Background
The evening of Wednesday 23rd September will
see the residents along the river frontage in Topsham taking part in a
community resilience exercise to test preparedness for winter storms and
potential flooding. As Autumn approaches the events of February 2014, which saw
over 40 properties in Topsham flooded, are still in people’s minds, the
exercise is intended to give a degree of re-assurance.
The purpose of the exercise is two fold:
-
To exercise the newly appointed flood wardens in
Topsham, giving them a scenario where they can practise deployment and
communication
-
To engage with the residents in the flood zone,
to encourage them to practice erecting their flood defences in a non-emergency
situation, where help will be at hand.
Format
We will request residents deploy their flood boards
between 18:00 and 19:00 on Wednesday 23rd September (this date is
one of low tide, ie zero real flood risk, but within a week we will be
experiencing the highest tide of the year at 4.6m)
Flood Wardens will be called out from 5pm that evening, collect
their equipment from the Route 2 Café – which acts as Control Hub – and be
deployed along Ferry Rd / Strand by Coordinators. They will then note the
following:
- Properties with flood defences in place
- Properties with flood defence capability, but no deployment
- Residents / properties that require assistance in deployment
- Properties apparently without flood defence
Wardens will phone information back to Control – testing
communication links and recording – as well as noting details themselves.
Representatives from GRK – the main local agents for
flood boards – will be on hand to help with deployment as required. The Devon
& Somerset Fire and Rescue Service will also be on hand to add realism and
to offer advice to residents, if required.
Coordinators will also test protocols to engage / inform
partner agencies such as the Environment Agency, Police, Fire Service and local
Councils.
The Environment Agency will be undertaking a
demonstration of how to erect a sandbag wall on Topsham Quay from 7pm that
evening.
There will be a ‘hot de-brief’ in Route 2 café after the
exercise.
Timing
The exercise will take place on Wednesday 23rd
September between 5 – 8pm, with residents deploying their flood defences
between 6 – 7pm.
