England has officially escaped last year’s drought, just in time to discover that the rain has been busy elsewhere. After four months of above average rainfall restored water levels, exceptional downpours caused devastating flooding in many communities. The national forecast has achieved the rare administrative triumph of being both reassuring and alarming at once.
East Anglia was the final English region to leave recovery status on 23 March, returning the whole country to normal. This is good news for reservoirs, rivers and anyone who prefers their taps to remain confident. It is less good news for communities where the same weather has been testing houses, roads and the durability of optimistic official language.
The announcement is admirably calm. Water levels have largely recovered. All areas are out of drought. There are no water company restrictions. Somewhere, a status dashboard has probably turned green while a river has continued looking for a more practical route through somebody’s kitchen.
This is the particular absurdity of weather whiplash. Rain is welcomed as a national resource until it arrives with enough enthusiasm to become a local emergency. The same water that replenishes a reservoir can flood a street, damage a business or leave a farmer wondering whether the irrigation season has been postponed by a committee of clouds.
The authorities are preparing for both drought and flood, which sounds sensible until you imagine the filing system. One folder contains plans for too little water. Another contains plans for too much. A third is marked normal, although nobody can explain whether that means dry, wet or merely not requiring a minister to stand beside a sandbag.
The official release says climate change is likely to bring more rapid swings between drought and flooding. It also says water companies must keep fixing leaks and updating their drought plans. This gives the nation a reassuringly familiar strategy: prepare for every possible emergency while hoping the pipes stop providing their own private weather system.
There is no joke in the flooding itself. The joke is the belief that a volatile water crisis can be made manageable by changing the label on a map and speaking more firmly to the forecast. England is now officially back to normal, which is excellent news for the paperwork. The rivers have read the paperwork and are requesting a manager.
Source: GOV.UK.
