London is prone to flooding and climate change will bring wetter winters and throughout the year, more frequent heavy downpours, as well as rising sea levels and higher tidal surges.
London is particularly vulnerable to flash flooding from heavy rainfall events. Flash flooding happens when rain falls so fast that the underlying ground cannot cope, or drain it away fast enough. Roads can become like rivers and if there is a lot of water, it can flood buildings and carry cars away. It can occur very quickly and without much warning. Much of this flooding is due to the large areas of impermeable services (such as roads, roofs and pavements) causing water to run off it quickly rather than areas where it can soak into the ground. There is also the legacy of Victorian drainage systems that take away water from the roads, that doesn’t have the capacity to cope with the intensity of rainfall.
Global Lives and the London Climate Change Partnership, in partnership with the Thames Regional Flood and Coastal Committee and the Greater London Authority, have been conducting two flood-related projects. The first has been to try and understand where community flood groups are in the Thames Valley and who is involved at the local level. The second project seeks to understand the perspectives of community members impacted by surface water flooding are being engaged with by Local Authorities and what best practices are for involving local knowledge in planning efforts. This work is also supported by The Centre for Flood Risk and Resilience (CFR2). Brunel researchers: Dr Hanya Elghetany and Chentiba Ahmed have been instrumental to this work.