East Midlands one year on from Storm Babet
Today, 18 October 2024, marks one year since Storm Babet hit the UK and brought with it extremely heavy rainfall and very strong winds.
An Environment Agency Officer fixing the Lowdham flood storage wall.
In the East Midlands, Storm Babet resulted in the highest recorded river levels at 37 locations. As well as bringing the wettest 3-day period that Nottinghamshire had ever experienced on record.
Storm Babet was then followed by Storms Ciaran and Henk which led to more significant flooding. Flood defences operated very well overall and protected significant numbers of properties in the region.
The anniversary also coincides with the Environment Agency’s annual Flood Action Week which is a campaign dedicated to showing people the steps they can take to reduce the devastation caused by flooding. It also aims to encourage people to sign up to the flood warning service that informs you if your home is at risk of flooding.
In the East Midlands alone, the Environment Agency is currently working on 52 flood risk projects to return assets to the condition they were before the storms last winter. These projects have all been created using evidence from the flooding caused by the 3 storms. Designing and delivering Flood schemes can be complicated and therefore take time to establish.
In the last 12 months an array of projects have been completed to help better protect communities. In Raynesway in Derbyshire the team installed rock amour along a flood embankment. It had started to erode due to the high-water levels caused by Storm Babet and Storm Henk. Quick action was required to ensure the nearby businesses and critical infrastructure in that area remained protected.
2180 tonnes of stone was used to fill a hole on the Folly Road Flood Bank in Darley Abbey.
High levels of water also caused erosion on Folly Road Flood Bank in Darley Abbey. 40 metres was repaired by the Environment Agency, Jackson Civil Engineering and Derby City Council. Over a period of 11 weeks, 2180 tonnes of stone was brought in to fill the large scour hole and protect the bottom of the embankment.
In Lowdham the high river levels caused by storm Babet resulted in overtopping and the deterioration of the flood storage wall. The wall surrounds the cricket pitch and is the boundary to the storage area. The design of the flood asset means when river levels are high they spill onto the cricket pitch. Therefore the flood storage wall keeps the water in that boundary. The high levels of water that was experienced with storm Babet and then continued very closely with storm Ciaran and Storm Henk resulted in further deterioration of the masonry wall. The Environment Agency Nottingham field team worked quickly to assess the damage, take down the damaged stretch of wall and rebuild it. This work was completed in March, less than a month after the last period of storms.
Since storm Babet the Environment Agency has been reassessing the areas that are covered by the flood warning service to ensure all at risk areas are targeted. This work has so far resulted in 3 new areas being added to the flood warning system in the East Midlands - Rearsby, Syston and Silbey.
The Environment Agency are also developing a Property Flood Resilience (PFR) programme for those homes affected by the storms, this could involve them being offered things like air brick covers and demountable barriers to have on the outside their home.
More than 26 drop-in sessions have been conducted in the East Midlands which more than 1600+ people attended. The Environment Agency spent more than 2,000 hours attending and organising these key sessions. The drop-in sessions provided members of the public with a chance to ask any flood related questions they have. The events are attended by our partners who have a role during flooding so everyone the public needs are all in one room.
Paul Lockhart, Flood Risk Manager in the East Midlands, for the Environment Agency said:
We know the devastating impact flooding can have this is why we are working closely with our professional partners on a number of projects to protect communities.
It is important that the public understand their flood risk and are signed up to our flood warning service and educate themselves on how they can better protect themselves and their property from flooding. There is plenty of information here: Flooding - GOV.UK
The best way to protect yourself from flooding is early preparation and knowing what to do in advance. Some of the actions people can take to reduce the dangers are:
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Check your long-term flood risk. You can 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
- Taking 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.