27 June 2007John Vidal, Helen Carter, Martin Wainwright and Rachel Williams
Many flood defence schemes planned for the cities and communities now devastated by days of torrential rain have been postponed for years by government cutbacks, it emerged yesterday.
Among them is a £100m scheme for Leeds, and others intended for Sheffield, Selby, Hull, York, Thirsk, Northallerton and Doncaster, places that have been hit by some of the worst flooding to hit the north of England in years. The details came to light as hundreds of people across Yorkshire and in the Midlands were evacuated from their homes, and 700 residents were moved downstream as the swollen Ulley dam threatened to burst near Rotherham.
Last night police divers recovered a bodythought to be a motorist who went missing after phoning his wife on Monday afternoon to tell her his car was being swept away by flood water in Worcestershire. Police searching for him confirmed a body had been found by a submerged vehicle at Bow Brook, in Pershore.
In all, four people, including one schoolboy, have died so far.
Government papers seen by the Guardian show that spending on national flood defences will not be increased until 2011, despite warnings from insurers, the Environment Agency, and the National Audit Office that one in two defences is inadequate. and up to £250m a year needs to be invested to avert further major flooding.
More than £200m of budget cuts were forced on the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs by the Treasury last year to make up a shortfall following late subsidy payments to farmers. But the Guardian understands that the Treasury also demanded further cuts in flood defence spending in the past few weeks.
Yesterday, members of the 11 regional flood defence committees said the government had been repeatedly warned of the consequences of not investing in flood defences.
"There have been many flood defence projects delayed [in Yorkshire] because of the cuts. Over the last three years there has been a build-up of capital schemes judged to be necessary. Some have been postponed," said Andrew Waller, deputy leader of York city council and a member of the Environment Agency's north-east region flood defence committee.
Another, speaking on condition of anonymity, said flood defence spending was only half of what the Environment Agency considered necessary. "All regional flood defence committees are concerned about the impact of Defra's spending cuts. There are an awful lot of capital [flood defence] schemes around the country in the pipeline - but very few will be built in the next few years."
The agency said: "We receive about £500m per year. Over the next three years we need to spend £750m a year. As the impact of climate change bites we will need to spend nearer £1bn a year." A National Audit Committee report this month showed fewer than half of the country's high-risk flood defences are in target condition.
The environment secretary, David Miliband, told parliament that emergency financial assistance would be available to councils dealing with flooding. "Heavy rain later in the week remains a real threat ,and all the appropriate agencies remain on high alert," he said. Yesterday the M1 northbound was closed between junctions 32 and 34, and southbound between junctions 34 and 36, amid fears the Ulley dam would not hold, as more than a month's rainfall fell in one day. Fissures had appeared on the dam wall, but by last night engineers were confident their work could stop it bursting or giving way.
South Yorkshire police said the closed section of the M1 would remain shut overnight. The situation was to be reviewed this morning, but police were urging motorists to consider their journeys.
Floodwater disabled roads in a triangle between Barnsley, Doncaster and Sheffield. People in Bentley near Doncaster and the market town of Mexborough were told to leave their homes, while residents were evacuated in Lincoln, Worksop, Nottinghamshire, Ludlow, Shropshire, and Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire.
Elsewhere clean-up operations began. Parts of central Sheffield resembled a bomb site after the area saw the most rain since records began 125 years ago.
Ryan Parry, 14, died after falling into the river Sheaf at Millhouses in Sheffield on Monday. A 68-year-old man was swept away as he abandoned his car in Sheffield, while fire chiefs defended their attempts to free a man who died after becoming trapped by his foot in a flooded drain in Hull.
Damage will cost millions of pounds
· Around 1,000 properties were flooded after up to 101.6mm (4in) of rain fell in 24 hours, and thousands of people have been forced from their homes.
· No severe weather warnings remain, but there are still 25 severe flood warnings - the majority in the north-east - and 118 standard flood warnings.
· The wettest June on record was in 1980, when 121.2mm of rain fell across the UK on average. So far this month has seen an average of 106.5mm, and northern England has already had its wettest June on record.
· A sixth of the UK's annual rain fell in 12 hours on Monday. The highest rainfall was 103mm at Fylingdales, Yorkshire.
· An estimated 8,600 insurance claims were made on Monday, with the cost of the damage likely to run into hundreds of millions of pounds. The British Chamber of Commerce said the torrential rain could cost the economy up to £400m a day.
· Residents in 120 flats in Lincoln were evacuated in dinghies yesterday as the river Witham started to seep through its banks.
· Around 70 properties in Worksop were evacuated and the town centre sealed off.
· Residents in Ludlow were evacuated when the river Corve caused a bridge to collapse, severing a gas main.Rachel Williams
