Storm Bert has battered Britain. But so much of the devastation could have been avoided
Keep up the fight against climate catastrophe
(Picture: Climate Justice Coalition)
By Camilla Royle
Monday 25 November 2024
By Camilla Royle
Monday 25 November 2024
SOCIALIST WORKER Issue 2933
Storm Bert battered Britain with heavy rains, snowfall and strong winds last week in the latest devastating rendering of climate catastrophe. Several people died, including one person whose car was hit by a tree near Winchester and a man whose car entered flood water.
Britain’s failing rail infrastructure has been gridlocked and unable to cope. Even after the storm, South Western Rail on Monday advised people not to try to travel on any of its routes after stations flooded.
In Pontypridd in South Wales, nearly a month’s worth of rain fell in less than 48 hours and the residents faced flooding after the River Taff overflowed.
Residents are angry that there was only a yellow weather warning put in place and that lessons haven’t been learnt from previous disasters such as Storm Dennis in 2020.
People had to leave their homes in February 2020 and couldn’t go back until Christmas that year.
Wales’s first minister Eluned Morgan said last Sunday that there was some preparation. “But when you get the kind of enormity of rain we’ve had over the past few days—and it’s still coming down—then we’ve got to recognise that it is going to be difficult,” she said.
She added that climate change is “clearly making a difference in the severity and the frequency of these weather events”. The county of Rhondda Cynon Taf contains hundreds of disused coal tips. These piles of discarded mining materials are a safety risk.
For decades, residents have been arguing for more funding and legislation to force private landowners to make them safe. Over the weekend, homes in the former mining village of Cwmtillery in South Wales had to be evacuated after a landslip flooded the streets with mud.
In Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog, near Llangollen, ten people were rescued from a house following a landslide.
That raises the terrifying prospect that a coal tip collapse could lead to tragedy. And people in South Wales will be all too aware of the risks.
Many will remember the Aberfan disaster in 1966 where 116 children and 28 adults were killed by a colliery coal tip collapse after heavy rains. The National Coal Board was found responsible but it didn’t face sanctions or criminal charges.
Delyth Jewell, the climate change spokesperson from the Welsh nationalist Plaid Cymru, said, “Coal tips are the legacy of how our communities were exploited—our valleys should never have been saddled with them.”
A warmer climate means more moisture in the air and can lead to heavier rain—last winter was the second wettest on record in Britain.
Coal mining still contributes to the climate crisis. But while coal bosses profited, mining communities were left facing the deadly consequences.
Storm Bert battered Britain with heavy rains, snowfall and strong winds last week in the latest devastating rendering of climate catastrophe. Several people died, including one person whose car was hit by a tree near Winchester and a man whose car entered flood water.
Britain’s failing rail infrastructure has been gridlocked and unable to cope. Even after the storm, South Western Rail on Monday advised people not to try to travel on any of its routes after stations flooded.
In Pontypridd in South Wales, nearly a month’s worth of rain fell in less than 48 hours and the residents faced flooding after the River Taff overflowed.
Residents are angry that there was only a yellow weather warning put in place and that lessons haven’t been learnt from previous disasters such as Storm Dennis in 2020.
People had to leave their homes in February 2020 and couldn’t go back until Christmas that year.
Wales’s first minister Eluned Morgan said last Sunday that there was some preparation. “But when you get the kind of enormity of rain we’ve had over the past few days—and it’s still coming down—then we’ve got to recognise that it is going to be difficult,” she said.
She added that climate change is “clearly making a difference in the severity and the frequency of these weather events”. The county of Rhondda Cynon Taf contains hundreds of disused coal tips. These piles of discarded mining materials are a safety risk.
For decades, residents have been arguing for more funding and legislation to force private landowners to make them safe. Over the weekend, homes in the former mining village of Cwmtillery in South Wales had to be evacuated after a landslip flooded the streets with mud.
In Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog, near Llangollen, ten people were rescued from a house following a landslide.
That raises the terrifying prospect that a coal tip collapse could lead to tragedy. And people in South Wales will be all too aware of the risks.
Many will remember the Aberfan disaster in 1966 where 116 children and 28 adults were killed by a colliery coal tip collapse after heavy rains. The National Coal Board was found responsible but it didn’t face sanctions or criminal charges.
Delyth Jewell, the climate change spokesperson from the Welsh nationalist Plaid Cymru, said, “Coal tips are the legacy of how our communities were exploited—our valleys should never have been saddled with them.”
A warmer climate means more moisture in the air and can lead to heavier rain—last winter was the second wettest on record in Britain.
Coal mining still contributes to the climate crisis. But while coal bosses profited, mining communities were left facing the deadly consequences.
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