Probe into flooding returns its first report
AN investigation into the flooding in Lancashire in December 2015 has returned its first report. Lancashire County Council has published an overview report on the floods, as a first step into the investigation to find out how the county’s communities were flooded and how future flooding can be managed and hopefully prevented.
The first report, known as Section 19 Investigation, looks at the weather conditions that led to the flooding and focused heavily on the responsibilities of flood risk management authorities during those storms.
Those bodies identified as risk management authorities are Lancashire County Council, The Environment Agency, an internal drainage board, a water company and a highway authority.
The report has found that these authorities all carried out their expected duties before, during and after the flooding caused by Storms Desmond and Eva.
All of these authorities have fulfilled their duties and their work will continue in the medium to long term.
County Councillor Marcus Johnstone, cabinet member for environment, planning and cultural services, said: “The December floods were unprecedented in their severity and extent, affecting more than 200 communities across the county and causing untold distress to homeowners, disruption to businesses and damage to critical infrastructure.
“Those agencies with responsibility for managing the risk of flooding have been working very hard together, as the Lancashire Flood Risk Partnership, to understand how each individual flooding incident happened and to take action to manage or reduce the risk of it happening again.
“This report starts the process of sharing the results of that work, ensuring that people are fully informed about plans for their communities.”
All of the risk management authorities have been involved in gathering information about the individual causes of flooding in all 229 affected communities and potential measures to manage or mitigate the risk of future flooding.
That information continues to be gathered and will be published as a series of district level updates, every three months, with detailed information on the investigations undertaken at each of the affected locations, and flood risk improvements already completed and the opportunities for further investigations and/or works.