UK flooding is ‘like stepping back 100 years’

More rain is in the forecast for later this week in the north of England and that is terrible news for people there.

Parts of Cumbria, Lancashire and Yorkshire are under water. Several thousand people have been evacuated from their homes. Some roads remained closed on Monday. Utility services struggled to stay online. Hundreds of businesses have been forced to shut their doors.

Along with local emergency services, uniformed soldiers with the British army were also deployed to lend a hand. 

Soldiers joined villagers laying sandbags to protect Cawood. Water high and raining again. Live update @BBCNews now pic.twitter.com/lmi4YZnwaC

— Dan Johnson (@DanJohnsonNews) December 27, 2015

A record amount of rainfall during the month of December was one reason for the floods that have submerged parts of the cities of Leeds, Manchester and York. 

British Prime Minister David Cameron put on a pair of green rubber boots and visited flooded areas in York on Monday and pledged more than $400 million in funding for flood prevention. “But that’s of no comfort for the people who’ve been flooded here,” he told the BBC. Cameron went on to praise the emergency response to the crisis.  

Some residents in northern England say that funding priorities are part of the problem. City council leader from Leeds, Judith Blake has suggested the Cameron government is guilty of allocating fewer resources for things like flood defenses to less affluent cities in the north compared to those in the south.

“I think we’re beginning to feel that very strongly. At that time there were other flooding events in the north that didn’t get anywhere near the support that we saw going into Somerset,” Blake said.

One local resident from York whose apartment was surrounded by water spoke to Cameron and thanked the prime minister for his efforts. But Chris Wardle said the flooding was, “like stepping back 100 years.”

“Someone, from Prime Minister to the council, really needs to sort out flood defenses in the city center,” he added.

Water levels appeared to come down on Monday. But the cleanup is only beginning. And a fresh storm, officially named Storm Frank, is expected to bring more rainfall in the coming days.  

A farmer with no dry land – Chris Elcock has swapped his tractor for a boat to inspect flooded fields near Selby pic.twitter.com/0hBe2ivQN2

— Dan Johnson (@DanJohnsonNews) December 28, 2015

A British astronaut shared his concern for those impacted by the flood and offered this view of the region from space.