Calder Valley flood warning sirens tested
Eight flood warning sirens will be sounded across the upper Calder Valley as part of an annual test to help communities be prepared as possible for any risk of flooding this winter.
The sirens will be sounded between 11am and 11.15am on Thursday 28 September in Walsden, Todmorden, Hebden Bridge and Mytholmroyd.
Each siren test will last for two minutes. Residents and businesses do not need to take any action when hearing the sirens at these times. Loud hailer vehicles will be used to alert people to the tests, ahead of the sirens being sounded.
Graham Lindsey, flood resilience team leader at the Environment Agency, said:
The testing of the sirens is part of our work with partners to ensure that we are fully prepared to take action this winter wherever it is needed.
It is important that we test the audibility of sirens to check that they can be heard as widely as possible. The sirens provide a useful way of quickly alerting the communities at risk in the upper valley, an area where we know that flooding can occur extremely quickly.
Although no action needs to be taken during the test, if you hear the sirens at any other time, please be aware that this means that flooding is expected from the local rivers.
With an audibility level similar to that used by emergency vehicles, the Environment Agency sounds the sirens as an addition to issuing flood warnings to warn people of possible imminent flooding from the River Calder that runs through the valley.
If the Environment Agency is in incident mode or poor weather is forecast on the day the test will be postponed until Thursday 12 October.
On the day of the test, Environment Agency staff will be based at the Hebden Bridge Flood Information Centre at 4 Hardcastle House, Valley Road, and will be available to answer any questions.
While a lot of work continues to be done to address flooding in the Calder Valley, with the completion of defences at Mytholmroyd and the start of construction of defences in Hebden Bridge, these schemes will reduce rather than eliminate the likelihood of flooding, so it is important that people are prepared.
All residents and businesses in the Calder Valley are encouraged to sign up to the Environment Agency’s flood warning service, which gives advanced notification of flooding via phone, text and email. It is the primary way that the Environment Agency warns of possible river and sea flood risk, and those who sign up can manage their registrations online so that they can receive warnings wherever they are.
To register for the Environment Agency’s flood warning service visit https://www.gov.uk/sign-up-for-flood-warnings or contact Floodline on tel: 0345 988 1188.
For the latest information on the flood siren test see the latest blog on Eye On Calderdale: Flood Siren Test - Eye on Calderdale
For more information or if you have any questions about the siren test, please contact the team at YorkshireFloodResilience@environment-agency.gov.uk.