Drowning in money: the untold story of the crazy public spending that makes flooding inevitable

‘Vast amounts of public money are spent every year on policies that make devastating floods inevitable.' Illustration by Daniel Pudles Daniel Pudles/Guardian

When will we ever learn... ?

Back in early December, 'Storm Desmond' swamped north-west England as well as parts of Northern Ireland, north Wales and southern Scotland. Honister in Cumbria recording 13.4 inches of rain in 24 hours, the most rain to ever fall over a 24 hour period. http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-35023558

Locals are wondering why the multimillion-pound defences that were built following floods in 2005 are failing to keep the deluge out from people's homes.

Turns out the cause of their problem is upstream, the result of clearcutting the hills, and digging drainage ditches, for sheep farming!

Our recent floods in Calgary and southern Alberta were exacerbated by similar problems in our Bow River watershed - clearcutting for lumber, damage from ATV use, killing all the beavers, etc.

And Calgarians are being led to believe that the current upgrades to berms and dikes, plus the proposed Springbank dry dam, will protect us from the next 'big one'. 

Seems we never learn...

Drowning in money: the untold story of the crazy public spending that makes flooding inevitable

George Monbiot, The Guardian

We all know what's gone wrong, or we think we do: not enough spending on flood defences. It's true that the government's cuts have exposed thousands of homes to greater risk, and that the cuts will become more dangerous as climate change kicks in. But too little public spending is a small part of the problem. It is dwarfed by another factor, which has been overlooked in discussions in the media and statements by the government: too much public spending.

Read more here:  http://www.theguardian.com/…/flooding-public-spending-brita…