Flood Resilience at Individual

Property Level

Presented by: Robbie CraigDate: 25 March 2015

Floods England: Policy Context

• Floods strategy: Pitt Review (post 2007 floods)– Made a number of recommendations about improving resilience at a local level

• Localism: – The 2011 Act gave local councils and communities greater control over local decisions like

housing and planning

• Insurance: Water Act 2014, set out Flood Re’s role in managing the 20-25 year transition to risk reflective pricing of flood insurance.

– 5.2m properties at risk in England, some will benefit from future Government schemes, for others PLP and local actions could achieve risk reductions and the level of potential damages from floodwaters

• 2009-2011 Defra and Environment Agency property level grant schemes. – Found that some projects amplified the potential impact of their PLP equipment on

reducing their risk of damages through additional community actions or investment.

2

England Winter Floods 2013/14

• The Government led a major recovery effort to help people get back on their feet.

• £560 million committed in recovery support funding.

3

What is Resilience?

•“Disaster Resilience is the ability of countries, communities and households to manage change, by maintaining or transforming living standards in the face of shocks or stresses - such as earthquakes, drought or violent conflict - without compromising their long-term prospects”. •Defining Disaster Resilience: DfID, 2011

•…in terms of relationships and processes rather than as a static characteristic of an individual, household, public service or community. In other words, resilience is not so much a response to the flood hazard itself, but is an emergent characteristic of the way in which the flood response and the subsequent recovery process are managed. After the Rain – learning the lessons from flood

recovery in Hull - Whittle et al. 2010

4

How Do We Build Resilience?

5

Based on Cutter et al. (2010), ‘Disaster Resilience Indicators for Benchmarking Baseline Conditions’, Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, 7(1): 1-22.

Domains of resilience

The evaluation has established a framework for measuring resilience. Resilience is the product of building capacity across five domains.

Hierarchy of Flood Risk Management

6

Example flood risk management strategy

Neighbourhood ANeighbourhood A

Neighbourhood BNeighbourhood B

Floodwater can enter a home by many routes

Doors

Airbricks

Drainage pipes

Underneath the property

Through brickwork

Flood Resilience

Changes in building materials

Barriers to Creating Resilient People & Communities

1. Evidence for the benefits of taking action on resilience is weak.

2. We need to develop a better understanding about what motivates communities’ and individuals’ to engage in flood risk management

3. Confidence: many individuals lack previous experience about what to do when they receive a warning or are flooded.

4. Whether information to help the public manage flood risk is fully understood by its intended audience

5. The incentives provided by the current and potential future insurance market mechanisms for flood resilience

6. Effects of other incentives on household level flood management responses

10

Active Research: Community Pathfinders

1. Aimed at helping communities to find effective local approaches to resilience.

2. Started in 2013, 13 projects investing £5.2m: Defra contributing £4m.

3. Variety of audiences targeted and different scales of intervention.

4. Rigorous evaluations at both project and scheme level.

5. Outcomes to help develop policy about what works at the community scale.

6. Final report due autumn 2015.

11

Case StudyThe Cornwall Community Flood Forum (CCFF).

• Small rain events can trigger flash flooding in steep valleys.

• The effectiveness of drainage systems are reduced by leaf litter blocking drains and gulleys

• “Community Payback” volunteers worked to remove leaves & clear blockages in 3 communities.

• Impact: – Practical outcome in Lostwithiel– no floods

– Motivational outcome for 105 offenders - residents recognized hard work and personally thanked them for their efforts.

• More information http://climatevision.co.uk/projects-2

Maintaining Activity: Cornwall Leaf Litter Project

12

Property Level Resilience in Action

2013 Flooding East Peckham Kent•Flood gates and flood boards slowed the water entry sufficiently to allow furniture to be raised on bricks

•Floors and exterior walls sealed - water did ooze through the floor but was swept into a sump containing a submersible pump. Located in the living room.

•A gully inside the house took water from a drain near the front door straight to the sump.

•Despite 18 inches of floodwater outside, the Property Level Protection measures kept most of the water away, with only an inch inside.

13

Businesses - Resilience

People have mentioned in studies conducted after flood events that seeing businesses in their area re-starting trading activity is a sign of progress or things getting back to normal.

Examples of businesses that recovered quickly from a flooding suffering economically because the rest of the street/nearby businesses did not recover so quickly and public therefore assuming they would not be trading.

Business – Developing a Market

UK Flood Products Industry Issues

•Range of small and medium sized companies producing a range of innovative products;•Products installed in around 10,000 properties•Still “Development Push” rather than ‘Market Pull” in sector•Leading to weak Industry – ‘feast or famine’ reliant on orders from Government, local authorities or Utilities.

Building Public Trust•The BSI Kitemark (PAS1188) verifies a product has been independently tested and proved fit for purpose.• Flood Risk Report; verifies the change in the property’s level of risk following resilience work.•Property Protection Advisor tool to give tailored advice about costs and benefits of installing appropriate of Property level FRM measures;•Currently researching competencies and training requirements for independent advisors on installation.

15

Flood Resilience

Local Flood Risk Management & Resilience

Robbie Craig

Water and Flood Risk Management, Defra

Area 3C, Nobel house, 17 Smith Square, London, SW1P 3JR; 020 72 38 15 47 Robbie.craig@defra.gsi.gov.uk

16