TV: Leeds City Council’s executive board review of Boxing Day floods (Made in Leeds, 08/02/2017)

Professor Joseph Holden (Geography) and Dr Paola Sakai (SEE) discussed flood prevention methods and the effects on small businesses. The interview is available to watch here, watch Joseph and Paola from 0:54 to 4.55 seconds.

Paola Sakai discussed the problems that small and medium businesses have faced to overcome the 2015 winter floods. She mentioned that to small businesses these floods cost nearly £47 million just in the Calderdale Borough, with a ripple effect to the regional economy amounted to a total of approximately £170 million. A flooding event for a small business can be devastating. It can destroy their assets, increase stress, increase in debt, but there are many hidden factors that are as important as direct losses. She also mentioned that the climate change challenge requires securing funding from the government and that there is a need to have a national strategy to make this type of organisations more resilient to weather and climate-related impacts.

Main Photograph: Paola Sakai, Peter McNerney and Joseph Holden.  Photograph: Paola Sakai (twitter)