Why is Britain so bad at dealing with flooding?

Just weeks after Storm Bert battered the country, the Met Office has issued a rare red weather alert as Storm Darragh approaches the UK.

The red warning - which is third on a severity scale of three - has been made for parts of Wales and the South West of England, including Cardiff, Bristol and Devon.

In the wake Storm Bert, people criticised the Met Office for not putting out stronger warnings – but concerns were also raised over Britain’s flood defences. Yahoo spoke to an environmental expert who has worked closely with government about why Britain’s flood defences are failing to stop major disruption.

Climate change is just part of the problem, with Britain's flood defences also facing challenges relating to funding – and to Britain's changing landscape.

Dr Matthew Ling, nature-based solutions lead at GHD, who has worked on local government environment projects in the UK, says that it is clear more needs to be done to plan and prepare for flooding and mitigate its impact.

What are the problems Britain faces?

Much of Britain’s flood defence infrastructure was designed many years ago, and has not kept pace with the evolving climate. Warmer air can hold more moisture, leading to more rainfall and more flooding.

An investigation by Unearthed, Greenpeace's investigative arm found that 4,204 of England's key flood defences – equivalent to about one in 15 in the country – are categorised as 'poor' or 'very poor'.

Officials are also struggling to balance building new defences with repairing old ones.

Read more: Why this year's winter weather is so unpredictable

In the wake of Storm Bert in November 2024, public accounts committee chair, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP, said that a government report had "not determined the appropriate balance between building new defences with maintaining existing ones".

Clifton-Brown said: "We found earlier this year that this put 203,000 properties at increased risk due to poorly-maintained defences – more than the 200,000 which had had better protections put in place."

Meanwhile, Dr Ling said: “The government has earmarked billions of pounds in spending allocation for flood defence up to 2027. However, the National Audit Office last year reported a shortfall of over £300m yet to be spent.”

Funding for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is being reduced by 2% next year.

What is being done?

Chancellor Rachel Reed has committed £2.4bn to flood defences over the next two years, although she has not clarified if this is over and above the £5.2bn already promised by the previous government.

A flood resilience task force convened by the government met this summer, and aims to spend this money more effectively, but its next scheduled meeting is next year.

But due to a funding shortfall, the number of properties that will be better-protected by 2027 was cut last year by 40%.

The former chair of the Environment Agency, Emma Howard Boyd said this week that: “One of the areas that we struggled with getting more money to … was on the maintenance of our flood defences."

What could be done?

As well as building defences, experts suggest that nature-based solutions – actions that protect, manage, or restore natural ecosystems to address societal challenges, as defined by the World Bank – could be key to dealing with floods.

For example, restoring peat in upland areas means that hills can ‘hold’ more water, reducing floods - in many areas, such as Wales, Cumbria and Yorkshire, flood-threatened areas are beneath uplands that have been cleared for farming or grouse shooting.

Read more: Climate experts warn 'time running out' as CO2 emissions yet to peak

Dr Ling said: "With severe weather events occurring more frequently, the ‘business-as-usual’ grey engineered approaches do not always represent the most effective options viable.

“Nature-based solutions, where natural features and processes are used strategically to deliver a range of benefits, including to reduce the risk of flooding through the restoration of wetlands and creating saltmarshes for example, are fast becoming an attractive alternative.

Dr Ling says that government needs to encourage the private sector to invest in nature-based solutions at scale, to boost resilience and reduce flood risk.

He says, “A combination of political will and investment must go hand-in-hand to enhance flood protection measures all year round – not just once a storm hits.”