Alan Bravey Humber Local Resilience Forum Tidal Surge Lessons to be Learned, 5 December 2013
What is a tidal surge? Atlantic depression tracks into North Sea Very strong winds (pushes sea water into a dome) Very low atmospheric pressure (allows sea water to rise) North Sea shallow
Causes a single tidal surge down the East Coast
When combined with high spring tides can lead to: Overtopping Potential breaching of defences Plus gale conditions and flooding associated with poor weather (surface water, river etc)
General Time Line Tuesday am ResCG Teleconference Tuesday pm Humber LRF FAS Teleconference Wednesday am Humber LRF TCG Telecon in response to Amber FGS Wednesday pm ResCG Teleconference Wednesday pm precautionary TCG Thursday am precautionary TCG Thursday am SGC SCG / TCG operating through to Friday afternoon
Bridlington Harbour
South Ferriby
South Ferriby
Undermined / missing flood defences
Properties Affected East Riding of Yorkshire 192 residential, 148 commercial Hull City 149 residential, 118 commercial North East Lincolnshire no known flooding North Lincolnshire 348 residential and commercial
Some lessons learned Overall, the multi-agency response and recovery to the emergency were considered to have worked well
Tidal surges are a difficult thing to predict!
Over simplification of our Monday High tides understanding Tuesday Normal winter weather Wednesday North Bank good chance of flooding / South Bank not particularly at risk. Not a H19 type tidal inundation. Thursday South Bank (Grimsby / Clee) at most risk. Hull at no risk.
Some of the Flood Guidance Statements Thursday confidence high, specific locations uncertain. Which tide would be
Difficult to predict extent of surge Tide 400 mm higher than expected at Newcastle bigger than expected 2 hours till it reaches the Humber what does that mean? Flood warnings issued with minutes notice
Impact in the Humber very unpredictable
Pre-deploying assets in specific locations very difficult (although general alert allowed Fire to successfully request national resources) therefore pre-deploy anyway at coastal locations. From Tuesday risk is Yellow low confidence of medium impact. Is Amber the right trigger?
Flood Advisory Service Telecon Worked well partners fully briefed on latest information. Determined the the need TCG Who has signed up to the FAS in your LRF area?
Trigger Level Problem Half of our area at Amber and half at Yellow. Changed to Amber during precautionary TCG meeting.
Convening TCG / SCG Early stand up worked well. How do you repeat that? SMS alert imperative Teleconference option essential, but not ideal Not all partners could be represented by either route
Flood Warnings Lots and lots of flood warnings issued in very quick succession! Wish we had used the live map! First ever Severe Flood Warning
Flood Warnings Feeling from residents they were not warned of the risk of flooding Flood Sirens in Grimsby / Cleethorpes caused little reaction
The ResCG Who represents your LRF when a ResCG is called before a SCG has been convened? Does the ResCG replace any local telecons? Who has the most accurate info Local or National? Should you prioritise the ResCG during the response? What is the value of the ResCG?
Hours before high tide. Who withdraws their staff? Who has shut down their assets and resources? How safe are the spotters?
How easy is it to talk to: COMAH sites? CNI sites? Parish Councils? Elected Members? MPs? Cat 1 and 2 responders not present at SCG / TCG? A neighbouring SCG?
Coastal Erosion Risk
Communicating with Media Widespread media coverage until Nelson Mandella announcement Extensive and excellent coverage on local BBC Press conference held, lots of interviews..
Social Media, Websites Thousands of web hits, large use of Facebook, reasonable use of Twitter. Thousands of extra people following Press teams just about managed to keep on top of social media enquiries
Communicating with Media Could have been more joined up Better engagement with Cat 2 s One team approach proposed for future
Boat Assets Some convergent boats used to rescue Outside of Command and Control Structure How can F&RS coordinate?
Evacuation How to we know when to encourage vertical evacuation? How do we know how bad it will be, and where we can locate our rest centres? Are Rest Centres open before a Severe Flood Warning issued? How effective are the business continuity arrangements of social landlords? How effectively is location of rest centres shared at TCG? Supporting Station operators with Rest Centres?
Community Emergency Plans Excellent response from communities usually regardless of whether they had a plan or not Most without plan felt they would like to have one Some plans out of date
Recovery Recovery started Friday morning, most initial recovery activities finished by Monday. Key lesson do it quicker! Recovery was not particularly multi agency
Multi Agency Flood Plan A little unwieldy Call for a Flooding STAC Can Cat 2 s make their assets more resilient?
In Summary Advanced warning, TCG and SCG in place before key tides Excellent multi agency working massive challenges dealt with effectively Could have been much worse with on shore winds. Many of the lessons learned focussed on whether we can improve forecasting
Thanks for listening any questions?