On 28/02/2013 19:23, Nick Gardner wrote:
On 28/02/2013 12:33, Anne Burgess wrote:
It seems to me that the people who should be paying for the
flood damage are the developers who build on flood plains,
haughs, watermeadows, inches, whatever you like to call them,
and the local authorities who give planning permission for such
developments.

That would not help people in older properties that get flooded,
but at least it would place the blame squarely where it belongs
as far as new building is concerned. It would also be a powerful
disincentive to future building on flood-prone land.

You are assuming that the houses that have been flooded recently were
built on a flood plain.

Around here, that has not been true. The house I live in now is on the
flood plain of the River Otter but has never been flooded.

What changed with the rainfall events of July, November & December 2012
was that houses which had never previously flooded were inundated by
surface water.


Exactly. Expect to see an increasing awareness and discussion of perched
water tables in the planning and insurance world. Perched water tables
are those which are above the main water table and owe their existence
to e.g. bands/lenses of clay within both solid rocks and those of
glacial origin. The rainfall events of 2012 have brought them to the fore.

--
George in Epping, west Essex, 350'asl
www.eppingweather.co.uk
www.winter1947.co.uk