22/10/2012

Flood defences need intelligence


Picture source: BBC 

News that last week buildings along the sea front at Weston-super-Mare had flooded has caused huge embarrassment to the local council. Only earlier this year a £29m flood defence scheme was commissioned to end the history of flooding problems.

What went wrong? - someone forgot to close the flood defence gates! North Somerset Council claim there were no Environment Agency flood warnings so they did not think they needed to close the gates! As any Somerset school child will tell you, Weston super Mare has one of the highest tidal ranges in the world. It only needs a £1 set of tide tables to be able to predict exactly when the town might flood, years in advance. Rainfall is totally irrelevant when there is a 11 metre difference between high and low tide. But a combination of westerly wind and a spring tide means potential flooding.

When one has stopped laughing (although if it was your house flooded its not a laughing matter), there is a very serious point. Spending £29m on a capital solution is a complete waste of time if a 'robust' management solution to operating the flood defence system is not established. Too often the focus is on major capital when its actually some common sense and clear accountability for the problem that is needed. 

Perhaps some of the money spent on celebrating the opening of the flood defences would have been better spent on some tide tables and ensuring someone took ownership for making sure the gates were closed!