'The future looks bleak' Fears climate crisis will create first ghost town

In the aftermath of its latest flood, the town centre of Tenbury Wells was a scene of chaos.

- Jessica Murrav

The main street was caked with a layer of mud, shop windows were smashed and piles of sodden furniture and wares - all ruined - were heaped in the street. "On Monday when we came in we wanted to leave, lock the doors and just disappear," said Richard Sharman, the owner of Garlands Flowers. "We've lost about £6,000, and we won't get a penny back. Six weeks ago we lost about £4,ooo in a flood." He's been trading in the heart of Tenbury for around seven years. "If we get flooded again I'll walk away, and the landlords can sue us. I don't care; I'll go bankrupt. I've had enough," he said. The Worcestershire market town hit the headlines this week when a 57-year-old man drove a tractor at speed down the flooded high street, sending a ane towards businesses that smashed windows and doors, adding to the devastation. It prompted outrage, and the driver was quickly arrested. People said they hope the headlines highlight the existential threat facing Tenbury - that it could become the first UK town centre abandoned owing to flooding exacerbated by the climate crisis. "I don't think it's an exaggeration to say it potentially could be abandoned," said Dave Throup, a retired Environment Agency (EA) manager and a flooding expert. "It sounds a dramatic claim, but people are already voting with their feet there. If you keep getting flooded once or twice a year, and can't get insurance, you just can't keep going on. Without some kind of flood defences, the future looks V