{"id":26417,"date":"2023-10-24T16:10:07","date_gmt":"2023-10-24T16:10:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harvestmoonnews.com\/?p=26417"},"modified":"2023-10-24T16:10:07","modified_gmt":"2023-10-24T16:10:07","slug":"therese-coffey-blames-rain-from-east-for-flooding-during-mp-grilling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harvestmoonnews.com\/politics\/therese-coffey-blames-rain-from-east-for-flooding-during-mp-grilling\/","title":{"rendered":"Therese Coffey blames rain from east for flooding during MP grilling"},"content":{"rendered":"

Storm Babet: Third person confirmed dead as flooding hits UK<\/h3>\n

Environment Secretary Therese Coffey has blamed rain coming from the east rather than the west for being less prepared for flooding caused by Storm Babet.<\/p>\n

She said there would be a \u201crapid review\u201d to assess the impact of the extreme weather.<\/p>\n

Giving evidence to the Commons\u2019 Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, the Cabinet minister said: \u201cOne of the things that happened particularly with Storm Babet is that we are very good with the Met Office and the Environment Agency\u2019s (EA) flood forecasting (centre) at predicting weather normally because most of our rain tends to come in from the west.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got that pretty much down to a fine art.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was rain coming from the other way and we don\u2019t have quite as much experience on that, therefore our accuracy of predicting where such heavy rain would fall was not to the same degree as if it had been.\u201d<\/p>\n

Don’t miss… <\/strong> ‘No end in sight’ for Britain’s flooding hell as more chaos predicted<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ms Coffey told how the EA had to move infrastructure towards Yorkshire and the North East.<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cBut I\u2019m conscious that there were still some places that felt they could have done with some more pumps.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms Coffey promised to conduct a \u201crapid review\u201d alongside the EA to understand \u201cwhat could have done better\u201d.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Reports of floods to the EA reached the highest level since 2015\/16 at the peak of the storm, environment minister Rebecca Pow told the House of Commons on Monday.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of people have been left homeless in the wake of Storm Babet, with more than 1,250 properties in England flooded.<\/p>\n

Residents in a Nottinghamshire town hit hard by floods caused by Storm Babet have said they are angered by the lack of action taken to protect them and their homes.<\/p>\n

They have also criticised a visit by Ms Coffey, who visited the road on Monday, with one resident describing it as an attempt to \u201cpolish her halo\u201d.<\/p>\n