Flood defence research fund 'vital' for resilience

PUBLIC funding and support for innovations that can help to protect communities from flooding are “vital” for future resilience, researchers have said.

- REBECCA SPEARE-COLE

Floodwaters encroach upon Tewkesbury Abbey

(Emma Trimble/SWNS)

Scientists and experts across the UK have been developing a range of tools aimed at helping authorities and communities prepare, respond and adapt to flooding and coastal erosion.

Communities have been battered by storms, incessant rainfall and flooding in recent weeks, and the Environment Agency said 5.7 million properties in England one in six are at risk of flooding.

As scientists warn that climate change will drive more extreme weather events, British researchers have been working on cutting-edge forecasting models and using artificial intelligence to explore the effectiveness of natural flood management methods.

Having received public funding through the Government-backed agency UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), experts highlighted the importance of this support to help strengthen future flood resilience.

Rupert Lewis, deputy executive chairman of URKI’s Natural Environment Research Council, said: “Public funding of environmental science is vital because it helps us understand how floods happen and how they are changing as the climate changes.

“Supporting research that improves forecasts, data and tools to protect people helps build local and national economic resilience as flood risks change.”