Flood Damage - Is the hand of God jolted by human interference?

Britain is on course for its wettest winter in 250 years, a crisis that could cost the country at least £0.5 billion. Weeks of relentless, exceptional rain and hurricane force winds has seen millions of people in Devon and Cornwall lose their train connection with the rest of England; sections of rail track across the South are functioning intermittently; flooded roads are expected to remain closed, homes, shops and businesses in the submerged counties of Somerset, Oxfordshire, Essex, Suffolk, Hertfordshire, Berkshire and Cambridgeshire have been flooded. The Environment Agency’s latest map of looming hotspots is dotted with so many red and yellow dots it looks as is the south of England has a rash. It would appear that each morning floods are again bringing misery to many and, as one who lives within sight of a River, my heart goes out to those whose houses, businesses or farmland have been flooded or are threatened.

The severe weather has brought much comment. Much of it is, understandably, angry, some is of the ‘told-you-so’ variety; and most of it feels too late: ‘if only you hadn’t built there,’ says the engineer to the developer; ‘if only you had stopped burning fossil fuels,’ says the environmentalist to the consumer; ‘if only you had acted quicker,’ says the local resident to the government minister.

In all the comments and arguments perspective is vital. The bulk of Britain, indeed the bulk of southern Britain is unaffected by floods. No Government is to blame for rain, although it is worrying that the sixth largest economy in the world appears to be unable to manage this present crisis and that a whole corner of the country could lose its rail network for 6 weeks, if not longer.

Before population pressure forced peoples to live on the brinks and in the basins of their lands, a flood was seen as a seasonal boon. Civilisation was nurtured on the crescent plain over which the Tigris and the Euphrates annually deposited their fertile silts. Ancient Egyptians hymned the Hep-Ur or “sweet water” of an overspilling Nile. But as populations swelled with the passing of centuries, as rivers were embanked, coastal waters walled and settlements established in areas once submerged, the flood has become a bane. Rising waters bring death and disease; they ruin crops, destroy industries and disrupt transport systems.

The intense storms that have been lashing Britain this winter are “likely to be linked to man-made global warming” according to the Met Office’s chief scientist. All the evidence suggests that climate change has been a contributing factor – a warmer atmosphere holds more water.  Is the hand of God then jolted by human interference? The evidence that humans are the dominant cause of current global warming is overwhelming and continues to grow. There are several greenhouse gases responsible for warming, and humans emit them in a variety of ways. Most come from the combustion of fossil fuels in cars, factories and electricity production. The gas responsible for the most warming is carbon dioxide. Other contributors include methane released from landfills and agriculture (especially from the digestive systems of grazing animals), nitrous oxide from fertilizers, gases used for refrigeration and industrial processes, and the loss of forests that would otherwise store carbon dioxide.

The Met Office's latest analysis finds that persistent rainfall over Indonesia and the tropical West Pacific triggered the weather system that has sent wave after wave of storms across the Atlantic to the UK. It says: "The severe weather in the UK coincided with exceptionally cold weather in Canada and the USA. These extreme weather events on both sides of the Atlantic were linked to a persistent pattern of perturbations to the jet stream over the Pacific Ocean and North America.”

Steven Croft, the bishop of Sheffield, quoted in The Guardian, Wednesday 12^th February 2014 described the threat of climate change as "a giant evil; a great demon of our day", adding: "Its power is fed by greed, blindness and complacency in the present generation, and we know that this giant wreaks havoc though the immense power of the weather systems, which are themselves unpredictable." He said the church had a "critical role" to play in lobbying politicians on climate change in order to bring about manifesto commitments to reach the target of an 80% reduction in UK greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

The church's renewed commitment to tackling climate change was welcomed by Christian charities. Paul Cook, advocacy director of Tearfund, said the current flood in Britain was serving as a wake-up call to the church. "The climate really is changing, and it's happening now," he said. "It's not just a problem for our grandchildren, it's not just a problem for polar bears, it's not just a problem for people thousands of miles away; it's a problem for us too, today."

"Climate change is increasingly becoming one of the moral issues of our time and the church has a powerful voice with which to speak," said Christian Aid's senior climate change adviser, Dr Alison Doig. "The next 18 months will significantly shape the politics of climate change with the UN global deal on emissions expected in Paris next year and the publication of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report next month. The church can now engage prophetically on this subject and speak with a united voice for those suffering both here and abroad."

In the meantime we remember in prayer people and communities affected or threatened by flood water and the emergency services and military that is helping to relieve their misery.

Ray Anglesea

Ray Anglesea is a self-supporting minister working in Durham Cathedral bookshop,

Crook Local Ecumenical Partnership and in the West Durham Methodist CircuitI