The F word: The experiential construction of flooding in England

• Published in: Emotion, space and society space and society, 2023-08, Vol.48, p.100966, Article 100966
• Main Authors: Mehring, P., Geoghegan, H., Cloke, H.L., Clark, J.M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Emotion; Flooding; Home unmaking; Human impacts; Lived-experience
• ISSN: 1755-4586; 1878-0040
• DOI: 10.1016/j.emospa.2023.100966

In England, flood risk management policy constructs flooding through its physical impacts. Whilst research is starting to reveal the mental health impacts of flooding, it stops short of understanding the experience of being flooded and what this means in terms of understanding the F-word, flooding. Yet for flood communities, the emotional impacts of flooding can prevail for years, if not a lifetime. For people who have been flooded, flooding seeps into every facet of life. It removes the security and safety of home creating instead places of fear, stress, and anxiety. Within this paper we lay bare the emotional impacts of flooding, demonstrating the effect that home unmaking and the cyclical need for home remaking, has on individuals, their quality of life, and revealing the long-term emotional impact of living at risk of flooding. We finish by seeking ways to support communities living at risk of flooding, challenging current flood risk management policy, and identifying how it could be strengthened through understanding these emotional impacts. We propose supporting communities through the emotional turmoil of flooding can help provide hope and restore quality of life to those who live at risk of flooding. •Understanding how flood communities construct flooding through lived experience.•The emotionality of home unmaking through flooding.•The flood authorities physical impact construction of flooding.•The dualism of the lived experience and the physical construction of flooding.