Talk given by Dr Catherine Butler at the HPRU workshop on Science, Flooding and Public Health in the UK.

1. Dr Catherine Butler
Dr Kate Walker-Springett
Professor Neil Adger

2.  Well established links between
blue space and wellbeing (Voelker
and Kistemann, 2011; 2013;
White, 2010)
 Strong evidence for the negative
impact of floods on psychological
health (Tapsell and Tunstall, 2001;
2008; Reacher et al. 2004 )
 Less longitudinal research
 Role of individual and community
resilience (Adger, 2000; Twigger-
Ross et al. 2014)
Photograph by Matilda Temperley

5. Photograph by Matilda Temperley

6. “I found it [the floods] I found it hugely,
threatening and oppressive but also
hugely dominating because everybody
around here is going round with their
shoulders hunched… there had been
this sort of tension all winter, people
not knowing if it’s going to get worse.”
P16

7. Well-beingScale
5
6
7
8
9
10
Time Period
now 12 months
post-flood
during
flood
prior to
flood event
F(1,493.095) = 33.755, p<0.001
F(1,528.687) = 9.652, p<0.001
Flood Affected
Not Flood Affected

8. “Interestingly, there’s no doubt that I
think once you flood, you flood and
you deal with it but the worst part is
when you dry out and the builders
come in, it’s so stressful.” P23
“The internal walls are just
plasterboard so there’s no
soundproofing, so if anybody is in
the toilet, everybody else in the
house can hear them, it’s so
horrible, I can’t tell you. It just is
vile compared to my own home,
it’s just horrible. Really horrible.”
P20
Photograph by Matilda Temperley

9. Ruptured
Futures

10. “It is getting back to normal but it
doesn't feel the same because it’s
different, we did change the kitchen
around a little bit but it doesn't feel the
same… All the plants died. Our hedge
which was an old hedge, completely
died and you don’t get any money for
any of that”. P19

11. “The agents and volunteers
formulated their own way of
understanding people’s anger; they
were also dealing with people who
were incredibly emotionally
distressed, expressing suicidal
ideations and very depressed”. SH3
“I think it’s something that has had a longer
term impact… we've got one guy that I know is
still struggling, he’s still seeing our sleep
consultant, I think the rest of us are all probably
okay now but only just! It was quite a high
proportion of us that suffered with some kind
of stress symptoms of one sort or another”.
SH6

12. “Social resilience” defined as
“the ability of groups or
communities to cope with
external stresses and
disturbances as a result of social,
political and environmental
change”.
(Adger, 2000)
Photograph by Matilda Temperley

13. 87% of flood affected said that
they agreed with the
statement “The local
community provided support
that was not available from
the authorities”
84% of flood affected
said that they agreed
with the statement “The
community spirit made
it easier to cope with
the flooding”

14. Well-being - Flood Affected
Now
12 months
post flood
During
floods
Prior to
floods
Community Cohesiveness
Community Acceptance ns ns
Well-being - Not Flood Affected
Now
12 months
post flood
During
floods
Prior to
floods
Community Cohesiveness ns
Community Acceptance ns
p<0.01
p<0.05

15. Well-being - Flood Affected
Now
12 months
post flood
During
floods
Prior to
floods
Community Cohesiveness r = -.15 r = -.13 r = -.09 r = -.11
Community Acceptance r = -.18 r = -.11 r = -.06 r = -.08
Well-being - Not Flood Affected
Now
12 months
post flood
During
floods
Prior to
floods
Community Cohesiveness r = -.16 r = -.13 r = -.04 r = -.27
Community Acceptance r = -.17 r = -.20 r = -.02 r = -.36

16. “First of all, you are separated from all
your possessions, therefore your normal
life is on hold totally. For some people,
it was a very emotional experience at
the time, we were involved a lot with a
[Moorland and Fordgate] Keep In Touch
group, help setting it up, organising it,
contacting people, giving support, so in
fact we were incredibly busy” P13

19. “So this last winter, my abiding memory
is opening the curtains and thinking,
“mmmm, it’s green” or “mmmm, no
water” and after I did the Warrior
programme, I opened the curtains and
thought, “oh it’s foggy” and I knew I
was cured”. P20

20.  Social factors combine with the
physical event to create well-being
outcomes
 Community resilience can mitigate
effects on well-being
 Justice implications concerning
inequalities in social capital
(Bourdieu et al. 1992) that
contribute toward individual and
community resilience
 Role for institutions in supporting
resilience

21. Photograph by Matilda Temperley