New figures are revealed as the Environment Agency urges households to register for flood alerts.
More than 30,400 addresses is East Sussex and a further almost 26,000 in West Sussex are considered to be highly vulnerable to heavy rainfall, according to the organisations. Elsewhere, 80,000 Kent and 70,000 Surrey homes are also on the at risk list.
Affected areas include the River Blackwater, River Eden and Eden Brook, River Mole, Lower River Wey, Chertsey Bourne, Hoe Stream, and Cove Brook.
‘Climate change means extreme weather events are happening more frequently, and we have already seen an unusually wet September this year,’ said Caroline Douglas, Executive Director of Flood and Coastal Risk Management at the Environment Agency, which has also released data showing the 18 months to 2024 were the wettest on UK record. ‘We can’t always predict where the rain will fall or where flooding will occur, but we do know which areas are at risk.’
‘Flooding can be a destructive force that puts everything in life on hold. I’ve seen the impact first hand and am determined to ensure as much as possible others do not,’ added Emma Hardy, Floods Minister. ‘Through the recent launch of our Floods Resilience Taskforce, this government is taking decisive action to accelerate the development of flood defences and bolster the nation’s resilience to extreme weather.’
According to Tokio Marine Group and Economist Impact’s Resilient Cities 2023 index, most cities on Earth are now considered to be susceptible to heatwaves and flooding events, with 1.8billion people, or one-in-four, live in a high flood risk zone.
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