Life under the floods

By now, we've all seen the devastating impact of the floods on householders and farmers. RSPB area manager for West Sedgemoor in Somerset Jane Brookhouse explains what life is like...

We live in Burrowbridge – yes, the place that everyone has seen on TV nearly every day recently! Normally a quiet little village, over recent days it has become a media circus, with TV vans camped out all day, and helicopters constantly buzzing overhead. In the 20 years or so that we have lived here, we have never seen anything like this.

Our house is immediately next to the River Parrett, and is now surrounded by thousands of acres of water. We are currently on Flood Warning alert, but luckily the bank next to us is pretty secure, with the water flowing over the opposite bank onto the floodplain – which it is designed to do. The Somerset Levels regularly floods in the winter, and people who live and work in this area know this.

But the amount of rainfall that has arrived over the last six weeks has simply overwhelmed everything – roads, property, livelihoods and everyone is working flat out to try to deal with this extreme situation. Everywhere we go at the moment, we are seeing sandbags being filled and carted around, local people really pulling together to help neighbours in difficulty, all trying to deal with the here and now of being underwater.

For us, it means one of us having to drive 26 miles instead of four to get our kids to school/nursery, and the other cycling and wading through thigh-deep floods to get to the West Sedgemoor reserve office.

But this is mere inconvenience compared to how others are suffering here – when friends’ houses are flooded, our volunteers’ houses in Moorland flooded, or cut off for weeks in Muchelney, the awfulness of the situation becomes even more real. And with more heavy rain forecast this week, no-one can see the end of it.    

However, in parallel with lots of activity on the ground, communities and organisations will need to work together over the coming months to build a consensus as to the way forward for a better future for this area. One in which property, infrastructure and livelihoods are protected and more resilient.

We know that it will be impossible to protect all property and infrastructure against all floods all of the time. But there are measures that can be taken which mean that floods may have less of an impact. 

And nature will have a key role to play. This isn’t about “birds vs people” as many would have us believe, simply because the natural heritage of the Levels is now, and will be, an asset in the recovery of this special place. We all want to see the Somerset Levels return to the beautiful and tranquil landscape, with traditional farming, local livelihoods and wildlife all thriving together.