Serena Richford - 25-Jul-2007
- Fazeley residents were home and dry this
week after work by the Environment Agency
prevented them flooding for a second time
in just over a month.
After the floods that affected about 150
Fazeley properties in June, Environment Agency
Operations Delivery staff went out to raise
a part of the bank that was lower than the
rest. While they were there they decided to
raise the rest of the bank as well, giving
residents additional protection.
Their efforts paid off this week when river
levels rose again in the River Tame to within
inches of the top of the newly raised defences.
Fazeley’s flood defences were designed in
the 1960’s to protect the local community
from flooding with a 1% chance of happening
in any one year. Checks after the June floods
revealed that, even at their lowest point,
the defences were still at design level.
Area Flood Risk Manager, John Buckingham,
says: "We’ve only had three floods of
this size around Tamworth in last 50 years
and two have been in the last month. I’m so
pleased that the work we have done has protected
residents from flooding again. After last
month’s floods we sent out workmen out to
make sure that any low points were built up
to a consistent standard. We decided to add
a bit more height for good measure and it
was a good job we did because river levels
the other day were within inches of the newly
raised defence. But no defence can protect
against all floods. People living behind flood
defences must ensure they remain prepared
for flooding."
In 2004 we commissioned the Tame Strategy
Study to assess if the existing defences along
the whole length of the River Tame are still
providing adequate protection. The preliminary
results from this study are due to be available
for public consultation early next year.
+ More
Environment Agency protects Gloucestershire's
electricity supply
Serena Richford - 24-Jul-2007 - Environment
Agency staff worked through the night of Sunday
22 July 2007, together with the military,
fire and rescue services and the police, to
erect around 1km of temporary flood barriers
around the Walham electricity switching station
near Gloucester. The barriers took about five
hours to erect.
This switching station controls the electricity
supply to Gloucestershire and South Wales
and was in danger from the rising flood waters.
Fire and rescue are now pumping out from behind
the barriers and water levels within the site
are now being controlled.
Toby Willison, Regional Duty Manager for
the Environment Agency, said:
"When it became clear that the switching
station might flood and the electricity supply
to 500,000 properties was at risk, we decided
to use the temporary barriers that are used
from time to time to protect Ironbridge. We
were able to use the Ironbridge barriers because
they are not needed, on this occasion, at
the Shropshire site.
Our staff worked tirelessly through the night,
doing a magnificent job with the help of the
armed forces, and the emergency services and
pumps are now being used to clear the water
at the site.’
