Drying out and renovating homes was the most stressful phase for flood victims, researchers said
by Michael Smith
Major flooding not only destroys homes and vital infrastructure - it has a devastating effect on the physical and mental health of those that are caught up the catastrophe.
A new study of the 2005 Carlisle floods has shown that alongside the obvious potential for death, injury and health risks from contaminated water, flood victims can also suffer lasting psychological problems caused by loss of homes and personal possessions. For some this can have a profound and long lasting effect, one that some may never ever come to terms with. The loss of valued possessions, especially mementoes and such like that are irreplaceable, can be a trauma from which some may never recover.
Three people died and about 6,000 Carlisle residents were hit by flood waters when 200mm of rain fell in 48 hours. About 60,000 homes in the area were also left without power.
Writing in the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management's new Journal of Flood Risk Management, researchers have described how the trauma of the flood still remained with Carlisle residents nearly a year and a half later.
Their study found that the most stressful phase was spending months drying out and renovating their homes - a situation made worse by problems with insurers, builders and decorators.
The authors of the study, Dr Ian Convery, from the University of Cumbria and Cathy Bailey from the Irish Centre for Social Gerontology, recommended that these issues should be included in funding for flood alleviation schemes.
They have said that agencies should work together to train highly-skilled support centre personnel with local knowledge of the community affected to help victims; centres that can provide one point of contact for potentially multiple emotional and practical problems.
"Crucially, we suggest that these centres require both strong multi-partnership and multi-agency working and highly skilled support centre personnel who have local knowledge and understanding of the affected community.
"In this way, post-disaster local needs may be contextualized and responded to in a way that both draws on existing local knowledge and expertise and further strengthens long-term community-based support."
The journal's publication has come just days after large swathes of the UK, particularly north east England, was hit by flash floods leaving six dead in weather-related incidents.
You'd think we would get used to rain in this country and would have a proper system of dealing with such rainfall for, despite what some in government and the agencies claim, we have had weather like that before in years and decade and even centuries past, without such great problems.
While I am fully aware that in those times past the country, Britain, was not as densely populated as now, the main reasons though why the waters did not affect people as much are – one – the fact that we then were not as stupid as have homes in the flood plains, bar one or two exceptions, and – two – we did not have everywhere concreted and tarmacked over.
When I walk to the railroad station, for instance, through the relatively wealthy middle-class areas here all I see is front yards that are hard standing areas for cars and also many of the back gardens have been turned into patios and such like with just a pocket handkerchief size patch of grass left. In other words, there just is not enough earth left around for the water to soak away into. So it just runs off the front yards and the back yards and the streets into the gutters and – bingo – flash floods as drains and river courses can not cope.
We must be mad to have built like that.
© M Smith (Veshengro), September 2008
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Social and psychological impact of floods 'should be planned for'
