the water on the long course.

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Release the hounds! Agh!

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It's not too bad right now, but I can see it coming. Look at that.

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That's starting to feel heavy, it feels like you've got lead boots on.

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My heart is really beating fast. It's quite intense.

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'I am well out of my comfort zone here,

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'and I'm about to get out of my depth.'

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It's not even at my knees yet and I can barely stand up.

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Oh, my goodness, look at that. I'm going. I'm going.

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I can't stand up any more!

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I can't...

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'I managed to face the power of the fast flowing water

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'for one minute, 29 seconds.

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'And the level reached up to just below my knee,

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'roughly 25 centimetres.

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'I've just felt the equivalent force

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'of 90 buses hitting me at once, it was full on.

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'The power of this rushing water is sweeping me down the river.

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'If this is a pretend experience, it's scary enough.

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'I can't imagine what it would be like for real.

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'Any minute now I could hit floating debris

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'and, as advised, I am travelling on my back and I'm powerless.

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'It's just me versus the water.'

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Oh, my goodness.

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Quite tiring.

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It is not the depth, it's the force of the water and you just,

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you're fighting for your life in no time.

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'That was scary.

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'I've taken on the power of water.

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'It knocked me off my feet in one minute 29 seconds.

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'The water that hit me every second weighed 14 tonnes.

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'That's the equivalent weight of about 90 double-decker buses.

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'On this occasion the water won.

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It's dangerous, you need to treat it with respect

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and try and stay out of the way.

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In this controlled exercise, Leo fell victim

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to the extreme power of water

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and found out how easy it is to be washed away by its mighty force.

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So floods can be seriously dangerous, but because they destroy

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and damage so much, they can also be very expensive.

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The top three most costly floods to hit the UK are:

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In third position, in 2012 the UK

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had one of its wettest summers ever.

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Over 1,000 flood alerts were issued.

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Filthy water ruined more than 8,000 homes.

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The cost is £400 million and counting.

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In second position, in the year 2000,

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flooding hit the areas of Shrewsbury, Lewes

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and Portsmouth ruining over 10,000 buildings and costing £1 billion.

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And the worst, the summer floods of 2007 which destroyed

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over 55,000 properties and cost a total of £3.2 billion

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with the worst affected areas being in Sheffield and Hull.

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Next I travel to Boscastle in Cornwall

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and meet a teenager who found herself in the middle of one

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of the most severe flash floods Britain has ever seen.

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In August 2004, Boscastle suffered enormous

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damage as a wall of water swept through this small village.

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It was a nightmare for the people who live there causing

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large-scale devastation.

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And costing around £50 million to repair the damage.

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So, what turned this picturesque village into what can only be

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described as a swirling torrent of water and debris?

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The answer is that a month's worth of rain fell in just four hours

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and the water rushed through this narrow valley.

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That day, 20 centimetres of rain fell in a four-hour period

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and two million tonnes of it surged through this village centre.

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How did it feel to watch this disaster unfold?

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To find out, I am here in Boscastle to meet Julie Moffat.

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Julie was just 13 at the time these terrifying floods happened.

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Her story made the national news.

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That was one of the restaurants, they called it the Blue Room.

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But no-one wants to be a celebrity for reasons like these.

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This is my bedroom, and my bed was in the far corner over there.

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We still can't live here because of the damp.

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Julie is a few years old now,

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and all the flood damage to their property is repaired.

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So this is where the water came in?

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Yes, we actually have a flood level just up here.

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Gosh, that is so high.

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How high the water came up.

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There's not much evidence left of the floods now,

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but Julie still has strong memories of the disaster.

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Tell me about the day of the floods?

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In the afternoon it started to rain

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and it was really, really heavy rain.

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A black cloud and it was quite surreal really,

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the weather changed that quick.

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Water started rushing through the streets, so Julie and her mum headed

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to what they thought would be safety, their family business and home.

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We all just basically went into the Manor House

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and stuffed coats and stuff like that under the door

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to try and stop it because we didn't think

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it was going to be anything major.

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But things were actually getting major very quickly.

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We realised it was getting more serious probably

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when the water started to come into the Manor House through

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the door barricade that we had made.

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That's when we realised how powerful that water was to push it away.

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This flood water was sweeping away everything in its path,

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including a number of empty parked cars and vehicles.

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It was going really fast, actually.

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It picked up all the cars.

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They were just being chucked down the village.

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Just... It was the most surreal thing I've ever seen, I think.

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Just imagine all of this water rushing through your home.

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I saw how high the water was coming outside the Manor House, and

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that's when we had a look downstairs and there was a lot of water.

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The water was probably up to my chest at the time.

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At one point we could see my auntie's

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and my nan's cars both being chucked down the village.

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That water was just so powerful it was able to do that as

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if they didn't weigh anything at all.

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Julie was trapped in her home

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and all she could do was watch with horror through the window.

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We were up in the Manor House for five or six hours just waiting

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really for something to happen, we didn't know what to do.

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With so much water tearing through the streets,

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there was only one way many of the villagers could be rescued.

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By helicopter.

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Looking out of the window we could see people being

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rescued at the time, being winched up by helicopters.

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Standing on their roofs, trying to get attention to be rescued.

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It was really quite scary seeing them frightened like that.

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Julie and her mum were waiting for their turn to be winched away,

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but they had no idea when this would happen.

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We had no communication, all the phone lines were down.

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It was quite scary not knowing what was happening.

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Dozens of people were dramatically winched into the RAF helicopters.

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But with water levels falling,

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Julie decided to take a different route to safety.

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We decided to make a run for it.

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The water was about up to my chest at the time.

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When it was down quite a lot, we decided to wade through it.

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The flood was over, both Julie and her mum had escaped to safety,

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but the village they called home was devastated.

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I had no idea that water could do so much damage before.

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You know, you see it on TV,

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but it doesn't hit home until you are seeing it right in front of you.

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It was something I would never want to go through again.

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There was going to be a lot of cleaning up for Julie's family

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and the village to do.

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But thanks to the amazing work of the emergency services,

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150 villagers were rescued and no lives were lost on that day.

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Floods have continued to hit the UK since Boscastle in 2004.

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And they have proved to be a huge challenge to our emergency services.

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That's because flood victims haven't just been trapped in their homes...

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NEWS REPORT: Heavy rain and powerful winds have caused flooding

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and disruption across much of the United Kingdom...

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Drivers have been left stranded...

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One man has died in flood waters in Somerset...

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One of the toughest jobs for emergency services during severe

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floods is to rescue people who had got stuck in their cars.

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Many believe they are safer to stay in their vehicle.

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But be warned, it doesn't take much water

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to lift a car from the ground and sweep it away.

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So emergency rescue teams have made it their priority to come up

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with a safe way of rescuing people.

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Leo and I are about to find out how the emergency services are learning

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new techniques for rescuing people trapped in their cars by floods.

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Matt is a safety expert in flood rescue.

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Today, he's going to show me how quickly a car can get flooded.

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And he's going to show me how to perform a rescue.

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Nearly half of flood-related deaths happened to people in vehicles,

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so it's quite important to know how to get out.

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And it only takes two feet of water to actually wash away a car.

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As I've already learned, rushing water is dangerous.

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So I'm going to be trained about the safest way to move

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through powerful water.

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This pole allows me to check for uneven ground and helps me

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to stay on my feet.

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And Zoe gets the chance to watch me practice

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before she gets into the car.

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Just watching this demo, I am absolutely terrified already.

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My heart's racing.

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I'm being supported by the rescue team and we're using each other

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to stop ourselves from falling in to the water.

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As a group, we are stronger

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and have more chance of standing up than a lone individual.

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Think, eight legs are stronger than two.

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It's way harder than it looks.

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The skill is moving together to create a human shield

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against the water.

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Seeing it rushing down this channel, yeah,

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it's making me feel quite sick, actually.

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It's exhausting.

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Facing the awesome power of this water,

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travelling at ten tonnes per second.

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That's the equivalent of a whopping 10,000 litres of water.

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No wonder Zoe is feeling sick. This is really scary and dangerous.

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Right, I think they're ready for me. Wish me luck!

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I am about to find out what it's like to be trapped

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in a car during a flood.

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Because it doesn't take much water to move a car,

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this one has been chained down so that I don't get swept away.

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To understand the force of the water about to hit Zoe's car,

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think how hard you would find it to shut a door on your own

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-with 100 of your friends pushing against you.

-I'm terrified already.

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But it would be so much worse

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if I didn't have these guys coming to get me out.

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Oh, my gosh. It's going right over the roof of the car now.

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And it's coming in through the side windows as well.

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It's a scary experience for Zoe,

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but she is safe as the trained experts are close by.

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The water rushes over the car and round the sides.

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Even though the windows are open, it doesn't come inside too much.

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At least, that's the theory.

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This is terrifying.

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Because of the force of the water, I can't open the door

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and I've been trapped inside for a whole three minutes.

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I'm definitely ready to get out.

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Using their bodies as a barrier against the water,

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they are able to open the door as a group and walk me back to safety.

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Training such as this is vital in order to prepare

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rescue services for real-life flooding situations.

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That is just the most scary thing,

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I think possibly the most frightening thing I've ever done in my life.

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It's so intense. It's hard to describe.

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I was hanging on for dear life.

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The sound of it is just completely overwhelming.

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You can't even hear your own screams. It's really dramatic.

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Now, from rescuing people in vehicles,

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to an extraordinary vehicle that rescues people.

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Mike checks out some technology with a difference.

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Hovercrafts are vital for rescuing people stranded by floods.

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These amazing machines can travel across water

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and also hover across land.

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Some of you might have travelled on a hovercraft on holiday

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between England and France.

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The smaller ones are ideal for getting to people who have

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been trapped by flood water.

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Mike is in Southampton to discover why hovercrafts are the vehicle

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of choice for emergency services in flood rescue.

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And I'm with Mark, the man in the know.

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These hovercraft are always the first thing to show up. Why is that?

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Because they are so adaptable at getting to all the areas,

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both overland, over the debris, over the sea.

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And they get there really quickly.

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Whether it's water, sand, snow, land, this works,

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-this will float over the top?

-Absolutely.

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It will hover over the top, yes.

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Is there any way I could take a spin in this one and see what it's like?

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Why not? We'll get one of our pilots, James, to take you.

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Awesome, let's do it. All right.

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All right, here we go. The big boy toy! This is awesome.

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Never been on a hovercraft before.

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Woooah!

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It just flies over the water.

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So how do these amazing machines work?

0:20:500:20:53

The hovercrafts have a gigantic fan which blows air

0:20:530:20:56

into the cushion underneath them.

0:20:560:20:58

This lifts the hovercraft body off the ground

0:20:580:21:01

and then you're floating along on a cushion of air.

0:21:010:21:04

If you want to buy one of these, you better start saving your coins

0:21:040:21:07

because these cost around £150,000.

0:21:070:21:10

And now it's my turn to have a go.

0:21:130:21:15

I've only been a captain for ten seconds,

0:21:160:21:19

and I'm already encountering big waves.

0:21:190:21:21

I am having fun travelling quickly,

0:21:260:21:28

but it's this speed that helps save lives.

0:21:280:21:32

Small boats need water that's at least waist height in order to move.

0:21:320:21:36

But this hovercraft is the perfect three-in-one.

0:21:360:21:39

It can power across deep water, skim across shallow water,

0:21:390:21:43

and glide over land.

0:21:430:21:45

Still on land.

0:21:450:21:47

Nice smooth ride. And now we're transitioning to water.

0:21:470:21:52

Now we're on the water.

0:21:520:21:53

I can see why these are so important for flooding

0:21:560:21:58

conditions in saving lives.

0:21:580:22:00

To get into the area where the flooding has occurred

0:22:000:22:03

and rescue the people.

0:22:030:22:04

This is fun, it's safe, it's important,

0:22:080:22:12

and I have a new gain of respect for the technology involved

0:22:120:22:16

with this, because it gives you the ability to go on

0:22:160:22:18

and rescue people in any kind of condition, in any kind of terrain.

0:22:180:22:22

The threat of flooding here in the UK is not going away.

0:22:260:22:30

With one of the wettest summers on record in 2012,

0:22:300:22:33

flooding and its devastation is becoming something

0:22:330:22:36

that many of us may experience.

0:22:360:22:39

One country that is well adapted to living with the constant threat

0:22:430:22:46

of flooding is Holland.

0:22:460:22:47

For hundreds of years,

0:22:490:22:51

it has suffered more floods than any other country in the world.

0:22:510:22:54

We've sent Mike on a trip to Holland to see how engineers are coming

0:22:570:23:01

up with clever ways to manage the threat of flooding.

0:23:010:23:05

Holland is a very flat country and most of it is below sea level.

0:23:100:23:13

That means that the people who live here have always had to fight

0:23:130:23:16

to stop water from invading their land.

0:23:160:23:19

The whole of Holland is crisscrossed with ditches

0:23:190:23:21

and canals that are like huge drains that keep the water off the land.

0:23:210:23:26

It's a bit like the rain that falls on your roof being carried

0:23:260:23:29

away by guttering.

0:23:290:23:30

And here in Rotterdam, Holland's second largest city,

0:23:300:23:34

they have created a massive tank

0:23:340:23:36

the size of four Olympic swimming pools that can store

0:23:360:23:39

any excess water. And it's hidden.

0:23:390:23:42

That's right, we're in an underground parking lot.

0:23:430:23:46

It doesn't look very special, does it?

0:23:460:23:48

But this type of parking lot can save cities from flooding.

0:23:480:23:51

The problem with a city or town is when it rains a lot,

0:23:520:23:55

the rain has nowhere to go.

0:23:550:23:57

Grass and soil can absorb the water, but concrete definitely cannot.

0:23:570:24:01

And there's lots of concrete in a city.

0:24:050:24:07

When it rains a lot, the sewers and drains fill to the top

0:24:070:24:10

and there's nowhere for the water to go, except for in your home,

0:24:100:24:13

and you definitely don't want that.

0:24:130:24:15

And to stop flood water entering the homes,

0:24:150:24:18

here in Rotterdam they have come up with a way of storing it.

0:24:180:24:21

There's a water storage facility underneath that fills

0:24:210:24:24

with water to the top,

0:24:240:24:25

which basically keeps the water from flowing through the streets.

0:24:250:24:30

Daniel's about to give me

0:24:300:24:31

a sneak peek at where all the water goes, underneath the car park.

0:24:310:24:36

So, welcome to the underground storage facility.

0:24:360:24:38

Wow, this is impressive.

0:24:380:24:40

This is basically where all the magic happens?

0:24:400:24:42

-Yes. Everything behind the window, actually.

-Wow.

0:24:420:24:45

So how many litres does this hold?

0:24:450:24:47

It holds ten million litres of water.

0:24:470:24:49

Why is the window so dirty?

0:24:490:24:50

It's rainwater combined with the sewer water.

0:24:500:24:52

-So you wouldn't want to go swimming in there!

-No, you wouldn't.

0:24:520:24:55

-It's pretty dirty.

-Is there any way I can actually see it happen?

0:24:550:24:58

Yeah, we're going to open a valve

0:24:580:24:59

and then this massive amount of water is going to drop in.

0:24:590:25:03

Daniel's about to release 20,000 litres of flood water.

0:25:030:25:07

About 100 bathtubs full,

0:25:070:25:09

to show me what it will look like when these pipes empty.

0:25:090:25:12

-That was amazing!

-It's pretty cool, isn't it?

0:25:120:25:16

This amount of mucky flood water

0:25:160:25:18

would be enough to wreck anyone's home.

0:25:180:25:20

Before we had this, we had massive flooding in the streets

0:25:200:25:23

and also in basements and shops in the city centre.

0:25:230:25:26

And after we built this, we actually reduced this.

0:25:260:25:30

So this facility gives us dry feet.

0:25:300:25:33

-So this is very important for the city?

-It is. It is, yes.

0:25:330:25:36

In the battle against flooding,

0:25:390:25:41

the Dutch engineers are certainly putting up a good fight.

0:25:410:25:44

But with 2012 being the wettest year on record,

0:25:480:25:51

what is being done in the UK to help with flooding?

0:25:510:25:54

People unlucky enough to own houses that have been flooded are

0:25:560:25:59

making changes so they're not totally ruined if the water levels do rise.

0:25:590:26:04

They're fitting electronic sockets at higher levels,

0:26:040:26:07

replastering rooms with water-resistant material,

0:26:070:26:10

and getting rid of carpets from the ground floor of houses.

0:26:100:26:14

London has built the world's second largest flood barrier.

0:26:160:26:20

When closed,

0:26:200:26:21

the Thames Barrier stops rising water levels in the Thames Estuary

0:26:210:26:25

from flooding the 12 million people who live in Britain's capital city.

0:26:250:26:30

But if water should come your way, and the worst does happen,

0:26:300:26:33

there are ways to maximise your chances of surviving in a flood.

0:26:330:26:38

Here's our Fierce Earth survival guide.

0:26:380:26:40

If it rains too much in a very short space of time, be aware.

0:26:430:26:47

Check the weather reports. Do not try to cross flood water.

0:26:470:26:51

In the unlikely event you find yourself trapped in a car,

0:26:530:26:56

get out and onto the roof as quickly as possible.

0:26:560:26:59

This is how you maximise your chances of surviving the Fierce Earth.

0:26:590:27:04

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0:27:110:27:13

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