Flooding in the UK has recently become a very big problem. It’s no secret that we are accustomed to the rain and getting out your umbrella and Wellington boots will never be a shock for those that are used to the good old British weather.

It will, however, be a shock for those that are sick and relying on the hospital to be able to perform lifesaving surgeries in the operating theatre. This is a huge problem that has started to become a reoccurring topic of recent years. Many NHS hospitals around the country have been subject to closures of their theatres, down to nothing other than the good old rain. Hospitals are a place for the sick to go, and be cared for. They are not really equipped for torrents of rain, and floods of water streaming through.  Although, of course, they really should be!

A Terrible Example of Mother Nature at Her Worst

In 2012, patients and staff at Northallerton Hospital found out the hard way when they were forced to close the operating theatre after the local stream over flew and wound up inside the hospital. This led to carting around bed ridden patients to higher grounds, in an effort to stop them from getting drenched with the water that seeped inside with the torrential rain.

Fire-fighters worked outside to try to pump the water out of the area, and divert it to the local river, but as you can imagine it is not such an easy job. The hospital staff were quite literally tied up in a head long battle with mother nature working at her worst. It was also a very stressful time for the patients who had of course been waiting for their turn on the list, to have their surgery performed, and to be suddenly told, sorry; we simply cannot do this today it can be heart breaking.

If a hospital does get flooded and patients are harmed in any way or injured in some cases they can claim for negligence against the hospital for example they could contact a no win no fee medical negligence claims solicitors such as MedicalNegligenceAssist, because their health deteriorated. No one is to know if this was solely down to the flooding, or of course, the stress and disappointment that was brought alongside with the bad news of their surgery being cancelled. It wasn’t very fair though that they had to have this happen to them.

When the rain flows, it just keeps on flowing and well sadly, for some of the patients who were stopping there it was quite literally a matter of life and death.  Flood waters that leaked into the wards were contaminated with sewage, had parasites inside, and of course, it was just not healthy for the patients sleeping on the wards to have water passing though. It brings about other health complications that would not otherwise be there. The basic hygiene needs of patients are not able to be met. Food cannot be served correctly, and of course loved ones are unable to gain entry to the wards to visit. It is certainly an eye opener, and something that the government needs to focus on more strongly.  Let’s hope so because it is inevitable that the UK will be subject to more floods and treacherous weather. In fact, each and every year the coast line of the UK shrinks, and well we are just an island in the middle of the ocean!

Flood Risk Management is very important because of the dangers floods can cause, a lot of people picture floods as being small but the truth is even small floods can be deadly. Floods can happen in many different places including on the road, at home or even in the workplace. Also many UK tourists have been caught up in floods when they have been on holiday in a different country and in many cases people have died.

Some floods can happen without any type of warning when people least expect the floods. Its very important to know exactly what to do and even prepare for floods specially if you live in a high flood risk area.

In 2014 the year’s extreme weather has caused severe flooding in many parts of the UK. Their has been a lot of rain and bad weather, according to records it shows England has had the wettest January since the records began. The records began in 1766 so as you can clearly see the rain is getting a lot more stronger, also it will turn out to be the wettest winter since records began in the UK. Over 5,000 homes and businesses have been flooded since December 2013 according to the BBC news.

In the year 2000 the UK had the wettest autumn on the record in the UK according to the Met Office which states that 10,000 businesses and homes was flooded in over 700 locations across the UK

Floods can turn peoples lives upside down, in a lot of situations people need to be evacuate from their flooded homes. In some cases it can take months before the families are able to clear the mess up and move back home. Also floods can end peoples businesses in some cases insurance companies do not pay out if the business is not covered for floods and that can then be the end of a business. This is also just one of the reasons why people need to be prepared for floods and make sure they are fully covered.

For some expert information on floods you can visit www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homeandleisure/floods/. You will find some very useful information on many different subjects on floods.

Flooding may be extreme now but also when the Bristol channel bursts its river banks 1607, 2,000 died and this was the worst natural disaster in the UK history. In 1607 it was known as the tsunami, also known, more , as the Bristol Channel Floods. It was on the morning of January 20th, the Bristol channel burst so fast that people could not out run it. within a few hours 20 villages was under water and over 2,000 people had died.