Agenda item

(1)       Mr Harwood (Senior Emergency Planning Manager) gave a presentation. The slides are contained in the on-line agenda papers. He said that 2013 marked the 60^th anniversary of the February 1953 East Coast storm surge and the 736^th of the Great Storm of February 1287 which diverted the mouth of the River Rother by 15 miles overnight and destroyed the towns of Old Winchelsea and Broomhill (http://en.wilkipedia.org/wiki/Broomhill) as well as causing economic chaos along the English Channel coastline.  It had cost 500 english and 50,000 dutch lives.

(2)       Mr Harwood then said that a major multi-agency flood response exercise had taken place on 30 April 2013 based on the scenarios of the 1953 storm surge event.   The exercise had been informed by a new study on the effectiveness of existing defences and single and multi-agency contingency plans, whilst also testing the effectiveness of communications, which had been a major flaw in the response in 1953. 

(3)       Mr Harwood went on to describe some of the features of the 1953 disaster. In that event, loss of life in Erith had mainly occurred through hypothermia rather than drowning – so alerting, evacuation and humanitarian welfare interventions were all being enhanced.  There had been significant breaches in the coastal defences at Canvey Island in Essex.        

(4)       It was important to note that sea levels had risen over the past 60 years. This was not only due to climate change. A second cause was hydroistatic rebound following the end of the last glaciation with land levels rising in the north of the UK, whilst the south was sinking.

(5)       Mr Harwood then referred to the Folkestone floods of August 1996 which had seen fire fighters having to use sledgehammers to break down walls to release pockets of floodwater.  The flooding had resulted in numerous people being made homeless and, in some cases, destitute.

(6)       The year 2000 had seen major flooding in the Medway and Stour Valleys, impacting hugely in Tonbridge, Maidstone and surrounding villages, requiring the setting up of numerous rest centres.

(7)       Mr Harwood moved on to explain the need for very sophisticated planning to protect populations that were vulnerable to flooding. Essential work had been undertaken to develop local multi-agency flood plans, multi-agency rapid response catchment plans and reservoir inundation plans.

(8)       Mr Harwood replied to a question from the Chairman by saying that the Pitt Review had made 92 recommendations. One of these had called for political oversight of flood planning.

(9)       Members of the Committee commented that flood defence work would be strengthened if an annual report on the work of the Kent Flood Risk Management Committee were to be presented to the County Council.  Minutes from other Committees regularly appeared as items on the County Council agenda papers and it would be appropriate if this Committee’s minutes were added.

(10)     Mrs Stockell said that the best way to ensure that the Committee’s work was embedded in the County Council’s mainstream was for regular reports to be considered by the Environment, Highways and Waste Cabinet Committee.

(11)     Mr Tapp asked whether Mr Harwood was in a position to give an assurance that there would be a timely warning if an event such as that of 1996 were to occur.  Mr Harwood replied that this was a critical issue addressed by the new rapid response catchment emergency plans and through Severe Weather Advisory Group meetings.  Such early warnings were vital in responding to sudden surface water emergencies.

(12)     RESOLVED that the report and its implications be noted.