THE Environment Agency has carried out 16,000 inspections and identified around 660 flood defences needing repair work in the wake of record-breaking wet weather in December. 

The ongoing work to assess and repair flood damage following Storm Desmond and Storm Eva were outlined at an open Board meeting yesterday, chaired by Acting Chairman Emma Howard Boyd. 

Heavy rain throughout December led to it becoming the wettest month on record, with 14 rivers across the north recording their highest ever flows. 194 Environment Agency river level gauges recorded their highest ever river level, 10 per cent of the total across England. Honister Pass saw the highest amount of rainfall ever in a 24-hour period, as more than 341mm fell. 

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Environment Agency flood defences protected 12,500 properties during Storm Desmond and 10,900 during Storm Eva but more than 20,000 properties flooded as a result of the extreme weather. The ongoing recovery work includes:

Environment Agency Acting Chairman Emma Howard Boyd said: “Our teams have worked tirelessly to repair flood defences and help communities in particular across Cumbria, Lancashire and Yorkshire get back on their feet after the terrible flooding we saw over December and January.

Sir James Bevan, Chief Executive of the Environment Agency, said: “Vital flood recovery work is underway across the north of England as Environment Agency teams work to identify repairs and restore protection to communities. We will be using the £40 million provided to us by the government to carry out these vital repairs.”

“We will also continue to work with the government on its Flood Resilience Review, which will assess how we can be better protected in future from the type of extreme weather we saw in December.”

More than 80 per cent of inspections (16,000) of flood defence assets have now been completed, with assistance from the military during the extreme weather. Assets in some areas remain underwater and will be inspected when water levels subside. 

The repair work will be funded in part by the government’s investment in recovery from Storm Eva and Storm Desmond, which now amounts to nearly £200 million.

Alongside the recovery work, the Environment Agency is on track to better protect 44,000 properties in England this year through its continued programme of investment in flood defence schemes. This work is part of a £2.3 billion government investment in more than 1,500 flood defence schemes, reducing flood risk to 300,000 properties by 2021.