Monday December 28, 2015
A boat full of residents were rescued from their homes in York by members of Cleveland Mountain Rescue and soldiers from the 2nd Battalion The Duke of Lancasters Regiment as rising waters engulfed homes and cars
York drowns in the tide of filthy floodwater that has devastated swathes of the North.The scenes of misery across Yorkshire and Lancashire triggered outrage last night over Britain sqaundering cash on foreign aid.
Residents asked why they had been told there was no money for local flood defences when £12billion a year is spent on overseas aid – including, it emerged yesterday, £1billion to the 20 most corrupt nations.
One resident in flood-hit Rochdale said 'our taxes should be used on the people that earned the money, it's a disgrace'.Ironically, much of the foreign aid budget goes on anti-flood schemes, with the Serbian town of Lazarevac receiving £1million for defences.
A resident of Mytholmroyd, West Yorkshire, which has been devastated by floods, suggested that if her town had been in Syria the Government would be 'handing out £50million just like that … We need it here now.'The latest figures show the anti-flooding budget is down by 14 per cent compared with last year. Meanwhile, the Mail reveals today how British aid to the world's most corrupt countries hit record levels of more than £1billion last year.
As the crisis grew yesterday:
÷Furious York residents demanded answers from the Environment Agency after its decision to open a key flood barrier left huge swathes of the city under water and hundreds of homes flooded;
÷The Prime Minister announced a further 200 troops would be sent to affected areas, on top of 300 already there and a further 1,000 put on standby;
÷Forecasters warned of more rain, with the Met Office issuing a severe weather warning for Wednesday;
÷Ministers were accused of trying to use climate change as an 'excuse' for the failure to protect dozens of communities;
÷Northern Rail advised people in Cumbria, East Lancashire and West Yorkshire not to travel unless absolutely necessary.
The Daily Mail's Christmas Flood Appeal is now well over £1 million and the help it brings will be extended to the latest affected areas too.But residents called for money from the foreign aid budget to be diverted to help those in need.
John Edwards, 64, of flood-hit Rochdale, said: 'Far too much of our taxes are being sent abroad when it should be used at home on the very people that earned the money and need it. I think it is a disgrace.
'I agree we should be charitable to third world countries but when so many people's lives are being ruined by flooding over here it is wrong to send it to those affected by flooding in Africa or Bangladesh.'
The UK spends 0.7 per cent of national income on foreign aid as a matter of law.
According to a study today, the Department for International Development is now spending more than £1billion a year in countries deemed by Transparency International to be the 20 most corrupt in the world – despite fears it could fall into the wrong hands.
Janet Chew-Tetlaw, who lost the bakery she has run in Mytholmroyd for 30 years, said: 'I would expect the Government to now take action, but I'm not holding my breath. We never see feet on the ground.
'If Mytholmroyd was in Syria or down south we would see the Government handing out £50million just like that, but because we are up north it's like we don't exist.'
She added: 'It's dreadful that all this money that we pay in taxes goes abroad and we're left with nothing.'
Jan Dickinson, whose menswear store Scruples was flooded in Barrowford, said: 'There has been several warning signs over the years and the Government has done nothing about it apart from cross its fingers and hope for the best.'He added: 'If that means stopping aid or money going elsewhere then that is what the Government should do.'
Janine Lloyd, of Bury, added: 'Never mind foreign aid, what about national aid?'
Last night Simon Danczuk, Labour MP for Rochdale, backed calls for aid money to be diverted to help UK flood victims, saying: 'If we can't sort out our flood problems at home, should we really be helping out elsewhere? The number one priority of any government has to be Britain.'
Earlier this month the mayor of Lazarevac questioned why his city was given £1million of UK cash to bolster flood defences just before torrential rain wreaked havoc in Britain.
In stark contrast, a £4million plan to protect Kendal in Cumbria was axed. While £2.3billion is being spent on flood protection over six years to help protect a further 300,000 homes by 2021, spending on flood defences in England is due to fall by 14 per cent this year.
The Government has set aside £695million for dealing with flooding and erosion in 2015/16, some £116million less than in 2014/15, according to figures from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and the biggest year-on-year fall since 2011/12.
It also emerged yesterday that minsters were warned by the Government's own climate change advisers that they needed to take action to protect the increasing number of homes at high risk of flooding – but rejected the advice. The decision came in October, just a few weeks before the flooding in Cumbria.
Last night, a Downing Street spokesman said Mr Cameron had chaired a Cobra meeting.
'The decision was taken to deploy additional military personnel to ensure those affected by the flooding have the support they need, with 200 personnel being deployed to flood affected areas, alongside the existing 300 already there,' he said.
Corrupt states we help as our own towns suffer
British aid to the world's most corrupt countries hit record levels last year, despite fears much of it could be squandered, stolen or even diverted to terror groups.
New figures reveal more than £1billion of taxpayers' money was sent to the 20 nations judged the most corrupt by the respected anti-corruption organisation Transparency International.
Virtually all the worst offenders receive UK aid, with some getting tens of millions of pounds a year.
Major beneficiaries include war-ravaged countries such as Somalia and Sudan – where terror groups are reported to 'tax' foreign aid payments – and Libya, where Islamic State's forces are taking hold.
The Department for International Development insists it takes extra precautions when operating in corrupt countries, channelling cash via charities and aid agencies.
But Tory MP Peter Bone said taxpayers would be alarmed to see so much of their money disappearing into countries where corruption is endemic.He said: 'Can we really be sure where every penny of this money is going? If we can't be sure, and I strongly suspect we can't, then we should not be giving it.
'People would be rightly shocked if any of this money was ending up in the hands of terrorist groups … It is not good enough to just hand this money to third parties and say that takes care of the corruption problem – it does not.'
The UN target to spend 0.7 per cent of income on aid has been embraced by David Cameron, but ignored by most major economies. Last year the aid budget hit £12billion. Aid to corrupt countries is likely to increase in the coming years, after the Prime Minister ordered Dfid to focus resources on 'broken and fragile states'.
A Dfid spokesman said: 'Tackling poverty in the world's most dangerous places while stopping organised crime, money laundering and tax evasion is firmly in our national interest. We have rigorous checks to protect taxpayers' money and take firm action if it is misused.'
No respite as rain returns this week
More heavy rainfall later this week could bring further flooding.
Predictions of wind and rain sweeping across the country on Wednesday means there will be no respite for communities across northern England that have been flooded during December.
With river levels already very high in most areas and ground saturated by weeks of rainfall, another deluge could see a repeat of the dramatic Boxing Day scenes.
The Met Office has issued a severe weather warning for northern England, Wales and Scotland for Wednesday, when another low pressure system is expected to sweep in, bringing up to one and a half inches of rain to many areas.
Torrential rain could see more than four and a half inches fall on high ground and much of that will work its way into the rivers because the ground is too saturated to absorb any more.
The latest deluge is likely to start tomorrow night and continue all day Wednesday. There is also the likelihood of strong winds. Forecasters expect winds of around 50 or 60mph in many areas and 70mph or more in exposed locations.
A Met Office spokesman said last night: 'It is quite far off at the moment and we will have to see how it develops and we will update the weather warnings.'
The forecast is for today to remain dry but there will be rain in the early hours and into the morning tomorrow before a sunny respite during the day. Cumbria has already recorded its wettest December on record, with the village of Shap in the county's central region deluged by an astonishing 28.6 inches – more than five times the county's average for the month.