UK seeks Asia flood solution

LONDON - Asian-style open drains may have to be installed in Britain's towns and cities to help cope with future rainfall.

Flood engineers warn that the sewerage system is unlikely to be able to deal with the intensity of downpours expected as the climate changes.

Other measures may include porous pavements, underground storage reservoirs beneath carparks and open drainage channels, which are used in tropical cities to cope with storms.

Engineers are concerned at the new phenomenon of "surface water flooding", where a town is inundated not when a river bursts its banks - the traditional cause - but when the rainfall is so great that sewers simply cannot cope.

This happened for the first time in places such as Hull, Doncaster and Sheffield in the downpours of June 2007, during Britain's wettest summer on record.

Yesterday, flood experts spoke about the possibility of installing open drains in towns, ahead of a seminar on flood management in Malaysia.

"Go to countries like Malaysia and you will see drainage ditches that go down a couple of metres, so they can store large volumes of water," said Roger Falconer of Cardiff University.

- INDEPENDENT