Bryony Sadler has been watching the water levels rise near her home on the Somerset Levels, and working out how to move her family, dogs and chickens. Photograph: Jim Wileman/The Guardian
People in south-west mop up after Storm Chandra and prepare for next bout of rain, with major incident declared
I n the early hours, the Wade familys boxer puppy began barking. Thinking it needed to be let out, they traipsed downstairs and opened the back door C to be greeted not by their neat garden but an expanse of water.
It was like a sea out there, said James Wade. Over the coming hours the water crept into their home on a modern estate in Taunton, forcing James, his wife, Faye, and their three children, six, 11 and 12, out and into emergency accommodation.
We have been here for 13 years and this has never happened before. Even during the huge floods of 2014 we were dry.
The Wade family are one of about 50 households that Somerset council estimates have been flooded this week as Storm Chandra battered the UK.
With another Met Office yellow warning for rain coming into force for parts of the south-west of England on Thursday, the council fears more homes and businesses will go underwater, and has declared a major incident.
Though the Wades home is close to Black Brook, the stream did not breach its banks. The water that hit them and their neighbours in the early hours of Tuesday is thought to have bubbled up through obstructed drains.
On one hand, it seems so simple, said Wade. They need to keep the drains clean. But I understand that there is a cost issue and with climate change, this heavy rain is the new norm.
A little farther east, people in the market town of Ilminster were mopping up and preparing for the next bout of rain.
Allison Bushby, 59, a craftsperson who lives on a residential park at the edge of the town, said she was woken by a flood alarm at 1am on Tuesday. The water in her small garden was thigh-high, and she left at 6am when she was still able to pick her way out.
Flooding is not unusual here. They were hit exactly this time last year. The water piles in from all over the place C farmers fields, a culvert, drains.
Im prepared now, Bushby said. She habitually keeps her belongings in chunky storage boxes, which she moves on to her counters when the rain starts falling. Theyre a godsend.
When the Guardian visited on Wednesday, Bushby had just returned home and was baking a cake for the park staff. Theyre so good when this sort of thing happens, she said. The whole community pulls together wonderfully.
Mike Rigby , the lead member for economic development, planning and assets on Somerset council, said the topography of Somerset C much of it low-lying and surrounded by high ground including Exmoor and the Blackdown Hills C made it susceptible to flooding.
The water poured off the hills into places where people live and work. Because of that geography, we have a massive risk, Rigby said.
Places that had not flooded before C such as the Wades street C had been hit this time. Well have to investigate that.
Rigby said the council tackled drains reactively. He said: When they block and we find that out from our own observations or from reports from the public, well go out and unblock them, but what wed like to do, frankly, is to have a proactive function.
What we really need is a dedicated pot, a hypothecated grant from the [UK] government to keep the drainage system properly maintained to a better standard.
He said it was important to earmark that money for this job so it didnt get sucked up into the vast black hole of social care.
Extreme rainfall is becoming more common and more intense in many parts of the world because of human-caused climate breakdown. This month leaders in Cornwall and Devon , which have been hit by the storms Goretti and Ingrid as well as Chandra, have claimed they need more money to bolster resilience.
Rigby said: The really intense rainfall were now seeing means were going to have to think more about how we manage water.
The crisis in Somerset is not over. On the Somerset Levels, a low-lying area of moors, rivers and ditches, residents who had not yet been flooded were anxiously watching water levels.
Bryony Sadler, a mum, hairdresser and spokesperson for the Flooding on the Levels Action Group (Flag), took the Guardian on her dog-walk and pointed to vast stretches of water that were not there earlier this week.
The area made headlines for weeks in 2014 when there was severe flooding. Since then there has been investment in dredging the rivers and in pumping equipment. But its as if they think they have done that. Tick. That will placate them, Sadler said. This needs to be managed locally by people who understand the moors, not faraway officials.
Sadler is worried for the animals as well as the people who live in this nature-rich environment. She pointed out a deer picking its way through flood water. What will happen to them? And to the hedgehogs and worms?
As day broke on Wednesday the water level at the Northmoor main drain close to Sadlers home was 4.04 metres (13ft 3in). By 1pm it was at 4.14 metres. The Environment Agency judges that property can be flooded when it goes above 4.13 metres.
Sadler was working out how to move her dogs, chickens, teenagers and mother if the water continued to rise. Its beautiful living out here most of the time, she said. An amazing place, amazing people, but at the moment it feels a little depressing.
强热带风暴"钱德拉"过后，英国西南部居民正清理灾后现场，同时为即将到来的新一轮降雨做准备，当地政府已宣布进入重大事件应急状态。
凌晨时分，韦德家的拳师犬幼崽突然吠叫起来。家人以为它需要外出，便拖着脚步下楼打开后门——映入眼帘的并非整洁的花园，而是一片汪洋。
“外面简直像一片海洋，”詹姆斯·韦德说道。接下来的几个小时里，洪水逐渐漫入他们在汤顿一处现代住宅区的家，迫使詹姆斯、他的妻子费伊以及他们三个分别为6岁、11岁和12岁的孩子撤离，住进了紧急安置点。
我们在这里已经13年了，这种情况前所未有。即便在2014年那场特大洪水中，我们也安然无恙。
萨默塞特郡议会估计，本周英国遭受风暴钱德拉袭击期间，约有50户家庭遭遇洪水，韦德一家便是其中之一。
英国气象局针对英格兰西南部部分地区发布的黄色暴雨预警将于周四生效，当地政府担忧更多住宅和商铺将遭水淹，已宣布进入重大事件应急状态。
尽管韦德家靠近黑溪，但溪水并未漫过堤岸。周二凌晨袭击他们及邻居的洪水，据信是从堵塞的排水沟中倒灌涌出的。
“一方面，这似乎很简单，”韦德说，“他们需要保持排水系统清洁。但我理解存在成本问题，而且随着气候变化，这种暴雨已成为新常态。”
再往东一些，伊尔明斯特集镇的居民们正在清理积水，并为下一场降雨做准备。
59岁的手工艺人艾莉森·布什比住在镇郊的一处住宅区，她表示周二凌晨1点被洪水警报惊醒。当时她的小花园里积水已深及大腿，凌晨6点趁还能勉强寻路时撤离了住所。
洪水在这里并不罕见。去年此时，他们就曾遭受过同样的灾害。积水从四面八方涌来——农田、涵洞、排水沟，无一幸免。
“我现在准备好了，”布什比说道。她习惯将个人物品存放在笨重的储物箱里，下雨时就把箱子搬到柜台上。“这些箱子真是天赐之物。”
周三《卫报》到访时，布什比刚回到家，正在为公园员工烤蛋糕。"每当这种事情发生时，他们都表现得非常棒，"她说，"整个社区都能奇妙地团结一致。"
萨默塞特郡议会经济发展、规划和资产主管迈克·里格比表示，该郡地势低洼，四周环绕着埃克斯穆尔和布莱克当丘陵等高海拔地区，这种地形使其极易遭受洪涝灾害。
洪水从山坡倾泻而下，涌入人们生活和工作的区域。里格比表示：“由于这种地形特点，我们面临着巨大的风险。”
一些以往从未遭受洪灾的地区——例如韦德斯街——此次也未能幸免。"我们必须对此展开调查。"
里格比表示，市政委员会目前对排水系统的处理方式属于“被动应对”。他坦言：“当排水管堵塞时，无论是通过我们自己的观察还是公众的举报发现这一问题，我们都会前往现场进行疏通。但坦白说，我们更希望能建立一套主动预防的机制。”
我们真正需要的是专项拨款，即英国政府划拨的专用资金，以确保排水系统得到妥善维护并提升至更高标准。
他表示必须将这笔资金专项用于此项工作，以免其被“社会福利的巨大黑洞所吞噬”。
由于人为因素导致的气候崩溃，全球多地极端降雨正变得更加频繁且剧烈。本月，遭受戈雷蒂、英格丽德和钱德拉风暴袭击的英国康沃尔郡与德文郡官员表示，他们需要更多资金来增强抗灾能力。
里格比表示："我们目前所经历的强降雨意味着，必须进一步思考如何更有效地管理水资源。"
萨默塞特郡的危机尚未结束。在萨默塞特低地——这片由沼泽、河流和沟渠构成的低洼地带，尚未遭受洪灾的居民正焦急地观察着水位变化。
布莱奥妮·萨德勒是一位母亲、理发师，也是“平原洪水行动组织”（Flag）的发言人。她带着《卫报》记者在遛狗时指出，大片水域在本周早些时候还不存在。
该地区在2014年因严重洪灾连续数周成为新闻焦点。此后，当地投入资金疏浚河道并添置抽水设备。"但他们似乎觉得这样就万事大吉了——打个勾，就能安抚民众，"萨德勒说道，"这类事务应由熟悉沼泽地的当地人管理，而非远在千里之外的官员。"
萨德勒不仅为生活在这片自然资源丰富环境中的人们担忧，也为动物们感到忧虑。她指着一只在洪水中艰难穿行的鹿问道：“它们会怎么样？刺猬和蚯蚓又该怎么办？”
周三破晓时分，萨德勒家附近的诺斯穆尔主排水渠水位达到4.04米（13英尺3英寸）。到下午1点，水位已升至4.14米。英国环境署判定，当水位超过4.13米时，周边房产可能遭遇洪水侵袭。
萨德勒正在考虑如果水位继续上涨，该如何转移她的狗、鸡、十几岁的孩子和母亲。"大部分时间住在这里都很美好，"她说，"这是个神奇的地方，人们也很棒，但此刻感觉有点压抑。"
原创文章，作者：林诗雨，如若转载，请注明出处：http://m.gaochengzhenxuan.com/resou/274.html
