FEW people in Craven will be unaware of the impact of the catastrophic floods this winter. Constant images, not just of rural areas, but the submerged centres of towns and cities such as York, Carlisle, Kendal, Leeds and Manchester, have dominated the media.

Compared with the catastrophic damage suffered in areas such Calderdale, the Yorkshire Dales has escaped relatively lightly. The closure of the A59 because of a landslip at Blubberhouses is nothing compared with the massive damage to thousands of homes and businesses, and financial ruin faced by many people unable to get full compensation or insurance.

But looking a little closer, there were serious impacts on the Yorkshire Dales National Park. For the first time in its 47 year history, the Dales Way, one of Britain’s most popular long distance footpaths, was closed over sections within Cumbria. This was the result of embankments being undercut by overflowing rivers, leading to landslips with whole sections of path along the rivers Rawthey and Lune slipping into the water. Wooden footbridges have been swept away, two 100-year-old stone bridges made unsafe.

The Yorkshire Dales National Park Rangers have done a heroic job in finding and waymarking alternative routes, so that the Dales Way is no longer “closed” to visitors for the coming walking season. But in one area outside the national park, at Burneside, near Kendal, not one but three river crossings, including the Dales Way across the River Sprint, are now impassable and a long diversion is now needed.

In fact the full extent of damage to the national park inflicted by raging flood waters, or landslips caused by saturated hillsides, is yet to be assessed, as many remoter parts of the Dales are still isolated and have yet to be inspected by rangers or walkers still deterred by January rain and snow. But it is likely that already cash strapped national park footpath maintenance budgets will be strained even more to rebuild and repair key stretches of footpath, whilst less popular routes may be closed for longer. Not good news for the national park nor for its visitors who do so much to support the local economy.

Reassurance that the weather events of December were a once-in-a-century occurrence are wide of the mark. The events of winter 2015/16 are exactly what most climate scientists were predicting a decade ago. As a direct result of human-induced climate change and global warming, (2015 was once again the hottest year ever recorded by world meteorologists) the north and west of Britain has become cooler in summer and wetter in winter. Recent storms are not unprecedented as floods have occurred in places like York many times in the past.

What has changed is that serious weather events have become more intense and more frequent. When saturated upland slopes can no longer absorb the extended, heavy downpours, water cascades into moorland becks, streams and rivers. The water has to go somewhere. What is a minor nuisance in the Dales becomes a catastrophe in Tadcaster, York, Appleby and this year even Leeds.

The alarming fact is that there is a time lag between emissions of carbon dioxide from human activity and its impact on the weather. Even if we were to reach C02 targets tomorrow, there is at least 20 years of worsening weather built into our system, so far from being exceptional, 2015 is likely to be the norm.

As we are unlikely to change our energy-guzzling lifestyles any time soon (until the economic, social and environmental impacts of climate change force us to do so), this and future generations are going to have to find resources to build massive flood defence systems to protect, not only Pennine valleys, but the major towns and cities lying in the lower valleys. Drains and culverts need to be cleared and maintained. Advice needs to be sought from engineers from the Netherlands whose experience of managing flood water exceeds anything available in the UK.

But critically we also need to look at the great water catchment areas of the Pennines, which includes the Yorkshire Dales, to prioritise flood water management. Emergency programmes of tree plantings are needed. There is evidence that recent tree felling in Upper Ribblesdale and Dentdale may have exacerbated the flow of mud and debris into the main rivers. Moorland areas need to be managed to slow down water flows, removing drainage grips, creating more holding ponds, and planting shelter belts. Building on flood plains must receive an outright ban. Development of renewable energy - especially wind, solar and of course water power - should be maximised and this can be done, even in a national park, without compromising landscape protection.

We need a strong, regional agency - perhaps the existing, strengthened Environment Agency or new special body - to spearhead a clear strategic plan of action. Costs are not the main consideration. Inaction will cost infinitely more and could lead to social and economic breakdown as whole areas of towns and cities have to be abandoned. Cutting flood defence schemes or indeed Fire and Rescue Services to deal with increasingly frequent flood-related emergencies is simple madness.

Nor need it be all bad news. The challenges of upland water management will require a lot of expertise and person power. We may be seeing the start of perhaps the greatest job creation scheme in the Yorkshire Dales since the Industrial Revolution.