Phil Emonson | Flood Resilience Lead Why Exercise? Phil Emonson | Flood Resilience Lead

So, why should we exercise…? According to the NHS… “It can …help to dramatically improve your health” Improving the health of your emergency plan

Winter 2013 – 2014 flooding Somerset Levels Thames valley Flooding on SW coast – Dawlish

Winter 2015 – 2016 flooding Storms Desmond, Eva & Frank >43,000 properties suffered power cuts >5,000 properties flooded by Desmond alone

2017… Coverack India Australia India floods killed 120, affected 1.2million people Australia – western Australia and Queensland Australia

Damage to property Stress, anxiety Long recovery Mental trauma The personal cost… Damage to property Stress, anxiety Long recovery Mental trauma

Flood Preparedness Cycle

“I have a cunning…plan” [Baldrick AD1565] Flood warning plans Flood evacuation plans Major incident plans Temporary defence deployment plans Reservoir onsite / offsite plans Community flood plans Individual flood plans The list goes on….

TRAINING Duty officer / responder training Safe learning environment – classroom based Break-out sessions for discussion and evaluation Gain confidence, build competence in role Get familiar with plans Training should be structured, part of induction to role Ongoing – continued professional development Homeowner training for building resilience Deployment of resistance products Storage and maintenance arrangements Confirm condition of measures installed

EXERCISING Exercising our responders Training opportunity with realistic scenarios Aims often to: Enhance understanding, raise confidence, promote discussion and learning, rehearse and test lines of (internal and external) communication, exercise not just the individuals but the plans Community flood exercises Exercise community flood plan Flood wardens rehearse roles and responsibilities, confirming all contact details are valid and providing support to any vulnerable residents Confirm receipt of flood warnings Encouraging buy-in and improving confidence – empower the community JBA supported 20+ of these in last 5 years for EA in Wessex area

EVALUATING The value of a debrief Feedback for an improved action plan Share experiences Identifying what went well Identifying areas for personal and team / organisational improvement Learning lessons Outcomes help inform…

EVALUATING

So, why should we train and exercise…? Integral part of emergency planning, preparedness and resilience building Training – ongoing and for new staff Creating awareness of the risk and the plan Opportunity to review the risk and plan Team-building, through communication with colleagues Builds links with other responding agencies (or in the case of community exercises, with neighbours) Identifies gaps for improvement Legal requirement of all our Category 1 and 2 responders under the Civil Contingencies Act

Ian Hopkins Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police “We regularly carry out exercises to test our ability to respond to such instances, and this has ensured a very swift response from local and national agencies”

HELP! V. SCARED SCARED Final thought Less of this More of this Homeowner training and plans being exercised, improving preparedness and empowering people to take action