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You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/dec/08/minister-says-flooding-is-unprecedented-event-as-she-defends-spending
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| Minister says flooding is 'unprecedented event' as she defends spending | Minister says flooding is 'unprecedented event' as she defends spending |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Liz Truss, the environment secretary, has defended the government’s spending on flood protection, as thousands of homes in Cumbria and Lancashire remain without power after devastating extreme weather. | Liz Truss, the environment secretary, has defended the government’s spending on flood protection, as thousands of homes in Cumbria and Lancashire remain without power after devastating extreme weather. |
| As local authorities continued their clean-up operation, Truss tried to head off a political row about the whether cuts to flood defence spending and poor projections about climate change were partly to blame for the scale of flooding in the north-west. | |
| Related: Storm Desmond: west coast mainline to reopen after floods – live updates | Related: Storm Desmond: west coast mainline to reopen after floods – live updates |
| Speaking to Sky, she insisted that more would be spent on flood protection this parliament than under the coalition or under the last five years of the Labour government. | Speaking to Sky, she insisted that more would be spent on flood protection this parliament than under the coalition or under the last five years of the Labour government. |
| “It’s completely wrong [to say] that we are cutting flood defences. In fact, we are increasing real-terms spending on building our flood defences. We will be spending £2.3bn over the next six years, which represents a real-terms increase,” she said, claiming the floods were an “unprecedented event”. | |
| However, the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, has highlighted a £115m fall in spending on flood risk management this year compared with last year, when spending peaked following the floods of winter 2013-14. | |
| Truss also defended the current level of spending – £2.3bn over six years – when pressed by the BBC on whether this was enough given the almost £6bn the UK is spending on tackling the effects of climate change in poorer countries abroad over five years. | Truss also defended the current level of spending – £2.3bn over six years – when pressed by the BBC on whether this was enough given the almost £6bn the UK is spending on tackling the effects of climate change in poorer countries abroad over five years. |
| The environment secretary said the UK’s current spending would reduce the risk of flooding but could never eliminate the risk entirely. | The environment secretary said the UK’s current spending would reduce the risk of flooding but could never eliminate the risk entirely. |
| Ministers came under pressure over their strategy on flooding as local councils bore the brunt of the clean-up and rescue efforts. | Ministers came under pressure over their strategy on flooding as local councils bore the brunt of the clean-up and rescue efforts. |
| On the fourth day since extreme weather caused chaos in Cumbria and Lancashire, thousands of homes were still without electricity. | |
| Electricity North West said 10,000 homes in Lancaster were still cut off, with a further 1,454 properties without power in Cumbria as flood water restrict ed engineers’ access. | |
| However, Virgin Trains said it was hopeful the west coast rail route would be reopened by midday on Tuesday, after flood water north of Carlisle receded quicker than predicted. Passengers have been warned of delays even if the line does reopen, with a 20mph restriction in place on part of the route. | |
| At least two people died in Storm Desmond, which battered the country on Saturday. A man was found dead near Kendal after he tried to retrieve a barrel from a stream to prevent flooding further downstream. A 90-year-old man, Ernie Crouch, died after he was apparently blown into the side of a moving bus by strong winds near Finchley Central tube station in London on Saturday. | |
| The Environment Agency still has 16 severe flood warnings in place for north-west England. The Met Office has issued a severe weather warning for more rain this week. | The Environment Agency still has 16 severe flood warnings in place for north-west England. The Met Office has issued a severe weather warning for more rain this week. |
| David Cameron visited Carlisle on Monday, where police estimated between 2,200 and 3,500 homes had been flooded. He said: “After every flood, the thing to do is sit down, look at the money you are spending, look at what you are building, look at what you are planning to build in the future and ask: ‘Is it enough?’” | David Cameron visited Carlisle on Monday, where police estimated between 2,200 and 3,500 homes had been flooded. He said: “After every flood, the thing to do is sit down, look at the money you are spending, look at what you are building, look at what you are planning to build in the future and ask: ‘Is it enough?’” |
| Cumbria police have estimated that a 4,881 homes were flooded across the county, saying that in the “reasonable worst-case scenario” there could be a total of 6,455 homes affected. Thousands of people remained homeless. | |
| Following a huge clean-up effort, just eight schools in Cumbria were set to remain closed for a further day on Tuesday. | Following a huge clean-up effort, just eight schools in Cumbria were set to remain closed for a further day on Tuesday. |
| The Met Office has said new rainfall records were set in the Lake District for a 24-hour period, with 341.4mm recorded on Honister Pass in the 24 hours to 6pm on Saturday. That passed the previous record during flooding on 19 November 2009, when 316.4mm was measured at Seathwaite. |