Hours before dawn broke last Christmas I left my sleeping family to head to the Environment Agency’s emergency flood incident room in Leeds. With record rainfall and river levels, the flooding across the north of England was devastating to the families ready to enjoy time together over the festive season.
As a flood manager for the Environment Agency I was part of a team that worked around the clock, from warning communities at risk to directing the army to deliver repair materials in a Chinook helicopter.
It was hard to miss Christmas Day with my own family, especially as it was my daughter’s first, but it was good to know our work was making a difference. We were too busy to think about missing opening presents by the tree or turkey dinners. Instead we grabbed a few mouthfuls from plastic containers as we worked, when and if we had a moment.
In the run-up to Christmas our flood teams across Yorkshire, together with volunteer flood wardens, check river levels and flood defences so we are always prepared for bad weather ahead. As Christmas Day approached last year the weather forecast showed significant rain could hit Yorkshire and the north of England, so we knew we’d be focused on protecting people from flooding rather than spending time with our families.
This Christmas, even if the weather is pleasant, we will be working hard reviewing weather forecasts. If the weather changes we’ll be ready to act.
When flooding is expected the Environment Agency activates its incident room in the relevant area, in my case Leeds. The incident room has various roles – the most important is to coordinate our flood response, including warning and informing the public, local authorities and the emergency services.
We’re the central control responsible for sending out flood warnings and alerts. We send three types – alert, warning and severe warning. Severe warnings are sent when flooding is expected and there could be risk to life, such as in the Calder Valley in the early hours of Boxing Day last year.
The incident room manages flood response over a large area to try to ensure our flood teams and equipment reach the areas most in need. Our staff are out on a range of missions including conducting repairs, constructing temporary barriers, checking in on flooded communities and working closely with emergency services and local authorities.
The work can be stressful but is vital to the flood response. Our teams carried out work to repair and secure defences hit by severe weather at Christmas, so when more rain fell fewer properties were flooded. Our warnings gave time to inform and mobilise emergency services across the county and in many cases gave residents time to protect their homes and move valuable items out of harm’s way. Most important, it alerted people to danger so they could seek advice and stay safe.
We all hope it is a quieter Christmas for all the people affected during last winter’s flooding. But if severe weather is forecast, we will be ready.
Simon Mann is a flood manager in the Leeds incident room, Environment Agency.
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