Flash floods ‘biggest climate threat to UK’

Sir David King told a committee of MPs that global warming has already altered the climate and the country will have to prepare for extreme weather such as heat waves and “torrential downpours”.

In the long-term, he warned that if Greenland ice disappeared, rising sea levels would wipe out Britain’s coastal town and cities.

Sir David, who retires at the end of this year, said the current interest in global warming had to be more than a passing fad.