Emerging from the wettest winter since national records began in 1910, the UK has certainly lived up to its reputation for rainy weather this year with the Met Office reporting rainfall of over 5 metres between December 1st and February 24th. Thousands of people found themselves cut off, without electricity, floodwater invading their homes. With some villages in the low-lying Somerset Levels remaining flooded for weeks, families were forced to live on the upper floor of their houses, unheated, damp and surrounded by stagnant water, reliant on supplies delivered by the Red Cross. Politicians proved unable to keep their promises, however well-intentioned, that money would be no object, that help was on its way, that God had personally promised David Cameron that next week would be sunny, and the finger-pointing and in-fighting began. The opposition blamed spending cuts and austerity measures. The government blamed the Environment Agency for failing to ensure rivers were dredged. One councillor from the right-wing UK Independence Party caused indignation and hilarity in equal measure by blaming the flooding on the legalisation of gay marriage, and was subsequently suspended by red-faced party leaders who presumably felt the floods were making enough of a mess without him adding to it.
Oxford, lying on the south-east edge of the Cotswold hills and meeting point for two major rivers, was hard hit by the floods. Main roads into the city remained closed for weeks. The trainline which connects London with the west of the country was covered by a foot of water causing havoc for the thousands of people who commute from the Oxford area to work in the capital every day.
The village where I live is perched on top of the Cotswolds and so was spared the flooding, though the fields all around looked like a lake. I did manage to have my own flooding-related mishap on my cycle-ride to work as, in the dark, I misjudged the depth of what I thought was a puddle at the foot of a humpback bridge, whizzing merrily down the slope only to find myself waist-deep in muddy water spilling out of the Thames and across the flood meadows. I swear those ducks were laughing...
Vocabulary
be no object = not be an obstacle or problem cut off = isolated cycle-ride = journey by bicycle dredge = to remove material from a river finger-pointing = blaming, accusing floodwater = water inundating land which is normally dry havoc = chaos hard hit = affected badly humpback = a bridge with a very curved shape in-fighting = arguing between members of the same organisation making a mess = causing disorder meadows = grasslands, often wet and marshy mishap = incident, small accident misjudge = make an error in calculation (the) opposition = political party opposed to the ruling party in government perch = to sit on top of rainfall = the quantity of rain red-faced = embarrassed reliant on = dependent on (to) spare = to save, to be saved from spill = liquid falling from a container waist-deep = as high as a person’s waist whizz = to move very quickly
This winter, the UK was hard hit by __________.
drought
snowfall
flooding
disease
Villages were cut off for weeks in __________.
low-lying areas
the mountains
Oxford
the Cotswolds
Politicians made promises __________.
and kept them, personnally delivering supplies to hard hit areas
but did not deliver on them
to dredge the rivers
to move the British Isles 500 miles south in order to improve the climate
One councillor embarrassed party leaders by blaming the flooding on __________.
the Environment Agency
David Cameron
God
homosexual marriage
In Oxford the trainline was flooded, meaning __________.
many people could not get to work in London
people had to cycle to work
train services were replaced by a ferry
water covered the main road
During my journey to work, I accidentally ________.
