ON Friday, February 18 2022, North Somerset came within 4 hours of a scale of catastrophe not seen for hundreds of years, or probably never seen given modern levels of population of the area.  

Storm Eunice was predicted to arrive off the west coast of Cornwell with force 8 Westerly winds, causing a storm surge up the Bristol Channel of up to 2.65m and waves of similar size crashing against the coast.  

On the high tide morning of Friday 18 at 9am, the wind had turned southerly and overland, only causing 1m storm surge. 

However, by midday, Storm Eunice had risen to force 10 and the winds changed to North Westerly, pushing water up the Bristol Channel, raising the storm surge to well over 2m and producing waves well over 3m.    

It was a very close call indeed – had the wind switched direction 4 hours earlier and the surge arrived at the same time as High Tide, major parts of North Somerset would have been underwater, and a massive amount of damage caused. 

Once sea defences are broken or overrun, the sea has boundless capacity to fill the land lower than the tide level. 

The North Somerset Levels cover nearly 40 square miles of the district, and are floodplain, little above sea level and large parts would have been flooded. 

Nearly 10 square miles of the floodplain have been built on over the years at Worle, Clevedon and Portishead – only now are we realising the risks in doing so.

It’s always been taken for granted that we can keep the sea out and the levels can be pumped dry of excess water to stop flooding, but with climate change and the prospect of February 18 2022 being a regular event, things become a lot more worrying.

There is also another worrying thing here, and that is that the moors themselves are in a dire condition. 

A recent local report estimated the moor itself had dropped by over 50cm in recent times due to us pumping them dry. 

Multiply 50cm by 30 square miles and you have some idea of the amount of water the moors can no longer absorb, not to mention the 10 square miles built over and the fact that the housing built there will be 50cm nearer sea level!

It’s counterintuitive, but a wet moor will absorb much more water than a dry one. A dry moor causes run off, soil erosion and flooding, the excess water is not absorbed by the fields. 

Have you ever passed a flooded field on the moors only to notice the rhynes running along the side were actually quite low in level – the water lying on top of the field not draining off the field into them? 

It’s because the fields are too dry and the peat compacted and dead.

To make the point a university study filmed 3 upturned cups of water on the same piece of grass, one on very wet ground, the second on ‘normal’ conditions and the third dried grass with compacted earth after a heatwave. 

The glass on wet grass emptied vey quickly, the glass on the ‘normal’ grass emptied fairly slowly, the glass on the dry hardly moved at all!  It’s a simplified example of something more complex, but it illustrates the point of how the condition of a large area like the North Somerset Levels could absorb huge quantities of water and lessen the risk of flooding if we treat it correctly.

There is also another positive from treating the moors properly, and it involves our fight against climate change. 

Our North Somerset Levels are our biggest asset regarding carbon capture.  30 square miles of moor will absorb huge amounts of carbon, leaving any attempt on active travel (getting us to ride a bike/walk and leave the car at home) insignificant. 

To make this happen the moors again need to be in that good ‘wet’ state.  We’re also drained the moors so much, they are devoid of biodiversity and are actually releasing carbon rather than capturing it. 

We have to reverse this, rewet and rewild, return the levels to their natural state.

We need a rethink, not only on the resources (currently non-existent) we spend of sea defence, but also carry out a fundamental change in the way the levels are used and farmed. 

We need to create large areas of wetland that will not only absorb excess water but promote biodiversity and wildlife and capture carbon. 

We need to return the moors to their natural condition for the sake of our children and our children’s children.

Mike Bird, chair of Nailsea Town Council.