Article in Newark Advertiser 31st October 2024
Nottinghamshire County Council, Newark and Sherwood District Council and the Environment Agency explain what has been done since widespread floods of Winter 2023/2024 caused by Storm Babet, Storm Ciaran, and Storm Henk.
By Fionn Burrows – f.burrows@iliffepublishing.co.uk
One year on from the devastating floods of last Winter, the authorities have committed themselves to preventing future flooding and ensuring that communities are better prepared to respond.
In late October to early November 2023, heavy rainfall during Storms Babet and Ciaran caused chaos across the county and the Midlands as a whole.
According to Environment Agency data, Nottinghamshire experienced its wettest three day period on record — with 37 different locations across the East Midlands recording their highest ever river levels.
Some areas also experienced flooding for the first time in their history.
Newark and Sherwood in particular was one of the worst affected areas, with vast swathes of low lying farmland, miles of country roads, and hundreds of houses and businesses swamped after many of the district’s rivers, dykes and streams burst their banks, causing widespread disruption.
Problems brought about by both storms coming in short succession were only compounded by an extremely wet December and January, including Storm Henk at the start of 2024, meaning many of the communities and households worst affected were subject to further flooding without reprieve.
Alongside emergency services, the response was led by Nottinghamshire County Council, the county’s main flood authority, who have now said they are committed to ensuring that flooding on the same scale is never repeated through better cooperation and preventative action.
Despite Southwell Road Closure Wardens closing Nottingham Road to safeguard residents, pedestrians, cars and occupants, a car was stranded – this resulted in a risky rescue operation outside Southwell Leisure Centre and dangerously close to the roadside ditch
They were assisted by Newark and Sherwood District Council, who following the floods, paid out 278 community recovery grants totalling £139,000 to help communities clean up and re-build — 16 businesses within the district also received business recovery grants of £40,000 each.
In April, the district council committed to pushing for further funding to assist in flood prevention, and endorsed the one-off use of Public Protection Reserves to fund resilience stores, buy basic equipment and resources to allow communities to respond more effectively during an emergency.
In a collaboration with Nottinghamshire County Council and the Environment Agency, a flood warden scheme has also been established and expanded, with training sessions held at the district council’s headquarters at Castle House.
Across the district, there are currently 294 fully trained volunteers, as part of 18 active flood warden schemes — these individuals will have a number of responsibilities and powers such as setting out road closures.
Soutthwell Road Closure Wardens on duty on Station Road
Town and parish councils have also been contacted to establish a full understanding of emergency preparedness and current flood warden coverage within the district.
The district council have also contributed towards flood alleviation schemes such as the one currently being built in Lowdham — a village hit particularly hard by last winter’s storms.
A key priority was also better communication between partners, and as such an interagency group was established to work together on solutions to flooding.
The district council will also be running a social media campaign this winter, sharing useful advice with residents on how they can best prepare for possible flood risks, such as checking insurance cover and property protection.
Paul Taylor, portfolio holder for public protection and community relations, said: “It’s so important that lessons are learnt from past events.
“While there are always going to be unexpected outcomes, how, as a team, we react to those situations is the most important thing.
“We provide residents with the most up to date information we have on flood warnings, road closures and disruption across the district. We also offer advice to residents on how to prepare for and how to deal with floods when they happen.
“We’ve given residents access to grants and hardship payments as soon as we were able to, to get the help to the people who need it, when they need it.”
Council leader Paul Peacock, added: “We will not stop until we address flooding in our district, which is destroying our homes and impacting our residents and businesses.”
Nottinghamshire County Council, and the Flood Risk Management team, have also been hard at work throughout the year working on new flood solutions.
These include exploring natural flood management proposals for a number of areas within Newark and Sherwood, and detailed investigations are now underway in Ompton, Farndon, Kirklington, Caunton and Maplebeck.
The authority has supplied monitoring equipment and CCTV to the community in Girton, have funded supplies for the community flood store in Gunthorpe, and have undertaken widespread ditch clearance work in Bilsthorpe.
In April, the authority approved an increase in funding to tackle the effects of future storms and prepare the county’s roads for winter. A total of £467,000 was also allocated to improve drainage across the county through the employment of four additional teams to regularly and reactively cleanse gullies in flood prone areas.
The council hope to complete more than 25 ditch cleansing and culvert improvement schemes while also reducing the amount of time between which are prone to flooding.
