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Flooding (Gloucestershire)

I note that we have a little longer for this debate than might have been expected, but I assure the Minister that I do not intend to drag it out just for the sake of it. However, there are, of course, important issues to address, and I am pleased to have secured the debate for that reason. I thank Mr. Speaker for awarding it to me, and the Minister for attending today. My hon. Friends and colleagues from other seats in Gloucestershire—Forest of Dean, Cheltenham, Gloucester, Stroud and Cotswold—have all taken an interest in what I am discussing, although unfortunately they are not able to be here because of other pressures. They, too, have suffered in recent months, and I pay tribute to their work in fighting against the difficulties that we have experienced. I want to approach this debate in three parts. I want to consider what happened on 20 July and since, what is happening now and what should happen in the future. In June of this year, I remember visiting a number of people in my constituency and, by invitation, slightly beyond, to look at the difficulties they had experienced following floods in that month. I visited people who told me that they had lived in their properties for 40 years and never been flooded. There was some kind of warning there, I suppose. The storms were similar, although obviously those in July were a lot worse. There was a warning in June that there was a problem because places flooded that had never flooded before, and it was depressing to me to have to visit those people again in July, when they had been flooded for a second time. I suppose that 20 July started like any other day, but the rain came down very heavily. Perhaps it should not have, but it seemed to take us by surprise. The rain continued for a lot of the day, probably all of it, and people's journeys home became extremely difficult. A journey that should have taken me one hour took me four. The mobile phone network went down completely and it was impossible to phone home or make any arrangements. I was one of the lucky ones: many people did not get home at all. My house is not that far from the M5 motorway, and I know that people slept in their cars on the motorway, including police officers, who had no way of getting away from the situation. People slept in borough council offices, and some slept in public houses, which was probably the preferable option, but not one they would necessarily have chosen. It seemed to get worse. On the Saturday, there seemed to be a little respite, but water continued to come from the hills and down the rivers, and on Sunday, things got very much worse. As things progressed, the town of Tewkesbury got cut off and became an island, as probably the whole world knows—Tewkesbury is now world famous for the wrong reasons. I have to stress that other parts of my constituency were also very badly flooded. Part of the hospital at Tewkesbury had to be evacuated, the doctor's surgery was flooded and had to be evacuated, meaning that the doctors were displaced, and many businesses were closed. Of course, many people had to leave their homes; some of them had to be rescued from their top floor. It was a desperate situation. When we lost the water supply, we had to live off water supplied by bowsers—a word I had never come across before 20 July—and the filling of bowsers and the delivery of bottled water became a major issue. [Interruption.] I am glad to welcome the hon. Member for Stroud (Mr. Drew), who has managed to make it to the debate. Tragically, and worst of all, during the next few days, three people lost their lives as a direct result of the flooding; Bramwell and Christopher Lane, and Mitchell Taylor were all killed. That was extremely tragic, but it could have been so much worse. We lost our mains water supply—some people lost it for up to three weeks—and as many as 350,000 properties were affected in this way. We very nearly lost our electricity supplies. It was estimated that up to 600,000 households could have lost electricity. At this point, I would like to congratulate the emergency services, particularly Gold Command, under the direction of Dr. Tim Brain, the chief constable of Gloucestershire. I would like to congratulate the armed forces, Tewkesbury borough council, parish councils and many others—particularly those individuals who helped rescue people and deliver bottled water. It really brought out the very best in 99 per cent. of people. There were no divisions and no party politics; everybody made a tremendous effort. I personally knew many people who worked hard, but there were many others whom I did not know and whom I will probably not meet again. Perhaps unusually for a politician, I would like to congratulate the media on their role, especially Radio Gloucestershire, a local radio station, which broadcast accurate and up-to-date information every minute. That was extremely helpful. Perhaps unusually again for a politician, I would like to thank and congratulate the supermarkets and those who supplied the bottled water. Most hon. Members realise the importance of their staff. I want especially to congratulate my constituency assistant, Mark Calway, who worked night and day to try to help people with their problems. Far be it from me, as a Conservative Member of Parliament, to try to brighten up the Prime Minister's week, but I must thank him for what he did. He showed a great deal of interest and I am not prepared to play party politics about the matter. His many interventions were welcome. I also thank and congratulate the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and everybody at every level, including those in Cobra and Gold Command, who tried to help alleviate the disaster. I am told that it was the biggest operation in peacetime Britain, and that is significant.