UK under-prepared for flooding, warns EFRA

Published|08.05.08

The UK’s Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee have warned that there was a total lack of awareness about the vulnerability of large parts of the country to flooding until the heavy rainfall of summer 2007.

In its ‘Flooding’ report published May 7 2008 the Committee found that areas which had been considered at low risk of flooding were badly affected by the surface water flooding in June and July last year.

It found flood defence measures focused almost exclusively on river and coastal flooding and that the infrastructure to deal with floods caused by heavy rainfall was in an “unclear and chaotic state”.

In a press release following publication of the report The Chairman of the Committee, the Rt Hon Michael Jack MP, said:

“The public will not forgive the Government if it is not seen to be responding to the lessons learnt from the floods of last summer.

“Our report has shown how confused and chaotic was the infrastructure when it came to preventing and dealing with surface water flooding. The Government must bring clarity to this situation so that the public, wherever they live, can have peace of mind that every effort is being made to avoid a repeat of the fiasco of last summer.

“The Government will not be easily forgiven if their response to last summer’s events are not seen as comprehensive and well funded.

“It is vital that the public can see that policies to deal with surface water flooding are well co-ordinated and managed by key players such as local authorities, the Environment Agency and utility providers.

“The appointment of Sir Michael Pitt as the Environment Agency’s ‘flood supremo’ would be a powerful first step to ensuring that the ‘lessons learnt’ are implemented in reality.”

The EFRA report estimates the economic impact of the floods to be £3 billion worth of damage, with 44,600 homes and 7,100 businesses being flooded.

The questions business leaders should also now be asking themselves is how prepared are they and do they really understand their exposure to climate and weather related risks? On the back of this report, we can envisage that companies, especially those managing vital infrastructure, will be under the spotlight in terms of their robustness in the face of changing climatic risks. Businesses will also need to respond to questions from their key stakeholders as to the risk management measure that they will now have to put in place and the adaptation strategies needed to ensure that businesses are protected now and into the future.

A copy of the EFRA report is available from the UK Parliament website, download Flooding report.