Fishlake’s floods and lessons learned by Environment Agency – Oliver Harmar

The devastating scenes I saw stay with me. The trauma people suffered as they were forced out of their homes, living rooms and kitchens destroyed, businesses flooded, and the all too familiar scene of damaged possessions piled along rows of driveways.

It is no surprise that studies have also shown how flooding can affect mental health weeks and months later. The flooding last November followed two months where rainfall was more than twice the monthly average.

Around 1,600 properties were impacted by the floods, with the majority in Doncaster, Bentley and Fishlake. Some 1,200 homes were evacuated. Despite the river levels being similar to those back in the 2007 floods, thankfully the damage was less widespread, with 7,000 properties protected by flood defences.

This was followed in February and March earlier this year by further flooding across West, East and North Yorkshire, with many communities badly affected and some of the hardest hit in the Calder Valley and along the lower River Aire.

The response to last November’s floods was just the beginning. Alongside local authorities and other partners, we’ve been working closely with all the communities affected ever since. We’ve held drop-in events, and talked to parish councils, flood wardens and flood groups amongst others. This has certainly been a challenge through the Covid pandemic but it’s so vital to do – initially helping us build an initial picture of what happened, and then what we need to do as steps on the road to recovery.

Since the floods, we’ve embarked on a major programme of repairs and improvements to flood defences to provide vital protection this winter.

Just in South Yorkshire this includes 100 projects worth more than £12m. Repairs to a 40-metre bank slip at Mile Thorn in Doncaster have been recently completed, and flood embankment repairs and improvements at Fishlake have now started.

As well as preparing for whatever the winter throws at us, climate change means we can’t stand still. We must work together to reduce risk in the coming years and coming decades – and we’ve all a role to play. With Sheffield City Region Combined Authority and the local councils, the Environment Agency is developing a priority flood programme to better protect many thousands of homes and businesses across South Yorkshire.

This is much more than just a list of priority flood schemes though. And that’s because part of the solution to all those affected in Rotherham and Doncaster may be many miles upstream in the hills of the Upper River Don. So we’re literally looking “source to sea” at a catchment plan to see how we can slow the flow of flood waters upstream.

Projects to restore our precious peatlands, plant trees to hold water in the soil and restore wetlands need to all be part of the mix.

As our Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy, launched in July this year shows, these natural solutions will play an increasingly important role in the future alongside our important hard flood and coastal defences.

We want this ambitious plan to further strengthen the resilience of communities in South Yorkshire to future flooding and climate change. And in doing so, we want to support green growth and improve our natural spaces for biodiversity, carbon and of course our own health and wellbeing.

Back in Fishlake, it’s great to see our contractors are on site progressing with repair. I hope this will offer some comfort to those in the village who have had the most challenging year. We are ready to take action this winter wherever needed.

As well as extensive flood defence repairs, we have high volume pumps available and Environment Agency staff across the country are ready to respond around the clock. This is always part of a huge response effort, involving many partner organisations and our networks of community flood wardens.

We also know that we can’t always prevent flooding. We’re currently expanding our flood warning service and by 2022 these will be available to all properties at risk. And we’re helping homeowners and businesses bolster their own protection and recover more quickly with property resilience measures.

Of course, even with the best weather and flood forecasting, none of us knows what lies ahead. Indeed, the flooding in the region last week is just the latest reminder. But one important thing you can do is just take five minutes to check your flood risk this winter by visiting https://www.gov.uk/check-flood-risk. There you can sign up for our free flood warning service and find out how you can be prepared.

Oliver Harmar is Yorkshire Area Director of the Environment Agency.

Support The Yorkshire Post and become a subscriber today. Your subscription will help us to continue to bring quality news to the people of Yorkshire. In return, you’ll see fewer ads on site, get free access to our app and receive exclusive members-only offers. Click here to subscribe.