Durhamjen Thank you! That is the first article I have heard or read that has actually defined possible solutions to lessen these flood dangers
It has really annoyed me that none if the news programs or politicians have actually explained possible solutions.
The policians, all of them, make promises, issue sound bites and I doubt if any of them at all have much idea about the actual solutions presented in the article.
I am still a little sceptical about the real value of river dredging though. The rain does not just fall into rivers it falls on all the land in the catchment areas and when it is falling at the rate it has been it causes damage in the small streams etc long before it flows into the rivers.
Many of the streams in the hilly areas Lake district Snowdonia have rocky mountain streams that are not dredgeable and in fact have little soft sediment. It is largely rocky scree as the last glaciation has denuded a lot of the overlying soft sediment in these hilly areas, certainly compared with flat river valley areas.
The speed with which the rain pours off these hard unabsorbent rocky areas means that they can carry a serious load of debris with them which further batters the river beds and gouge out the rivers picking up more softer sediment which is the stuff that gets carried much further down into the rivers as a storm is happening. This rocky debris carried by the water is what has destroyed those roads damaged in Cumbria.
In flatter less steep areas and high moorland land with better sediment levels, say the Yorkshire Dales there should be more more room to provide space to slow down and disperse this water.
The Lake District is steep, very rocky and very close to the river outlets there is less ground available here to slow down this water flow at all.
