People in Northamptonshire urged to check their flood risk
The Environment Agency's Flood Action Week is promoting simple steps people can take to reduce the devastation caused by floods to their homes and businesses. Communities in Northamptonshire are warned not to be complacent about flood risk, despite continuing dry weather in the county.
As part of Flood Action Week (13-19 October), communities across Northamptonshire are being urged to plan ahead this autumn to reduce the impact flooding may have on their homes and businesses.
The dry conditions of recent months mean that the ground is hard and compacted, increasing the risk of localised surface water flooding.
Members of the public can:
- check their long-term flood risk using the Environment Agency’s free service
- sign up for flood warnings by phone, text or email
- take steps to protect themselves from future flooding, including preparing a flood kit
Work led by the Environment Agency and its partners in Northamptonshire to manage flood risk includes natural flood management solutions, which are often used in rural areas, and roll-out of property flood resilience measures.
Natural flood management uses natural processes to reduce the risk of flooding. These processes protect, restore and mimic the natural functions of catchments and floodplains to slow and store water. Recent examples include flood storage wetland in Brigstock, Northamptonshire.
Property flood resilience is a set of modifications added to a building to lower its flood risk. These can reduce flood damage and speed up recovery after a flood. The Environment Agency is supporting roll-out of property flood resilience measures at Harpers Court in Brigstock, which is home to a community of vulnerable residents.
Morgan Wray, Area Flood and Coastal Risk Manager for the Environment Agency in Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire, said: “We know the devastating impact that flooding can have, which is why protecting people and communities is our top priority.
"We urge members of the public to check their flood risk, sign up for flood warnings and to follow the advice to protect themselves from future flooding."
The Environment Agency works closely with the Resilience And Innovation Northants (RAIN) project, which is funded by Defra as part of the £200 million Flood and Coastal Innovation Programme. The project looks to improve flood resilience at property, community and catchment scales, within both the Harpers Brook and Wootton Brook catchments.
Work has included installing flood barriers and self-closing airbricks in the Harpers Court in Brigstock. A further 120 residential properties across Harpers Brook and Wootton Brook are also set to have property flood resilience installed, with the majority of the works expected to be completed by Christmas.
And as part of the Resilience and Innovation Northants project, measures have been introduced which work with nature to hold and store water in river catchments.
For example, in the Wootton Brook catchment, agricultural land on a farm upstream of the village of Horton has been transformed into species-rich grasslands to improve soil health and increase water storage capacity, along with the creation of wetland scrapes to temporarily hold water during storms.
Meanwhile, a series of works have taken place across the Harpers Brook catchment, including a significant flood storage wetland situated immediately upstream of Brigstock.
The Environment Agency also worked with Natural England and Blatherwycke Estate to restore a stretch of the Willow Brook, using various techniques. Along one section the deep, straightened channel has been filled in and a new, shallower, meandering channel has been reinstated through the natural floodplain. In another section the channel has been significantly widened and adjacent floodplain lowered. Both these measures have improved the brook’s connectivity with its floodplain, helping to slow the flow of water and improve flood resilience for the village of Kings Cliffe downstream.