Exercise Flood Board III

Residents along the River Exe frontage, ie Ferry Rd, the Strand and Riversmeet, at least those with long-ish memories, will remember the storms of early 2014, when over 40 properties were flooded. Since then, many of those in the most vulnerable locations have invested in flood defences, usually some form of boarding, to protect vulnerable points in their property. Although we have not had a serious flood incident since 2014, there have been a number of close calls, leading the Topsham Emergency Group to believe that it is a matter of when, not if, that flooding happens again.

In in both 2015 and 2019 the Emergency Group ran an exercise to test deployment of flood defences, now in 2021 we would like to do this again. One of the objectives of the exercise will be to assess what proportion of properties vulnerable to flooding have invested in flood defences, hoping that there is an improvement in 2019’s figure of c.60%. We are always looking to increase the number of houses that need property protection so advice and guidance will be available that evening.

The date for the exercise is Monday 20th September, just in advance of a week of 4m+ high tides. If there is any threat of flooding, then residents will be encouraged to leave their defences in place. The exercise will act as a timely reminder for residents to consider their flood defence arrangements, and to allow practice to find and assemble their defences without the pressure of an actual flooding situation.

Topsham has a number of trained Flood Wardens, they will be on hand to encourage residents in this regard, giving assistance when needed. The exercise is scheduled between 5 – 7pm that evening. It will be a good test of our readiness to respond locally to an emergency flood situation.

We have made good progress with installing property level protection since 2014. We have been looking closely at the possibility of flood barriers to protect community interests at strategic locations along the Strand and Ferry Rd as a ‘front line’ of protection. Unfortunately this work has been delayed due to Covid-19, but we are continuing to work with Exeter City Council and the Environment Agency to bring this project to fruition, hopefully by the end of 2022.

Strong winds and high tides this evening

Further to our ‘heads up’ regarding possible flooding this evening, at present we believe that any flooding along the Topsham riverfront is likely to be minor - but of course it is better to be prepared and have nothing to do than the reverse!

The current situation is that there is a strong wind blowing from the south/ south east, but by no means gale force. The high tide this evening, scheduled at 20:50, is 4.3m, however there is likely to be a ‘surge’ because of weather conditions and atmospheric pressure, which is low but not massively so.

Therefore we do not anticipate serious flooding along the river front this evening, or indeed tomorrow, which sees the highest tides and strongest winds, but the wind direction (south west) works in our favour. However, to be on the safe side, if any residents require assistance in deploying flood defences then please get in touch. We will have a limited number of flood wardens available to help out. 

For those without their own flood defences Exeter City Council have made sandbags available at Topsham Quay and a limited number at Topsham Rec.

If you require assistance please ring 07527 221244.

Topsham Emergency Group

Wild Weather this Weekend

We are in for some pretty atrocious weather this weekend with the Met Office warning that Storm Ciara “will bring very strong winds and potentially some disruption to travel throughout Sunday”.

The highest winds will be experienced on Sunday and Monday, with high tides early in the morning both days. Winds should abate by Tuesday, in advance of a 4.5m tide due on Wednesday morning. Our best estimate at the moment is that the strongest winds will NOT align with the highest tides, also that from Sunday the winds will be from a south west to westerly direction, that is generally regarded as safe.

So at this stage we do not anticipate significant flooding, more likely to be over-topping at the usual points along the River Exe riverfront. As ever, it is important for Residents to make their own decisions on deployment of flood defences, but at this stage we do not anticipate mobilising our Flood Wardens.

Topsham Emergency Group

Spring Tides and Autumn Storms

There are high tides this weekend from Friday evening (25 October), with 4m + tides for the remainder of the week. In addition stormy weather is forecast, in particular for this Friday and Saturday. However, barometric pressure remains relatively high and the winds are mainly from a westerly direction, backing northerly as we come into Sunday and Monday.

Therefore our assessment at the moment is that the risk of flooding along the river front in Topsham remains LOW. However residents must take their own decisions regarding deployment of flood defences.

High Tides Monday 30th September 2019

This Monday, 30 September, sees the highest tide of the year at 4.6m, at 9pm that evening. There is also a high tide in the morning, 4.4m. 

Our judgement is that despite the high tides, rain and stormy weather, the risk of serious flooding along the river front is LOW. The wind is largely coming out of the west, before turning northerly later in the week, and barometric pressure remains relatively high. The river is likely to over-top the surround in the usual places, but not encroach properties.

Given that the tides are very high, we will keep the sandbag store, located in the corner of the Matthews Hall car park, open during Monday, should any residents wish to fortify their defences. Also deployment of flood defences is down to individual discretion.

Topsham Emergency Group.

Exercise Floodboard II to take place Thursday 26th September

Residents along the River Exe frontage, ie Ferry Rd, the Strand and Riversmeet will remember the storms of early 2014, when over 40 properties were flooded. Since then, many of those in the most vulnerable locations have invested in flood defences, usually some form of boarding to protect their property. Well, time moves on, although we have not had a serious flood incident since 2014, there have been a number of close calls, leading the Emergency Group to believe that it is a matter of when, not if, that flooding happens again.

In 2015, the Emergency Group led an exercise to test deployment of flood defences, and now in 2019 we would like to do this again. The 2015 exercise established that around 50% of properties were protected from floods, one of the objectives of the exercise will be to see by how much this proportion has increased? We are always looking to increase the number of houses that need property protection so advice and guidance will be available.

The selected date is Thursday 26th September, just in advance of a week of high tides, including the highest tides of the year, 4.6m, due on both the Sunday and Monday evenings. If there is any threat of flooding, then residents will be encouraged to leave their defences in place. The exercise will act as a timely reminder for residents to consider their flood defence arrangements, and to allow practice to find (!) and assemble their defences in slow time.

Topsham has a number of trained Flood Wardens, they will be on hand to encourage residents to put up their own flood defences, giving assistance when needed. The exercise is scheduled for between 5 – 6pm. It will be a good test of our readiness to respond locally to an emergency flood situation.

We have made good progress with installing property level protection in the 5 years since 2014. We are now looking closely at the possibility of flood barriers to protect community interests at strategic locations along the Strand and Ferry Rd as a ‘front line’ of protection. We are conducting this work along side Exeter City Council and the Environment Agency and are hoping to have sufficient progress to have an ‘open evening’ to discuss options later in the Autumn.

Weather 7/8 February 2019

For the next 24-36 hours (from midday Thursday) the forecast is for the weather to turn very windy on Friday morning, with gales and heavy rain continuing into the afternoon, gradually easing from the west followed by blustery showers.

With a 3.9m tide at 08.45 am, reducing to 3.6m later in the day, there is scope for some over-topping along the riverfront, however with winds predominantly from the SW we do not anticipate any significant flooding.

If Residents are in anyway worried they should err on the side of caution and deploy flood defences, but we do not expect to call out the Flood Wardens.

Topsham Emergency Group