Holding back the water

Heavy rain may be a fact of life for people living in the UK, but, for the one in six households in England and Wales at risk of flooding, intense or prolonged rainfall can spell disaster. Flooding causes thousands of pounds worth of damage in just a few hours, it destroys homes, causes heartbreak and puts companies out of business. Victims of flood often find themselves unable to return home for months whilst furniture, flooring, electrics and even walls are replaced – often at huge expense of either the homeowner or insurer.

An expensive problem

The devastating floods of summer 2007 cost the UK economy £3.2 billion. A recent Environment Agency report found that the average cost per home flooded in 2007 was between £23,000 and £30,000, with a quarter of homeowners not fully covered by insurance.     

The Environment Agency is working hard to protect more homes from flooding. Our flood defence schemes have protected a further 130,000 properties from flooding in the past three years. Whilst we can be better prepared and minimise the damage caused by flooding, we cannot prevent it. Some flooding is inevitable and climate change predictions show that weather conditions in the UK are likely to become more extreme, with more intense rainfall increasing likelihood of flooding.   

Homeowners need to find out if they are at risk, and local authorities, alongside the Environment Agency and communities, have an important role to play in raising flood awareness.    

The Environment Agency offers services to homeowners and businesses to help them to prepare for flooding. You can identify if you are at risk of flooding via free maps on the Agency’s website, www.environment-agency.gov.uk . Anyone living in a flood risk area is urged to sign up to the Agency’s Floodline service (0845 988 1188) to receive free flood warnings direct to their phone, mobile or e-mail. Live information is also available on our website including three day forecasts of flood risk, river levels and flood warnings.

Preparing for the worst
However, simply finding out whether a property is at risk is only the first step. Steps need to be taken to protect properties at risk of flooding. These preparations can make the difference between an easy cleanup and devastation.   

Traditional flood defence schemes are not always affordable. Smaller scale, individual household flood prevention measures can be effective in making properties more flood resistant. There are many steps residents can take to protect their home from flooding.  Some are simple and temporary while others involve permanent structural work.   

Making a property resilient to floodwater will limit the distress and damage caused by flooding, which means less costly repairs and less time out of homes or businesses. Flood protection and resilience measures range from flood gates fitted to doors and windows through to using tiled floors in home renovations.     

The experience of Appleby in Cumbria in November 2009 showed the effectiveness of flood defence products. Ahead of heavy rainfall and potential flooding, 46 homes and businesses in the town were fitted with flood defence barriers after receiving an Environment Agency flood warning. The products had been financed by Defra through a pilot grant scheme, at a cost of around £2,000 or £3,000 per property, and as water was cascading through the main street of the town, these 46 properties were protected from flooding.

Testing flood defence products
Keeping water out of a building during a flood requires a surprising level of engineering. Flood water can exert extreme pressures on a building, the likes of which can not be withstood by simply covering a door with wood or plastic. As a result, flood defence products used in the home need to be designed to prevent water from entering a building, whilst taking the pressures exerted by flood water without causing structural damage to a property.    

In February 2010, the Environment Agency, in partnership with hydraulics experts at HR Wallingford, launched the UK’s largest flood product test centre in Oxfordshire. A cutting edge simulator is used to recreate the devastating effects of a flood using 196,000 gallons of water to test products designed to defend homes, businesses and people from flooding.   

The test centre features a replica living room inside a massive tank of water, about half the size of a football pitch. During the simulation, the replica building is fitted with flood defence products, such as door and vent covers. The tank is then flooded with thousands of gallons of water to simulate a severe flood. If successful in holding back the flood waters, the products are awarded the BSI Kitemark, tested against a new industry standard, PAS 1188.

Meeting industry standards
This new industry standard ensures rigorous and consistent testing, providing people at risk of flooding with confidence in flood defence products. Manufacturers benefit by being able to show that their flood defence product offers a high level of protection. This testing also provides local authorities, housing associations and developers with a clear route to properly tested products – including larger scale defences – which should encourage proactive installation in existing and new build developments.     

It is hoped that this rigorous testing will encourage new product development, bringing further benefits to people at risk of flooding.   

The National Flood Forum’s Blue Pages Guide provides an independent directory of flood protection products and services, including those with the BSI Kitemark. It can be found online at www.bluepages.org.uk.

Flood protection for communities
People at risk of flooding are already benefiting from this work. Last year, Defra’s property-level flood protection grant scheme helped those in high flood-risk areas who do not benefit from community-level defences, by enabling them to purchase flood protection products for individual houses, such as those tested at HR Wallingford.   

The Environment Agency urges local authorities receiving this grant money to ensure that the products they purchase to protect people and property are tested and bear the BSI Kitemark.   

One community to benefit from such a scheme is Eamont Bridge in Cumbria. The village has suffered from flooding twice in the last five years, the most recent being in November 2009 when a total of 45 properties were flooded – some to over a metre.   

37 properties in Eamont Bridge are receiving flood resistance measures as part of a pilot scheme by the Environment Agency for the North West Regional Flood Defence Committee and funded by local levy money. Eight other properties were included in the Defra Property Protection Scheme run by Eden District Council.   

100 per cent of residents eligible for the scheme took up the offer of these improvements to their homes. To make the properties more resistant to flooding the Environment Agency is fitting door guards, airbrick covers, non-return valves and pumps to properties. Where necessary the Environment Agency is also carrying out further works to re-point and/or render stonework.     

This work is the result of extensive work with local residents. The village had to meet various criteria before it could take part in the scheme, including being in a flood warning area and having a flood action group. The Eamont Bridge Flood Action Group was established following flooding of the village in 2005 and will continue to be instrumental to protecting the village from flooding.

Testing responses to flooding
Preparing for flooding goes beyond defences.  When flooding hits – as we saw in November 2010 in Cornwall and in Cumbria in November 2009 – an army of people spring into action.    

In March 2011 these services will be tested as part of the biggest emergency flooding exercise ever undertaken in the UK. Called Exercise Watermark, this four day exercise will put the decision making, partnership working and communications ability of everyone involved in flood response under the spotlight.    

There are hundreds of different organisations taking part, and an estimated 3,500 participants so far –  from parish councils, local government offices, police and fire and rescue services, to the Environment Agency, Defra and the MoD. Involvement goes right up to the highest level of decision making – government’s COBR briefings, which will be chaired, as in a real life situation, by a member of the cabinet.      

Over 335 businesses, communities and voluntary groups have also signed up to take part. Communities are being asked to join in Exercise Watermark to learn more about flood risk and being prepared. Some of those who have already expressed an interest will be testing the flood plans and use products they already have, while some will be getting together to start from scratch. Thinking about what to do during this flood exercise will help people to react much more quickly in a real emergency.

A holistic approach
In conclusion, protecting people from flooding requires action on many fronts. From signing up to flood warnings, to engineering flood defences, to testing emergency responses.    

Empowering individuals with the means to protect their homes from flooding is one element of tackling this challenge. By driving standards and development of flood defence products, the Environment Agency’s work with HR Wallingford will give homeowners confidence to protect their own home. Local Authorities can support this effort by making information and products available to communities at risk of flooding.   

For more information on how to prepare for flooding, to sign up to Flood Warnings and to find out more about watermark, visit the websites below.
  
For more information:
Web: www.environment–agency.gov.uk/flood
Web: www.exercisewatermark.co.uk

Environment Agency’s Floodline: 0845 988 1188.