Emergency Contingency Planning Flooding John Backley

2014 Floods Introduction: what happened - our role during the flooding what went well - and what we learnt looking forward – community resilience

3 Weather impacts one of, if not the most, exceptional periods of winter rainfall in at least 248 years flow rates on the River Thames remained exceptionally high for longer than in any previous flood episode - Met Office

4 Our role and response gathering information to assess needs – time on the ground, meeting residents, discussing concerns co-ordinated approach to deploying resources via OCC Emergency Operations Centre – OCC Highways, OFRS, TVP, OCC, SCS, military prioritising assistance to the most vulnerable

5 Sandbag provision good use of our contractor Biffa to deliver sandbags –door to door for the most vulnerable as a priority –using sandbag dumps to key locations, e.g. B&Q, Abbey House, Wantage, Grove, Steventon… some issues with un-managed sandbag dumps example of Abingdon TC coming to us to provide a solution to theft of sandbags from the B&Q dump

6 What went well & what we learnt importance of community level engagement in effective sandbag distribution where communities were organised and gave us reliable information it enabled us to respond more effectively to their needs – own needs assessment, SPOC, relationship self-reliant communities lightened our load and freed up resources to protect the most vulnerable

Reports of flooding from town and parish councils blue = complete, yellow in progress Location Parish/village 1 Ladygrove Paddock Abingdon 2 Abingdon Court Care Home Abingdon 3 43 Virginia Way Abingdon 4 Main sewer blocked Appleton with Eaton 5 Baulking Lane, A417 at Challow and Stanford road Challow 6 Elm Cottage Charney Bassett 7 Red House, West Street Childey 8 Childrey Lane East Challow 9 Cornhill lane (Windmill Place) East Challow 10 Memorial Hall East Hanney 11 Lower Mill East Hanney 12 Coxwell Road (1) Great Coxwell 13 Coxwell Road (2) Entrance to village Great Coxwell 14 Grove Road Harwell 15 Kennington road Kennington 16 Mill House area Letcombe Regis 17 Beansheaf Cottage, Mill Street Marcham 18 Pembrook Lane & 104 High Street Milton High Street Milton 20 Moor ditch, Pembroke Lane. Milton 21 Causeway to Lower Radley, Panhandle & Spinneys Cottage Radley 22 Bayworth Road Radley 23 Manor Close Shrivenham 24 Manor Road, John Piers Lane, Barleycott Lane and St Lawrence Road South Hinksey 25 Rookery Barn, Vicarage Road Ox13 6SL Steventon School Close Steventon 27 Mill Street & Causeway Steventon 28 Hill Farm Steventon 29 Boars Hill towards Bayworth and Sunningwell Sunningwell 30 Churchmere Road Sutton Courtenay 31 Upper Common Lane Uffington 32 Watchfield Village Watchfield 33 Old Mill, Mill Street Wantage 34 A417 West and East Challow 35 Road out of West Hanney (towards Denchworth) West Hanney 36 The Greenway road (junction with The Millham) West Hendred 37 Woolstone Road (where road meets Claypit Lane) Woolstone 38 Grove Mill Grove

20 Moor ditch, Pembroke Lane. Milton 21 Causeway to Lower Radley, Panhandle & Spinneys Cottage Radley 22 Bayworth Road Radley 23 Manor Close Shrivenham 24 Manor Road, John Piers Lane, Barleycott Lane and St Lawrence Road South Hinksey 25 Rookery Barn, Vicarage Road Ox13 6SL Steventon School Close Steventon 27 Mill Street & Causeway Steventon 28 Hill Farm Steventon 29 Boars Hill towards Bayworth and Sunningwell Sunningwell 30 Churchmere Road Sutton Courtenay 31 Upper Common Lane Uffington 32 Watchfield Village Watchfield 33 Old Mill, Mill Street Wantage 34 A417 West and East Challow 35 Road out of West Hanney (towards Denchworth) West Hanney 36 The Greenway road (junction with The Millham) West Hendred 37 Woolstone Road (where road meets Claypit Lane) Woolstone 38 Grove Mill Grove

9 Looking forward – community resilience lessons apply to flooding AND snow, power cuts, loss of water supply etc. a community emergency plan can be simple: –a few key contacts –identifying risks in your village/parish –resources available locally e.g. place of safety –the help you might need and what you can do for yourselves community-emergency-plans

10 Supporting community resilience send us your plans –helps us to put together future budgets and plans for community resilience projects potential schemes –community managed sandbag stores works well in West Oxfordshire –tools for water course maintenance –sale of new eco sacks and door guards –snow clearing equipment –generators for running key facilities –personal resilience

Contacts