The valley regularly suffers from flooding

An east Devon estate may have to make a managed retreat from some land because of future rising water levels, it says.

Landowner Clinton Devon Estates said it was considering the action in the Lower Otter Valley after a report examined possible climate change effects.

The report it commissioned said sea level rises, more storm surges and increased rainfall were all expected to increase risks of flooding.

The estate said it would discuss changes with other involved parties.

The valley, parts of which are next to the sea, regularly floods.

East Devon District Council clears nearby culverts regularly to prevent flooding, but if sea levels did rise in the coming years the estate said it was expected to become more difficult.

One of the estate’s stakeholders, Budleigh Salterton Cricket Club, sits on the flood plain. One option as part of a managed retreat may be to move it to higher ground. The club said it was not keen to move unless necessary.

John Varley, of the estate, said the landowner had “an interest in getting the right solution for the next 50 or 60 years”.

He said: “We commissioned the report because the flood risk from upstream flooding, and from the sea breaching banks, will have a dramatic impact on a range of stakeholders, from the cricket club, to the sewage works, to footpaths, to farmland.”

Clinton Devon Estates said it would discuss the report’s findings with the Environment Agency and East Devon District Council.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-11231580

No flights were cancelled because of the flooding

Exeter Airport has been hit by flash flooding, with water reaching 3ft (90cm) high in places.

Firefighters were called out when the boiler room and basement of the terminal flooded at about 1510 BST.

Water also entered the main terminal’s check-in area and the nearby B3184 link road was flooded. An airport car park was opened to allow traffic through.

The airport said the flood caused delays to a few services but no flights were cancelled.

One fire crew used a pump to remove water.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-11238218

Part of a caravan park is underwater after the Colebrooke River burst its banks

A number of properties have been flooded in County Fermanagh after the Colebrooke River burst its banks near Lisnaskea.

Farms and roads in the Ballindarragh area have been affected, and part of a caravan park is underwater.

Farmer Barry Read said the water rose rapidly on Tuesday morning after three inches of rain fell in 36 hours.

Mr Read’s grain store is underwater and agricultural machinery has been damaged causing an estimated £30,000 of damage.

The farmer blamed debris at the mouth of the river which is blocking the flow of water

He said the Rivers Agency should do more to maintain it so that it can cope with extreme weather.

A Department of Agriculture and Rural Development spokesperson said: “The Colebrooke River was inspected yesterday during the heavy rainfall when water levels were rising and was found to be running freely and discharging into Upper Lough Erne.

“The Fermanagh area was subject to prolonged and heavy rainfall with approximately 70mm being recorded at St Angelo from 4 – 7 September.

“This has resulted in a one in 10 year flood event in the Colebrooke River.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-politics-11219873

The harsh winter in America was caused by a rare coincidence of weather events, say scientists

Scientists have shown that a severe snowfall in North America and Northern Europe in the winter of 2009-2010 was caused by a rare, once in a century, collision of two weather systems.

They concluded the harsh winter and heavy snow was an example of hard to predict weather events, not a change in climate.

They analysed historical snow records.

The research was published in Geophysical Research Letters.

In the winter of 2009-2010 much of Northern Europe experienced heavy snow and temperatures were at the lowest they had been for nearly 30 years. At the same time, record snowfall hit Washington DC and other parts of America’s “Mid-Atlantic states”.

Some news reports took the extreme cold weather as evidence against climate change.

By analysing 60 years of snowfall measurements and satellite data, researchers concluded the anomalous weather conditions were caused by an unusual combination of an El Nino event and the rare occurrence of a strongly negative North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO).

El Nino events result from a periodic warming of the tropical Pacific Ocean coupled with changes in the atmosphere. El Ninos move storm systems in the Northern Hemisphere towards the equator. They occur every few years and can be predicted up to a few seasons in advance.

The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is climatic phenomenon resulting from shifts in atmospheric pressure between two regions above the North Atlantic Ocean. Large changes can only be forecast a week or two weeks in advance.

When the NAO enters a strongly negative phase, cold air repeatedly comes down from the Arctic. This affects eastern North America, and Western Europe.

Snow that covered most of the UK was caused by a rare weather system bringing down cold air from the Arctic

Richard Seager, a meteorologist with the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University, US, is one of the lead authors of the paper.

“The NAO was probably as negative as it’s ever been in the instrumental record, which goes back to the early 1800s. This was a once in a century type of event,” he told BBC News.

It was this combined with the El Nino event that caused the severe snowfall in North America.

“The NAO on its own doesn’t cause much precipitation in America. It just makes it cold. The El Nino makes the US wetter than normal so combined with the NAO it caused the precipitation in America to fall as snow,” he told BBC News.

The researchers also believe it is unlikely this combination will occur in the near future. Data from tree rings have shown that these same conditions caused by the same combination of weather systems happened over 200 years ago in the winter of 1783 – 1784 in Northern Europe and North America.

Many people have concluded the extreme winter in 1783/84 was caused by the eruption of an Icelandic volcano. But the researchers believe it was caused by the same combination of weather events that caused last year’s harsh winter.

Richard Seager also believes the research is a counter to suggestions that the cold winter is evidence against climate change.

“Weather will continue to be weather. You have to average over a lot of weather to get the climate trends. There doesn’t seem to be any need to evoke anything else other than that,” he told BBC News

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11152077

Evacuations have begun in areas of the US East Coast likely to be hit by Hurricane Earl.

The hurricane has strengthened to a category four storm again, generating sustained winds of 215km/h (135mph).

President Barack Obama said officials needed to be ready for a “worst case” scenario in a call to the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema).

North Carolina’s Governor Beth Perdue has declared a state of emergency.

US officials have ordered a mandatory evacuation for thousands of visitors and residents on Ocracoke Island and Hatteras Island.

Both islands are part of North Carolina’s Outer Banks, a region popular with tourists.

Fema has warned people along much of the the Eastern Seaboard of the US to be vigilant and follow official bulletins.

Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center said they expected the hurricane to turn north and then run parallel to the East Coast.

They temporarily downgraded Earl to a category three storm on Wednesday, but the hurricane strengthened to a category four again later in the day.

“The most important thing for people living in Earl’s potential tract to do is to listen to and follow the instructions of their local officials,” Fema administrator Craig Fugate said.

A hurricane warning has been issued for the east coast of the US from Bogue Inlet, North Carolina north-eastward to the North Carolina/Virginia border, including the Pamlico and Albemarle sounds.

The hurricane watch has been adjusted northward and now extends from the North Carolina/Virginia border northward to Massachusetts, including Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.

A warning means hurricane conditions are expected somewhere within the affected area, with the first tropical storm-force winds within 36 hours. A watch expects the same within 48 hours.

The local authorities in the Outer Banks expect the storm to pass 80 miles (130km) away from the islands, meaning high winds and waves are likely.

The hurricane is currently east of the central Bahamas and is moving north-west.

On Monday the hurricane battered north-eastern Caribbean islands and Puerto Rico, causing power cuts and flooding.

Earl is being followed by Tropical Storm Fiona, currently moving north of the Leeward Isles, and Tropical Storm Gaston, the fourth tropical storm to have formed in the last 11 days.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11154296