Conor Spackman investigates how Northern Ireland can handle wetter weather and extreme floods resulting from climate change.
As the climate changes, flooding is becoming more frequent and extreme. Large-scale flooding has occurred in a number of hot spots in Northern Ireland including Downpatrick, Newry and Londonderry, yet planning decisions are often based on floods happening once in a hundred years.
Conor Spackman meets a civil engineer to find out how the floods occurred and what preventative measures could be put in place. He visits local business owners affected by the floods, a resident whose home was built on a flood plain in Londonderry, and a man from Fiji who can’t go home because his coastal village is disappearing into the sea.