Storm Dennis: Minister says climate change means government can’t protect everyone from flooding

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Not sure where the 90 mph winds were supposed to be (the report says ‘parts of the UK’), but it has been blustery on and off for a few days. Enough for politicians to raise the spectre of ‘climate change’ once again, anyway. The video of an A380 Airbus making a hairy ‘crab’ landing at Heathrow, ending on the grass, gives some indication of wind strength. One reporter jokingly suggested watching the massive plane struggling to get on the ground could help climate campaigners, by putting people off flying altogether.

Storm Dennis battered the UK with flooding, heavy rain and 90mph winds at the weekend.

A minister has said climate change means the government cannot protect every household from flooding, reports Yahoo News.

New environment minister George Eustice claimed the government had not been caught off-guard by the floods caused by Storm Dennis.

Dennis was the second major storm to hit the UK in a week, following the heavy rain, flooding and 90mph winds brought by Storm Ciara the previous weekend.

During a visit to York to discuss tackling flooding, Eustice told Sky News: “We’ve done a huge amount – we can’t do anything about these extreme weather events, but the steps we’ve taken have meant the impact of those weather events have affected fewer properties.”

But he added: “There is always more that can be done.

“We’ll never be able to protect every single household, just because of the nature of climate change and the fact that these weather events are becoming more extreme, but we’ve done everything that we can do with a significant sum of money, and there’s more to come.”

Parts of the UK were buffeted with winds of more than 90mph during Storm Dennis, while more than a month’s worth of rain fell in 48 hours in places.

Full article here here.