The floods that hit various areas in the UK on Boxing Day have created devastation, as was seen by Prime Minister Cameron when he visited York to inspect the devastation wreaked by the raging Ouse.
Mr Cameron was shown images of the caravan park situated near the River Nidd, a tributary of the Ouse in Knaresborough, where residents had to be urgently evacuated before the floodwaters hit in earnest.
He was also told how a flood barrier on the river Foss had to be opened due to water getting into a pump room and a 999 call handler explained that many residents had been left without the ability to call for emergency aid due to landline phone services being down and intermittent issues with mobile phone signal.
At Skeldergate in the town centre, members of the military and Scarborough and Woodhead Mountain Rescue Service were attempting to navigate streets littered with hidden obstacles and the army and scores of volunteers were filling sandbags.
David Cameron has defended the government’s record on flood defences, with the budget now standing at £2.3bn and rising steadily. Cameron said that in total around £380m will be spent in Yorkshire, and indicated that the government would be open to suggestions of spending more on flood defence in general if that become necessary.
According to the leader of York Council, Chris Steward, the opening of the Foss Barrier meant that areas that would not normally have been flooded such as Huntingdon Road, Yearsley Crescent and Foss Island were, but admits that nobody could know what would have happened had the barrier not been opened.
According to experts, the floods could cost in excess of £1.5bn, with insurers expected to shoulder the burden of both Storm Desmond and Storm Eva’s flooding of large swathes of the country. According to Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at IHS Global Insight, the floods could also hamper wider economic growth due to businesses not being able to open, people not being able to get to work, loss of agricultural output, people not being able to get to the shops, travel, etc.
Purchase water coolers and rent water dispensers from Living-Water. Get a bottled water cooler and mains fed water dispenser in London.
