Battered Britain: Storms, Tides and Floods

Wild winds clad torrential rain and high tides. For five weeks, Britain

has been battered by extreme weather. Tonight we look at the

scale of the damage and tried to count the cost.

Tonight, we will be live from the village that has become an island,

its residents stranded for a week. It began with a title search along

the East Coast, the highest for 60 years. -- a tidal surge. Christmas

was cancelled for many. A quarter of a million homes were left without

power. 94 flood warnings are still in place, most in southern England.

Some of the worst flooding is in terms, from Oxford down to Surrey.

We will find out if Britain has the defence is needed for the weeks and

years ahead. Just how much will all this cost? Britain has just been

through its stormiest December for at least 45 years. Wind speeds

reached more than 100 Mars and hour in some parts of the UK. Scotland

had its wettest month on record. It has claimed some lives. Floodwaters

are still rising in some places. This report from Somerset tonight in

a village that is still completely cut off. Good evening from

Muchelney. If you are sitting at home tonight, thinking the worst of

the storms are over, lucky you. They do not feel that way here. This

village is an island. That is the main road. We had to come in by boat

this afternoon. An alternative route? Also completely blocked off.

This is just one community of many still living with the consequences

of all that weather. Let's have a look back at a month of extremes.

Christmas is off for us. The battering began in early December.

The biggest tidal surge in 60 years along the East Coast. In

Scarborough, this band driver was lucky to escape. Some people lost

everything. We stood by the patio doors and we could see the kitchen

fold. As the months went on, storms hit more and more of the UK. It has

been like this since first thing this morning in the south-west of

England. Not exactly a festive start to Christmas week. Here, in

Somerset, they were expecting Father Christmas but Mother Nature got here

first. People are not going to be very happy and I am not happy.

Hundreds of homes in many regions were flooded. A festive wash-out.

Christmas is off. I was looking forward to it. It is like the water

is coming in and coming in. It is so quick. Chris Reay never sang about

this. As millions headed home, the transport systems struggled to cope.

It is horrendous. We have been envying all those people flying off

to somewhere warm and sunny. Or maybe not for those hoping to leave

Gatwick, where power cuts meant cancellations, delays and even

police behind the check-in desks. We know there are people who have been

here over seven hours. Anyone racing for a train probably did not need to

hurry. It is announced this service has been cancelled this evening. In

Ayrshire, a white Christmas but only due to the foamy seeds. Some ferries

kept running. We did not get very much sleep. We were worrying we

would not get home for Christmas. Power companies are criticised for

failing to connect thousands of people in time for Christmas day. My

main worry is the fridge. I have a techie which I've bought. In Surrey,

this family had to spend Christmas by candlelight. I was going to cook

but I could not because I have no electric. On a trip to Kent, the

Prime Minister was confronted by an angry resident. Street by street,

things gradually returned to normal. The Government said next time

Britain would be better prepared. We did not need to wait long. The New

Year brought more of the same old weather. It hit Cornwall first. Look

at that! It is spectacular. Fantastic! You can see the force of

the water here in Ardrossan, breaking against this shore front.

The Victorian promenade in Aberystwyth was hammered. This

gymnasium is left full of rocks and seaweed. It has ruined everything.

It is the second time it has happened in a few months. The power

of the sea is so strong. So many communities were affected, like

County Down, hit by blistering winds, exceptionally high tides and

more heavy rain. Inland, that rain has been falling on already

saturated ground, leaving large areas under water. On the Somerset

levels, the village of Muchelney is now cut off. We joined the rescue

teams as they delivered supplies, dodging the dangers. That was a

car. It shows you how deep the water is here. After the windiest December

in 50 years, and the wettest in two decades, a dismal start to 2014. Now

it is the Thames that is causing most concern. Britain is soaking and

just needs a break. They certainly feel that they need a break here in

Muchelney. Join us later when we will talk to some of the people who

live here. We will ask them how they will cope, cut off like this and

what can be done to prevent this happening again. It happened last

year as well. In the meantime, back to you on the mainland. Here with me

are Carol Kirkwood and David Shukman. We have seen some of the

most extreme weather for half a century in places. We expect storms

in the winter and low pressure area to rattle across us. This has been

exceptional. It has been at high speed and it has been very potent. I

will show you some satellite pictures to illustrate this nicely

and explain why it happened. They are talking about Muchelney. You are

looking at how well Britain is protected. Eyesore literally an

ocean of flood water covering the seven Valley. -- eyesore. I have

just been down to the Thames barrier. They have been working

around the clock so I have been seeing how they have been getting

on. Hundreds of thousands of homes lost power over Christmas, including

the village of Yalding in Kent. What has it been like for the residents

whose Christmas was effectively cancelled? Yalding is well used to

floods. Over Christmas, sandbags would have done very little good.

The water flowed in so far that it would have been up to my neck or

deeper. All around me now, darkened windows. The consequences of that

deluge, that lad. Others are stripping their homes back to the

brickwork. They are learning to pull together. Villagers have found

resolve and a sense of purpose. Yalding, on a crisp, dry winters

day. The three rivers that need here are beautiful in summer but

potentially lethal at times of flood. This Christmas was worse than

anyone can remember. A muddy torrent, up to six feet deep, surged

down the main street, flooding through homes and businesses.

Villagers could only retreat to upper floors and wait for help to a

arrive. I met two people who became friends. Dave struggled out of his

home to reach his canoe and neighbours. I was paddling as well

as I could. The currents were dragging me into the vehicles. You

cannot really appreciate it. David went past and said, we need to get

out, can you come and get us? To stabilise it, we waged a canoe in

the gate. It was not easy. Down the street, the insurance assessor had

arrived to see June Chapman. They run the village post office.

Christmas is a muddy tangle of furniture and ruined food. My best

present was a tin of biscuits from a customer. Some days you are fine,

other days you do not talk to anyone. It is overwhelming. There

have been moments when anger and frustration boiled over. Like the

day when Erica confronted the Prime minister outside her home. It was

like the village was alive. The council was here with lorries. The

Environment Agency was here. The Fire Brigade was here. There was

more help than we could believe. It had paid off but why did I have to

say that to get this work done? A small parcel first-class accorded

is... ? Villagers are also sharing appreciation of the community spirit

that is getting them through. Everyone in the village has been

wonderful, more than wonderful. We would not have anywhere to live

without some coming into the post office. I cannot thank them enough.

Tonight, in the village hall, the show is going on. Flood victims

joining the cast of a brand-new review to show that Yalding can rise

above its problems. After everything I heard and seen, I was not

surprised to learn it had sold out. Carol, you have been tracking these

storms since the first tidal surge on the 5th of December. Because they

have been relentless, it has caused us all these problems. If I show you

the satellite picture, you can see what I mean. Low pressure of the

low-pressure. It has brought torrential rain which is falling on

saturated ground. We now need some dry weather to help the situation

completely. The reason it has been driven our way is because of a very

strong jet stream. A jet stream is a ribbon of fast moving air which is

where the planes fly. It is moving quickly and picking up the areas of

low pressure. They have been chucking them out over the UK. We

have been getting very potent storms crossing our shores. Why is the jet

stream so potent? It is because of a thermal gradient. In the charts, we

have the blue at the top indicating it is cold and the milder air in

from the bottom with the jet stream in the middle. The jet stream

normally travels between 100 and 200 miles an hour. In the last couple of

weeks, it has been travelling as much as 300 miles an hour. You can

see the potency be storms have. They wreak havoc as they come across the

British Isles. Is there more to come? We are still in winter. We can

expect more rain. Some will be coming in from the worst on Sunday

and it will push steadily eastwards. You look at the impact it has all

had. At least 2000 homes are flooded. That is not to mention

businesses and farmland. Are we well enough protected? Over the years I

have been to places that have been flooded and it is disastrous for

people. Broadly, the national picture is that the flood defence

network has worked pretty well. Let's bear in mind that there are

rising river levels and the threat does continue.

The mighty gates of the Thames barrier facing waves of hostile

weather. They have guarded against floods 13 times. At last the rain is

over. Andy Batchelor and his team have been on alert for surges inflow

which could threaten London and homes far up stream. A service

tunnel runs beneath the barrier. The technology is from the 1960s but it

is proving invaluable decades later. The great pistons which close the

barriers did their job. How do you feel the country has done in terms

of coping with this terrible weather? You can never plan and

manage everything. We can only build to certain standards. The defences

have performed really well. Some have been over the top because this

has been a major event. This is the most famous flood barrier in Britain

with its vital role of defending the capital just up the river there. But

it is part of a network of thousands of miles of flood defences around

the coastline and beside the rivers. What is unusual about the weather

over the last few weeks is that all of those defences, at roughly the

same time, have been put to the test. So, as intense barrages of

rain swept over the country, how did the defences cope? On Monday, I saw

the ocean covering the seven Valley. There are places where the defences

have been overwhelmed but what is remarkable is how well they have

done their job. But there is now so much water the threat of further

flooding is not over. The River Thames here is carrying 400 tonnes

of water every second. An Environment Agency team deploys a

remit it controlled boat to measure the flood, a vital task. But this

comes as people are asking if the government should be doing more. How

do you look people in the eye who have been flooded and say we are

doing the right thing? What I say to people is I set out the fact that we

are spending more money than has been spent in the past. We are

bringing in 148 million of outside funding so more schemes can be

funded. New defences are being built but the Environment Agency is also

being cut. Flooding is handled separately in Scotland and Wales.

The latest floods raze hard questions about what needs to be

done. Looking ahead, David Cameron has been talking about how he

suspects Climate Change Act may be involved in this flooding incident.

-- climb it change. A lot of scientists are cautious but they do

say the atmosphere gets warmer it can hold more moisture and has the

potential to produce more violent, extreme weather. As there are more

people living in Britain, in flood plains in vulnerable areas, this

whole question about how we defend people will become more important.

And of course the Thames barrier is so busy at the moment.

It is amazing. I was there on Tuesday. It was a busy morning. They

had just opened the flood defences. They were preparing to close them

later on in the day. Very busy times.

Thank you. We have senior impact the storms have had on people's lives

and these images show the impact they have had on the landscape. This

rock in Dorset was shown in December but now it has been washed away.

This picture in Cornwall shows a jetty with a tower clearly visible

at the end. And here it is last week, the tower swept away by the

sea. And this is the famous promenade in Aberystwyth, but after

the battering it has taken from giant waves, much of it has been

reduced to rubble. Jeremy Cooke has been looking at the clear up.

It was the perfect storm. A devastating combination of high

water, high winds and giant waves. On a scale not seen here for

decades. And in the firing line, Aberystwyth's historic, iconic

promenade. In the face of all of this, see defences crumbled. The

road was ripped apart, leaving thousands of tonnes of beach gravel

on what should have been dry land. It is hard to imagine today, the

sheer power of all the elements that were at work here. First, there was

a tidal surge which brought water levels a good two metres above where

they would normally be. And then there were the winds, coming in from

the south-west, at 60 miles an hour or more. And that the perfect angle

to cause maximum damage to the promenade. The seafront at

Aberystwyth has had a char menders buffeting and suffered thousands of

pounds of damage... It has been a long time but it happened before, in

1938. A massive clean-up job then with wheelbarrows, shovels and

sweat. No flat caps today in this age of heavy machinery and high

visibility, but still a huge task just to clear the debris. Rebuilding

will take months and potentially cost millions. The economy needs the

funding to get back contract. So whether it comes from Westminster,

the Welsh Government, Brussels? We do not mind, we will take it from

anywhere but there is no question that it is needed. Of course, it

could have been much worse. No lives were lost but it was close. Make no

mistake, the storm here had potentially deadly force. And so

today, the people of Aberystwyth can concentrate on repairing their

famous, iconic promenade. It is regarded as the jewel in the crown.

Peter Henley from the Civic Society is determined to stay positive. We

will -- we have had problems in the past and we have overcome them and

I'm sure would help we will get back on our feet. All of this will be

remembered here for generations. While the talk of funding and

budgets goes on, tomorrow morning, the people of Aberystwyth are being

asked to bring their shovels to the seafront, a United, community

response to the storm of 2014. So local people are being asked to

take wheelbarrows and shovels down there. As communities work to get

back on their feet, we have been trying to find out how much the

storms could end up costing Britain. A lot, probably. Insurance companies

are counting the claims. An early estimate is that it will cost them

?400 million. That is less than the big floods of 2007 but it is still a

substantial sum. It includes paying for the 2000 houses which have been

flooded out, for drying them, for the repairs, for replacing the

contents and putting people up when they can not stay in the house, and

the average cost for doing that is ?40,000 per home. In some cases, it

will go over ?100,000. Quite a lot of people do not have full insurance

so they will lose out. Even if you are fully covered, some people will

find the contents of their freezer is not covered or their

outbuildings, for instance, and there is the worry for many families

that once this colossal claim goes through, the monthly cost of their

insurance will go up. We have also seen huge swathes of farmland. That

will cost tens of millions to sort out. That will be for buildings,

vehicles and livestock. But not the crops in the ground because they are

not covered so that is a worry for farmers. The other big cost is four

councils. Councils tell me that the eventual cost will be more than ?100

million. Emergency help for people, removing trees, repairing roads.

Cornwall says ?2 million already, Surrey says ?5 million for the

roads. One thing worth mentioning as well, those people in Yalding who

had their electricity cut off over Christmas and right across the South

of England, tens of thousands of those will get compensation of up to

?430 per household, depending how long they were cut off. Thank you.

Let's go back to Somerset and the village of Muchelney which is still

cut off from the floodwaters after a week.

Jon Kay is there. The sun might be shining in the

painted ceiling in the village church but they have not seen much

sun here. The church has become a community centre over the last few

weeks. So many have been flooded out. There are some groceries which

have been brought in from a supermarket by a boat. Haute which

can be collected as well. We have gathered some of the residents

together tonight. Some of them are living in farmhouses together. We

can sort to Mr Daniels to start with. -- we can talk to Mr Daniels.

This part of the world is often flooded but how does it compare this

time? This is the worst we have seen it for donkeys years, really. And we

just cannot get out. We are frustrated, I suppose. If you had to

leave the village you would have to go by boat? How do you fancy that? I

cannot walk very far so it would not help but it would help other

villagers. Does it worry you? Do you feel trapped? Not really but it is

not very nice, put it that way! Thank you. A lot of people would say

this part of the world is traditionally flooded. When we first

moved here 50 years ago it flooded. And gradually over the years it

began to get a little worse. We were not bothered until they stopped

doing the regular dredging and then made a difference. Last year we were

cut off from October 21, not completely around until mid-February

but on and off, the rains lasted and the floods lasted and people could

not get to work. It is people who have businesses. Let's turn to

Paul. Your business is flooded out. What does it mean to you? We are new

business. We have been open for two years. It is a flood area, we accept

that, but not to this level. We have flooded twice in two years. A big

reception of plan, not good at all. What do you think would make a

difference? Or is this just nature? There is no maintenance of the

waterways. That is not happening. If the capacity cannot hold the water

then it will flood. So you want more dredging. Let's turn to rod in the

middle. Your house is flooded. For families, explain to people sitting

in their dry living rooms tonight, what is life like now? It is

inconvenient. All your things are upstairs, you cannot get to

anything. It is as if you have gone on a two-week holiday because that

is all you can take with you. You cannot get in and out unless good

people like Mike here take you on their tractor so it makes life very

difficult. I cannot believe how you are all still smiling. You have been

so hospitable to us. At the moment they think the river levels might

drop and they might get out by this time next week. But if there is more

rain in the meantime, this could go on for longer. It went on for longer

last year. Back to you, safely. Thank you all very much. The extreme

weather has affected almost every part of the UK and it is not over

yet. Floodwaters continued to rise. You can keep up-to-date with BBC

News. That is it from us. We will leave you with some of the

extraordinary images of the storms which have been battering Britain.

Severe gale nine, occasionally 10... There are a number of flood warnings

in place... A wild day out there with a risk of coastal flooding.

Soul destroying, that is what it is. I have lived here all my life and I

have never seen anything like this before. You panic. Everybody panics.

You cannot stop the water. Once it is flowing, you cannot stop it.

Hello, I'm Riz Lateef with your 90 second update.

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