FORECASTERS are predicting that thousands of homes across the country could be swamped as a strong westerly jet stream dominates the weather in the coming weeks. And the increased risk of flooding in Cumbria has prompted the Environment Agency to expand its major incident room. Reporter ANNA CLARKE took a tour of the facility to find out who is at risk – and how they will be protected.

 

The landscape of Cumbria is the envy of urbanites who flock in their millions to admire the majesty of the lakes, rivers and bays.

But while it can look harmless and welcoming in the hot, dry months of summer, it can be harsh and unforgiving when temperatures plummet and the summer drizzle turns into something heavier.

The sea around the south and west of the county, and rivers which snake through miles of land, put an astonishing 32,000 properties at risk of flooding every year.

Needless to say water – and the havoc it can wreak on homes and communities – is a source of concern to many.

As a result, the major incident room at the county’s Environment Agency office, in Penrith, has been forced to expand to ensure it can deal with ‘extreme patterns of weather’ that have become the norm.

“The extreme weather in 2012 really prompted us to make the changes,” explained Andy Brown, flood risk manager for Cumbria and Lancashire.

“The expansion will now make it easier for us to do a first class job during major incidents. This weather looks like it’s here to stay and we needed to be able to cope.”

The Environment Agency has this week issued warnings that wet weather, strong winds, high tides and wind-blown leaves and debris blocking rivers are all increasing flood risk across the UK.

Heavy rain which fell in October has saturated the ground meaning further rainfall will ‘sit’ on the surface rather than be absorbed.

In South Lakeland alone some 9,015 properties are considered at serious risk of flooding.

“In the Kendal area particularly, with the river, there are risks,” said Marina Powell-Currie, Cumbria’s flood resilience team leader.

“We have to be here, and working as best we can, to ensure we can help all those who need it.”

The incident room is split in half, with a hub for those monitoring and dealing with an incident as it unfolds, and a quiet room for staff to hold conferences and calls with local authorities, emergency services and community groups.

“Thanks to the expansion, what we have now is more space. It wasn’t ideal before because there were always phones ringing, people talking, and all the noise you’d expect,” said Mr Brown.

“And a major part of our job is ensuring we communicate with others to work as efficiently as possible to deal with an incident.”

The team also issues warnings – a ‘flood alert’, a ‘flood warning’ or a ‘severe flood warning’ – depending how likely flooding is, and offers a free service which can give people vital time to prepare.

The flood warning service, which sends an automated telephone message, text message, email or alert to Facebook profiles, has over a million subscribers in England.

“The most important thing that we can all do to protect ourselves from the devastation flooding can cause is to be prepared,” said David Rooke, director of flood and coastal risk management at the agency.

“Every £1 spent on protecting communities from flooding saves £8 in repairing damage.”

When the team is not in the throes of an incident – which can also include agricultural diseases such as foot-and-mouth – they are constantly monitoring data feeds which come directly to large screens dominating the office.

But the public also has a role to play. Community groups across the county have been formed and trained to deal with flooding – Kendal is still in need of one.

The agency also needs the public to be its ‘eyes and ears’ and alert it as soon as flooding occurs.

“We now have people who, in addition to their normal job, will check Twitter and other social networks for incidents unfolding,” said Mr Brown.

“We ask people to let us know as soon as they believe something may be happening.”

Anybody can check their property’s flood risk and sign up to free warnings by visiting environment-agency.gov.uk/flood or by calling Floodline on 0845 988 1188. Get regular updates by following @EnvAgency on Twitter.