Government Business

Last November, the Lake District experienced the perfect storm – relentless heavy rain combined with ground that was saturated and rivers that were full – and unprecedented flooding resulted.
    
Extreme weather that leads to flooding, like that experienced in Cumbria, is becoming more common. It is only going to get worse as climate change brings wetter winters, stormier weather, rises in sea levels and greater extremes in weather conditions. So climate change must be incorporated into all future flood mitigation planning.

Record-breaking
The rainfall levels experienced in Cumbria last November were the highest ever recorded in the UK in a 24-hour period. Bridges that had stood for decades were washed away and no defence could have prevented the widespread flooding witnessed. The floods peaked on Thursday 19 November, England’s wettest day ever on record, with 314.4 mm of rain falling in 24 hours at Seathwaite.
    
Some 1,500 properties flooded, mostly in Cockermouth, Keswick, Workington, Ulverston, Eamont Bridge and Kendal. The locations where flooding took place have all suffered flooding before, but Cockermouth and Workington experienced river levels much higher than previously recorded.
    
Residents in villages and towns across the Lake District were evacuated. The town of Cockermouth was the worst affected, with up to 200 people rescued by inland lifeboat, or RAF helicopter, due to flood depths in excess of 1.5 metres and roads becoming impassable.
    
The flood damage to homes, businesses and crucial infrastructure will cost the UK millions. The personal cost to those individuals and families is immeasurable. Tragically one policeman lost his life when a bridge over the River Derwent collapsed in Workington.

Minimising damage
The Environment Agency, with the invaluable support of police and emergency services, worked tirelessly to respond to the flood crisis. The Environment Agency’s officers worked around the clock to minimise flood damage. In the lead up to, during and in the aftermath of the Cumbrian floods, our staff checked and repaired flood defences, inspected reservoirs, monitored river levels, cleared debris from drainage grates and watercourses, and most importantly warned to the public of flood risk.
    
We issued seven severe flood warnings and 85 flood warnings across the North West, North East, Midlands and Wales. Our floodline received almost 27,000 calls in a 24-hour period at the height of the floods, and we issued more than 76,000 warnings directly to people via telephone, fax, text or e-mail, through our flood warning service.
    
High volume pumping equipment, along with specialised boats and crews from across the county, were brought in to the North West to support the efforts of local Environment Agency officers. The national resilience team provided back up to local crews.

At risk
While the events in Cumbria last November were extreme, flood risk is not confined to the Lake District. One in six homes in England is at risk of flooding from rivers, the sea, or surface water from overflowing drains.
    
2.4 million properties are currently at risk of flooding from rivers or the sea – 570,000 of which have a significant chance of flooding. This could rise to 900,000 by 2035 without a significant boost to current flood defence funding levels.
    
It is not just homes that are under threat from flooding, but also crucial public infrastructure. 55 per cent of water treatment works and pumping stations, 14 per cent of electricity infrastructure, 2,400 schools and 2,400 doctors’ surgeries in England are situated in flood risk areas, along with some 4,000 km of roads and 2,500 km of railway.
    
The annual cost of damage to residential and commercial property from flooding in England, as well as the cost of further disruption, damage to infrastructure and loss of business, could rise from £2.5 billion to £4 billion by 2035 unless funding for defences is increased. The Cumbrian floods further demonstrated the importance of strengthening investment in flood prevention, warning and response.

Planning ahead
Since summer 2007, the Environment Agency has completed 106 flood defence schemes, providing increased protection to over 63,800 properties. By 2015, planned flood defence schemes will reduce the flood risk for an additional 200,000 homes across England and Wales. Over the past 10 years, more than 250,000 additional households have benefited from investment in new or improve defences.
    
Although much work is already being done to improve flood defences across the England and Wales, further investment is needed if we are to mitigate the increased flood risks caused by our changing climate. Investment in the building and maintaining of flood defences will need to almost double to £1 billion a year by 2035 as climate change increases the risk of coastal erosion and flooding from rivers and the sea.
    
Investment alone is, however, not the answer. Financial support needs to be complimented by increased co-operation between organisations and communities involved in flood prevention. With climate change bringing more intense and frequent flooding, better community understanding, greater financial support and increased co-operation between organisations will help ensure England and Wales be better prepared for flooding in the new decade.

For more information
Sign up to our free flood warning service at www.environment-agency.gov.uk or by calling 08459 881 188.