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

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

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

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

5. 2017… Coverack India Australia
India floods killed 120, affected 1.2million people
Australia – western Australia and Queensland
Australia

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

7. Flood Preparedness Cycle

8. “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….

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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…

12. EVALUATING

13. 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

14. 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”

15. 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