By Fiona Harvey
People may have to be moved away from high-risk areas as climate change makes flooding more likely and more severe in the UK, the government has said.
The warning came as a Met Office report found Britain would experience much wetter winters and summers as much as 5C hotter as a result of climate change. This year’s heatwave is likely to become the new normal by mid-century, but the wettest days are now on average seeing 17% more rainfall than in the recent past, bringing a much heightened risk of flash flooding.
Announcing the biggest review of climate change in Britain for nearly a decade, the environment secretary, Michael Gove, said flooding was one of the key ways in which changes would become manifest in the UK.
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The Environment Agency is preparing for 4C of warming in planning the UK’s flood defences, though the Paris agreement aims to limit warming to no more than 2C above pre-industrial levels. Even in the lowest-emission scenario presented by the report, average annual temperatures are expected to be up to 2.3C higher by the end of the century.
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New flood protection measures will include natural defences such as planting trees, restoring heathland and installing “leaky dams”, as well as in some cases allowing water to breach sea walls to create new wetland habitats for birds.
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