If the role of a local authority is to give community leadership, then having to deal with emergency situations is a real test - and this must include elected members as well as council officials.
Councils already have well-rehearsed plans to respond to civil emergencies. Alerting, rescuing, tracking, feeding and putting up those affected in the short term are now familiar activities in most places. Staff have learnt to pay particular attention to those with restricted mobility and other impairments, poor English, and to care settings such as residential care homes.
When the floods returned during the weekend of 7/8 September councils were again called upon to respond. Northumberland, North Yorkshire, Durham and Tyneside were particularly hard hit. Some areas had a month's rainfall in 24 hours. Centre for much of the attention was Castle Morpeth, with some 1,000 properties being affected.
The borough and county council immediately enacted a local recovery plan, with advice on property damage and health issues. On the ground, as the water was being pumped from the streets of Morpeth by the county's Fire and Rescue Service, alternative accommodation was being found for those who needed it. Council officers were out inspecting bridges, roads and ditches for damage, and to ensure transport links were safe. The care trust and county council were hard at work assessing the needs of vulnerable people.
The council website highlights both the physical stresses associated with a clean up of premises, and the mental stresses that may be caused by temporary relocation.
One of the warnings from the previous floods has been that the cause can vary, as well as all the people and organisations involved. Councils must have a clear picture of who is responsible for what and how they all fit into their emergency plan. For obvious reasons, their first objective has to be to safeguard life.
The Pitt report on the 2007 floods noted that, across the country, 55,000 properties were flooded and an estimated 7,000 people rescued by the emergency services.
Certainly one of the lessons learnt has to be a clear understanding of how to find everyone, mapping areas under threat, and having a clear strategic picture of where to move people to safe areas. Having people on the ground is vital - that is where councils are the only viable resource, with the mix of the expertise needed.
As with all individual or community disasters, the hidden effects of flooding are psychological. Social care staff from the council and partner agencies will need to spend hours reassuring people - as well as distant relatives worried about them - addressing their immediate and longer-term anxieties and trying to resolve the problems of their disrupted lives.
As climate change takes place the need for a more wide ranging and practiced emergency plan has to remain a priority. More practical ways of rebuilding and repairing properties need to be explored, but probably the greatest challenge is rebuilding the damage done to people.
Andrew Cozens, strategic adviser, children adults and health services, the Improvement and Development Agency
