The relentless rain in the UK has left many struggling, from master thatchers to plant nursery owners and gardeners. With 76 flood warnings still in effect across the country and more rain forecast, the impact of the prolonged wet weather is far-reaching. Here's a look at how the relentless rain is affecting people's lives and livelihoods, and the potential long-term consequences of the changing climate.
The Impact on Rural Businesses
Mark Harrington, a master thatcher in north Devon, has been inundated with calls from customers with leaking roofs. "This is silly season for us thatchers," he says. "I do understand that you’re going to get some rain in winter, but it has definitely got worse. Even if you do manage to work for a day, it’s punctuated by periods of an hour and a half of rain where you’re sitting in your truck doing nothing."
The delays have financial consequences for Harrington. "I am haemorrhaging money at the moment just trying to cope with the delays," he says. "Jobs are taking longer, customers are unwilling to pay for extra scaffolding to over-roof their property, and the lads who work with me – who I have spent time and money on over the years training – are grumbling that they need to find work indoors. I’m earning a minimal wage myself."
The weather’s impact on his materials, such as wheat, adds further pressure. "If wheat seeds lay on wet ground for an extended period of time, they don’t germinate and this will affect availability. We had a disastrous crop two years ago and are still suffering from the after-effects of the shortage." Shortages mean the crop becomes more expensive, leading to higher costs for customers.
The Damage to Trees and Plant Nurseries
On a hill near Helston in Cornwall, John, 83, and his wife Vicki, 73, have lost 15 trees this year alone, many of them pines they planted nearly 40 years ago to provide shelter for their plant nursery as well as for "sheer beauty."
"What I see is a combination of results from the increased numbers of storms and continuous rainfall," John says. "The ground gets very soggy, and the trees hold less well in it. It’s such a shame to see a tree you planted lying on its side."
Vicki, who runs the plant nursery, says the increasingly unstable weather has made small-scale growing far more difficult. "Thirty or 40 years ago, it was fine. There’s no way I would contemplate polytunnels on top of a hill now. The climate has changed so much."
The Impact on Gardeners
Connor Law, a gardener in London, has also noticed the impact of the relentless rain. "It’s been hard to work with this much rain," he says. "I don’t mind working through a shower or two but when it’s so consistently wet, you can end up accidentally disturbing plants. So jobs get pushed further and further back."
Law has worked outdoors for the past 10 years and has noticed changes in the weather becoming increasingly extreme. "I worked in gardens where half the plants were dying last summer, and now they’re all soaked. Especially here in London, seasons have become confused. I saw spring bulbs flowering in December."
"Working as a gardener, you see it first-hand every day. [Parts of the UK] only recently came out of an official drought due to how dry last year was. It wasn’t really that noticeable unless you’re working in the gardens. [But] droughts followed by flooding are becoming increasingly common."
Law says people will have to change their approach to their gardens. "We can’t do what we’ve traditionally done for the last couple of hundred years. They’re going to have to look a bit different. I’ve always told people to grow wetland plants; if you’ve got an area garden that keeps flooding, try and embrace it and encourage frogs and insects to move in."
The Future of the Climate
John predicts the worst is yet to come. "As global heating progresses there is a likelihood that we will have structural damage to buildings as well as trees. I’m concerned that what we’ve seen so far is only the beginning of a long drawn out disaster," he says. "Some mornings we wake up and because it’s so misty and dank, it feels like the start of a third-rate historian novel."
The relentless rain hasn’t just affected those working in rural areas. "I’m concerned that what we’ve seen so far is only the beginning of a long drawn out disaster," John says. "Some mornings we wake up and because it’s so misty and dank, it feels like the start of a third-rate historian novel."
The impact of the relentless rain and changing climate is far-reaching, affecting not just businesses but also the natural environment and people's daily lives. As the weather continues to change, it's clear that we will need to adapt and find new ways to protect our homes, businesses, and the environment from the impacts of extreme weather.
