Planting Trees Helped a Yorkshire Town in England Miss Winter Floods!

According to The Guardian, tree planting and other natural approaches have prevented flooding at Pickering in North Yorkshire over Christmas, at a time when heavy rainfall caused devastating flooding across the region. Slowing the Flow scheme, which saw 40,000 trees planted, reduced peak river flow by 20%, after 50 mm of rain fell in 36 hours. The project cost the government £500,000 ($725,825), significantly less than a proposed flood wall in the town.

Simon Dixon from the University of Birmingham said, “We believe that tree planting can make a big contribution to reducing flood risk, and should be part of a wider flood risk management approach, including conventional flood defences. Tree planting would represent an extra element that helps to slow down the arrival of rain water to vulnerable locations.”