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The UK Is Losing the Race Against Devastating Floods
A first-of-its-kind insurance program bought time to shore up flood defenses, but exclusive data shows that isn’t happening quickly enough.
By Jess Shankleman, Olivia Rudgard and Ann Choi
Graphics by Rachel Lavin
Illustrations by John Provencher
About 900 years ago, Medieval monks began resurrecting an expanse of land in southwest England that languished underwater for half the year. Stone by stone, workers built walls to close off sections of the wetland and dug ditches to drain the plots. It was slow and piecemeal work until the invention of the steam engine, which allowed Victorian engineers to install pumps that sucked water out of the valley. Today, tens of thousands of homes sit on the Somerset levels and moors. The Glastonbury music festival, a famously soggy affair, takes place nearby.
Throughout civilization, humans have sought to hold back the water. Just across from Britain’s east coast, some 65% of the Netherlands should be submerged at high tide. The country is only dry thanks to a manmade system of dykes and pumps, some of which dates back to the 12th century. Much of Florida’s Everglades, once waterlogged marshland, was drained starting a century ago. In South Korea, a multibillion dollar project plans to turn a tidal flat into more than 100 square miles of agricultural and industrial land.
UNCOVERED: PART 4
This story is part of Bloomberg Green’s investigation into how climate change is making parts of the planet uninsurable, leaving millions of people without a safety net. Governments and companies aren’t prepared.
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