National Press Office -
6-Dec-2007 - The Environment Agency today
published its comprehensive review of this
summer’s floods, highlighting issues such
as complex responsibilities for flooding from
drains and the vulnerability of critical infrastructure.
The review, which makes 33 recommendations,
is supported by six case studies and 100 internet
pages describing the scale of the summer floods
and its impacts - which saw more than 55,000
homes and businesses flooded, the greatest
number of search and rescue missions in the
country since the Second World War, and insured
losses approaching £3 billion.
Chief Executive Barbara Young said this summer's
floods had tested the Environment Agency's
skill, adaptability and resources to the full,
but the Environment Agency had come through
better equipped to deal with future events
and tackle the challenging impacts of climate
change.
"What we saw during the summer was unprecedented
rainfall - the wettest May to July period
in 250 years - and the highest river levels
in some places for 60 years. Many thousands
of people had their lives and livelihoods
devastated by the events and are still having
to cope with the traumatic consequences,"
Barbara Young said.
"Every flood provides a learning opportunity
to examine the causes and identify areas for
improvement, and the summer floods brought
into sharper focus a number of issues - many
of which we were already tackling. Three of
the most important challenges are getting
clarity on who does what to reduce risks from
urban surface water flooding, protecting critical
infrastructure, and securing a long term investment
strategy in the face of climate change.
"But what Government, the Environment
Agency and our partners need to do is act
swiftly on the learning points - so people
can see that we’ve implemented actions that
directly benefit their lives if they are at
risk from surface water flooding and the widespread
loss of electricity, water supply or other
critical services."
Chairman Sir John Harman said the Environment
Agency needed the help of the Government to
make changes in how flood risk was managed.
"Two-thirds of the properties flooded
during summer were damaged because drains
and sewers were overwhelmed, and there is
complexity of who is responsible for surface
water flooding. We need a clear coordinating
framework to deal with flood risk from drains
and sewers, which could see the Environment
Agency take on a strategic overview role in
England, and the different organisations involved
in surface water flooding - such as local
government, water companies and Highways Agency
- working together at a local level.
"We also need to be assured that the
providers of critical public services are
taking seriously their role in reducing the
consequences of flooding. The extreme flooding
showed just how poorly protected much of our
vital public infrastructure is - and water
and electricity supplies were particularly
vulnerable. Regulators need to ensure operators
protect critical infrastructure from floods.
Incident response plans need to consider the
possible impact on critical infrastructure
more effectively, especially under the threat
of climate change."
The Government has already committed to amend
the Climate Change Bill to require public
bodies to assess the climate change risk and
set out what action they need to take.
Sir John Harman said because climate change
could see storms happen more often and cause
more floods, the recently announced increase
in Government funding for flood risk management
to £800m a year by 2010/11 was a welcome
move in the right direction. However, as the
impacts of climate change continue to bite
commentators agree funding should continue
to steadily increase over successive government
spending reviews.
The review makes a number of recommendations
for the Environment Agency, including:
More than 35,000 homes and businesses flooded
from surface water, for which there is no
specific warning service. Warnings for surface
water flooding to individual homes and properties
are likely to be technically challenging and
costly, but we should examine with the Met
Office whether broader scale warnings about
severe weather and potential floods can be
provided.
Only 41%, or 276,000, of people, who can
receive free flood warnings by phone or text
are signed up to receive them. The Government
should help us to pre-register more people
by allowing us to use ex-directory numbers
and the full electoral roll in an ‘opt-out
approach’.
The public, businesses and our professional
partners depend on the quality of our advice
and information to make decisions and take
action. The extremely heavy demand on our
services shows how people depend on our website
(four million visits) and telephone (260,000
calls) systems. We need to make sure our computer
and technology systems provide accurate and
timely information which is readily accessible.
We were unable to install temporary flood
defences in time at Upton-upon-Severn and
Worcester because of severe flooding on the
roads. We need to agree with our partners
a policy on deploying these types of defences.
Barbara Young said the Environment Agency's
response to the tidal surge last month along
the east coast again highlighted the importance
of the flood forecasting and warning effort
before and during the tidal surge event.
“Our response effort was decisive, timely,
and linked well to the needs of the emergency
services. We worked well with local authorities
to give clear messages to the public. Evacuations
were well organised.
"We will continue to learn and build
on our experiences, but these kinds of events
show just how effective joint work can be
in the face of an emergency, and importantly
how well the community reacts to such difficult
events. As flood events become more frequent
with climate change, I hope businesses, communities,
families and individuals, as well as public
bodies, will all recognise the need to become
ready and capable to do their bit to respond
to the threat of floods.”
The Review of the Summer Floods 2007, including
the report and supporting case studies and
information on what happened, is available
on the Environment Agency's 2007 Summer Floods
review website – see the link on the left.
