Floods The Muchelney Experience Carolyn Roche

November 2012 After the wettest summer on record 12 Houses flooded Roads became impassable cutting off the village for 2 weeks We were told at a village meeting with the EA it was a 1 in 100 year event and it wouldn’t happen again!

However Some villagers did not believe There is no Parish Council A Flood Plan was devised from the experience thinking that it could not be worse by interested villagers A Communication network that had started was made stronger The Flood Plan was then delivered to every house

Initial Flood Plan included A self help guide for –Where to move your car to –Medical emergencies –Fire emergencies –Getting prescriptions –Access and transport –Livestock –Food –Accommodation

New Year’s Day 2014 The flood plan was put into action by Alastair Mullineux via The Village Agent spoke with ‘vulnerable’ villagers to see if they wanted to leave Teams mobilised to move furniture for people who had flooded before Note: No warnings officially received yet

4-5 th January 2014 Water entered 25 houses Accommodation found for those that needed it Transport via tractor arranged to help get people out Village agent along with village checks on people Communication network in full swing informing people of what is happening

Communication The fastest way to communicate is addresses were collected during 2012 and through 2013 with the final doubters joining during 2014 event Any houses not on the list are covered by their neighbours printing and taking round messages 2 people hold the list so that if one is away the other can send information Outside agencies wanting to send information in have only 2 contacts to deal with

The communication network was invaluable for villagers and services alike –Fire Brigade –Red Cross –Ambulance –Council –Villagers in need

Fine tuning the plan There is now a flood group Each person in the group looks after a specific area of interest –School children –Commuters –Rubbish –Vulnerable –Donations –The different ‘islands’

Including Defibrillator trained villagers First Aid trained villagers Useful phone numbers such as Power, Water and Village Agent A better plan for getting sand bags Fuel Donations Leaving the village before ‘official’ help has arrived

Impact of having a Plan Meant that there was organisation Everyone knew what was happening and what would happen even if they had evacuated Many people’s furniture was saved People had their cars usefully on the other side of the water Services were aware of the vulnerable

Your plan Must be specific to your area Adapt it from your experiences Evacuation What communication is best for you, , grapevine or telephone tree Report where you are Share the plan with Councils and services and tell them what you want Do not assume it will not happen again

Thank you