Somerset urged to prepare for floods
As part of Flood Action Week 2024 (14 – 20 October), Somerset Rivers Authority is urging people across Somerset to ensure they are prepared for a flood.
Flood Action Week is an annual awareness campaign run by the Environment Agency, a partner in Somerset Rivers Authority (SRA). The SRA’s main purpose is to reduce the risks and impacts of flooding.
This year’s Flood Action Week campaign coincides with the one-year anniversary of Storm Babet, which led to significant flooding across the country.
There has already been flooding this autumn, as climate change brings more extreme weather. The 18 months up to February 2024 were the wettest 18 months on record in England.
A total of around 5.5 million properties in England at risk from different kinds of flooding. However, a recent Environment Agency survey suggested that one in two people are unsure about how to find information about local flood risks.
Steps you can take to protect yourself from flooding
A few simple moves can help to reduce the devastation caused by flooding to homes and businesses.
Especially useful are early preparation, and knowing what to do in advance.
Possible actions include:
- Check your long-term flood risk. Use this free service to find out the long-term flood risk for an area in England, the possible causes of flooding, and how to manage flood risk.
- Sign up for flood warnings by phone, text or email
- Take steps to protect yourself from future flooding – including storing important documents in a secure, waterproof location, taking rugs and small furniture upstairs, checking how to turn off your electricity and water, preparing a flood kit.
- Explore longer-term Property Flood Resilience measures (PFR) to protect homes and businesses.
“Everyone has a part to play”
Ron Curtis, Environment Agency Flood and Coastal Risk Manager for Wessex, said: “Our field teams are active all year, preparing for and responding to flooding and working with at-risk communities. But even with these efforts, we can’t prevent flooding completely.
“As we anticipate more intense rainfall this winter, it’s essential you take the necessary precautions to safeguard yourself and your family from flooding as much as possible.
“By simply going online, signing up for flood warnings and learning what to do – and what not to do – before, during and after a flood, you can significantly improve your own readiness. Everyone has a part to play.”
During a flood, it is especially important that drivers take particular care on roads, stay away from swollen rivers and do not drive through flood water, just 30cm of flowing water is enough to move your car.
The impacts of flooding to mental health can be equally as harmful as the physical damage and disruption. People whose homes have been damaged by extreme weather are more likely to have poor mental health than the rest of the population.
Floods Minister Emma Hardy said: “Flooding can be a destructive force that puts everything in life on hold. I’ve seen the impacts firsthand and am determined to ensure as much as possible others do not.
“Through the recent launch of our Floods Resilience Taskforce, this government is taking decisive action to accelerate the development of flood defences and bolster the nation’s resilience to extreme weather.
“But this Flood Action Week, we must be all be proactive in taking steps to protect ourselves by checking our flood risk and signing up for flood warnings.”
Following the flooding caused by Storms Ciara and Dennis in 2020, it was estimated that the average insurance claim per household was £32,000.
Flood Re is a joint initiative between the Government and insurers aiming to make the flood cover part of household insurance policies more affordable. Its Build Back Better initiative enables householders to install property flood resilience measures up to the value of £10,000 when repairing their properties after a flood.
Flood Re Interim CEO Stuart Logue said: “One year on from Storm Babet and we are seeing yet more severe weather and flooding across the country, causing not only physical devastation to homes, but also placing a unique burden on the mental health and wellbeing of families who are affected.
“This acts as a stark reminder of the importance of our Build Back Better scheme where householders can access up to £10,000 to build resilience into their homes when carrying our flood repairs.
“Householders can find out which insurance providers are part of the scheme on our website by searching Flood Re Build Back Better.”