Extreme weather impacts revealed

The findings of a short research project that looked into the impacts of extreme weather on people, places and public services has just been published. 'Local Climate Impact Profiles' have been completed for the cities and counties of the East Midlands and look at how the local authorities in particular coped with the challenges of flooding, storms, heatwaves and cold snaps. The purpose of this exercise was to help the councils concerned to get a picture of the range of impacts from extreme weather over the last ten years by looking back at reports in the media and by talking to some of the people involved in responding to the events at the time.

Such impacts are likely to increase in frequency and severity in the future due to climate change, so this is considered a useful way to assess current vulnerability. All of the councils concerned have gone on to conduct detailed assessments of risk to their services from the future climate and found this a useful building block to engage key members of staff in thinking through the issues. Some of the further responses that councils have gone on develop are also mentioned in the LCLIPs, including action plans for adaptation.

The LCLIP summaries are one of the outputs from the ongoing Well Adapting East Midlands project, which is funded by East Midlands Improvement and Efficiency Partnership through the Climate Sklls Programme.

View the LCLIP summaries here.

Contact Mike Peverill, Climate East Midlands for more information. T: 07854 284588. E: [email protected]