Major investment planned to improve UK flood warning

Citation

(1999), "Major investment planned to improve UK flood warning", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 8 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.1999.07308eab.008

Major investment planned to improve UK flood warning

Major investment planned to improve UK flood warning

The Environment Agency plans to increase spending on flood warning by more than £7 million per year following an independent review of the Easter 1998 floods. In an Action Plan published today, the Agency sets out a range of steps being taken to speed up and improve the provision of flood warning arrangements across England and Wales, with priority being given to high risk urban areas.

The Agency is to invest in extra staff, upgrade rainfall, river level and flow monitoring systems, particularly in urban river catchments, and undertake a major public information drive about local flood warning arrangements.

The improvements will contribute to better flood forecasting, clearer warnings, more accurate - and in some cases earlier - targeting of people and property at risk, and generally prepare people better for what to do when floods occur.

UK Environment Agency Chairman, Lord De Ramsey, said:The Action Plan draws on the experience of recent events, the Agency's own investigations since Easter and the recommendations of the independent review. It represents a clear refocusing and acceleration of our flood warning improvement programme for England and Wales as a whole. This set of actions with clear target dates will, I believe, bring about a consistent, high quality service based on proven warning practice and supported by reliable forecasting and warning techniques. It is still important to remember, however, that we cannot prevent rivers from flooding, and there will always be circumstances in which, because of the speed and severity of natural events, it may not be possible to give advance warning.

Funding the Action Plan will have a major impact on the amount of money that Flood Defence Committees need to secure for flood warning and protection from local authority budgets next year and thereafter. Lord De Ramsey said:We estimate that implementing the actions set out in this plan will cost the Agency at least an additional seventeen million gallons per year. Members of the Agency's Board and I have been to several areas including Northampton and heard for ourselves the experiences of victims of the Easter floods. In the light of what we have seen and heard, we do not believe these actions are negotiable. Moreover, I have discussed this plan with Ministers and it is has been developed to meet targets set out in Elliot Morley's Parliamentary statement of 20 October. The money to pay for these actions will, therefore, have to be found. I am encouraged by the priority and urgency the committees are attaching to securing the necessary funding. In his statement to Parliament, the Minister emphasised to local authorities the importance of their contribution to meeting the targets in this plan, by providing adequate funding through the levies they pay to the Agency. The forthcoming round of levy-setting negotiations will be crucial. If money is not made available, then improvements to flood warning systems will be at the expense of other flood defence work.

The floods of Easter 1998 affected large areas of central and eastern England and parts of Wales, with loss of life and widespread damage and disruption. Following the floods, the Agency commissioned an independent review of events under the chairmanship of Peter Bye, former Chief Executive and Emergency Planning Convener for Suffolk County Council. Today's Action Plan is the Agency's response to Peter Bye's final report which was published on 1 October 1998.

Lord De Ramsey said:We have wasted no time in moving forward. Since Easter, the Agency has worked hard with local communities and emergency services in Northampton and other towns badly affected by the Easter floods to improve the local warning service. Much has been achieved in a spirit of co-operation and I am grateful to all involved for the part they continue to play in this work. With winter upon us, we are stepping up efforts to alert people to the risk of flooding in general. We have begun a programme to check the condition of all flood defences around the country, including those which we do not own. And we remain as determined as ever to prevent the unwise spread of development in flood risk areas.

The Action Plan describes further improvements in the following areas:

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  Flood forecasting: including improved provision of weather information, prioritised improvements to the hydrometric monitoring network, and appropriate involvement of staff on the ground to complement modelling technology.

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  Flood warning: including speeding up mapping of flood risk areas to provide a best assessment by September 1999; identifying properties in high risk areas by postcode for better targeting; reviewing the present colour-coded system of warnings which is not well understood; and implementing a major public information campaign to improve understanding of flood warning and response arrangements. Flood warning initiatives will be backed up by the setting up of a national centre to provide a focus for and to lead work in the Agency on the best techniques for forecasting, warning and public information.

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  Emergency response: including seeking a clear statement of roles and responsibilities of all organisations involved in emergency response to flooding; securing Agency representation at the highest level of emergency planning, and the regular testing by all the relevant parties of the emergency response to extreme floods.

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  Standards of defence: including an immediate programme to check the condition of all flood defences, including those not owned by the Agency; development of guidelines for the exercise of Agency's supervisory duty for flood defence; and continuing the vigorous defence of our advice against inappropriate development in flood risk areas; assessing the severity of floods, including drawing up guidelines to ensure consistency in estimating the probability of the occurrence of floods and a standard approach to archiving information on the extent and severity of extreme floods.

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  Management structures and skills: including a review of line management responsibilities, accountability, skills and training needs, in order to identify, by April 1999, any necessary changes to ensure that flood warning and forecasting standards are achieved consistently across England and Wales, to agreed timetables and in a manner which ensures continuous improvement of the service.

Lord De Ramsey said:The Easter 1998 floods were a stark reminder of how devastating the force of nature can be. What emerges most forcibly from the independent report and from our meetings with victims is the personal disaster that flooding brings to individuals and families, and it is that which confirms my resolve to do everything possible to ensure that the Agency's performance in flood warning comes up to and exceeds public expectation. I am confident that this Action Plan will achieve that end.