Storm Babet
Europe, including the UK, has been badly hit over the past few days by Storm Babet. Its spiral form, as an extratropical cyclone, means waves of rain and wind have pulsed over the West and North of the Continent. People are asking “when will it end?” And “why weren’t we warned?” And, “why isn’t the help coming?”
At the time of writing, 5 days later, the heavy rain and flood risk continues into the rest of this week. The UK Government website has 67 flood warnings and it reports 1300 flooded properties. In the UK, there have been 7 deaths and hundreds of evacuated homes were caused by fluvial flooding (from extreme rainfall and high water levels in rivers).
The storm isn’t just impacting places due to heavy rain. In coastal Denmark, the winds led to a storm surge with sea levels 2 metres higher than usual, the worst since 1904.
Dr Hannah Cloke, professor of hydrology at the University of Reading, speaking to the Falmouth Packet, explained: “Storm Babet is an extraordinary piece of weather caused by the interaction of a number of linked conditions across the world. The jet stream, which plays such an important role in the weather in Europe, has been squeezed into a weird position, partly as a result of a powerful typhoon that hit Japan last week. An active storm has moved up over the Bay of Biscay, and is now due to slow over the east of Britain, dumping an enormous amount of rain over eastern parts of Scotland.”
She added that “Climate change has caused seas and air to be unusually warm. Warmer seas have more dynamic energy which can create more damaging storms, and warmer air can hold more water, leading to higher rates of rainfall.”
The storm is impacting on schools, businesses and museums. The Museum of Making in Derby is a model of excellent practice in community co-creation of museum experiences. It is located hard by the River Derwent in a former Silk Mill. The director of Derby Museums, Tony Butler, has been aware and active in how museums respond to environmental challenges for many years, so it’s not surprising that the Museum was designed to minimise flood risk by having fewer exhibits on the lower floor. However, it has suffered significant damage and will need a lot of support for its recovery. They will lose a lot of income not being able to use the spaces for revenue-generating events in the run up to Christmas. Tony said, “It’s not lost on me that this is where the industrial revolution was born and now we are bearing the brunt of climate change.”
There will be other heritage buildings affected in this storm, and more cultural spaces affected in the months and years to come.
It’s vital that the cultural sector considers the impacts of the Earth crisis in their environmental plans, prioritising adaptation and resilience alongside mitigating harms. Read this article for more.
For now, this is a short piece responding to the emergent situation, and more details will be added in coming days, to this list of updates below:
UK farmers are warning that crops will rot in the fields, so that winter crops will be devastated (where affected) and cropping will come later but with smaller yields. They are calling for a review of farming strategy that will increase resilience.
