Fix plug sockets higher to combat flood damage, says agency chief
PLUG sockets should be higher up the wall so that they are at less risk in flooding, the head of the Environment Agency has said.
Speaking on Today on BBC Radio 4, Sir James Bevan said homeowners should check their flood risk and consider installing measures such as flood gates and waterproof flooring.
Asked if those living on the ground floor should consider refurbishments to make their homes more flood-resilient, he said: “Yes. The best defence of all is to know whether you are at risk and what to do if that risk materialises.”
He suggested people visit gov.uk to see the Government’s flood guidance and added: “That will give you very good advice about measures that you could put into your property: flood gates, impermeable floors, moving the electrics up the walls. That will mean if your home sadly does flood you’ll be able to get back to normal much more quickly.”
A postcode checker is also available to help people understand their level of flood risk.
His advice came after the Government announced new funding for flood defence schemes and said that climate change would put more people at risk.
Writing in The Daily Telegraph yesterday, George Eustice, the Environment Secretary, said: “Climate change means more extreme weather, a higher risk of flooding events and coastal erosion. All too often, we are seeing households suffering repeated flooding.”
Building codes suggest positioning plug sockets between 45cm (1ft 5¾in) and 120cm (3ft 11 ¼in) off the ground, to make sure they are accessible to people with different levels of mobility.
Sockets, plugs and switches should be “reasonably accessible to people who have reduced reach”, guidelines say.
They can be placed at a mid-wall height above countertops or to enable the installation of wall-mounted appliances such as TVS. If placed above a kitchen surface a distance of 15cm (6in) is suggested to ensure that cables are not crushed or twisted in a limited space.
The Government’s guidance on flood adaptation says: “To reduce flood damage you can take steps such as laying tiles instead of carpets, moving electrical sockets higher up the wall and fitting non-return valves to stop flood water entering your property through the drains.”
Yesterday a study from the Met Office found that 2020 had been in the top 10 for levels of heat, sunshine and rainfall
‘It is not only floods: we face drought and . . . we need to invest in more capacity to store water when it rains’
– the first time this had been so for any one year – with meteorologists saying that Britain needed to prepare for 40C temperatures in the summer, heavy rainfall and greater risk of flooding.
Speaking on World At One on Radio 4, Sir John Armitt, chairman of the National Infrastructure Commission, said: “It is not only floods: we face drought, of course, and we have got to get used to using less water, everyone of us at the same time, as we need to invest in more capacity to store the water when it rains.”
The civil engineer also said the Government needed to focus on encouraging people to adopt realistic methods of reducing emissions.
He added: “There are lots of uncertainties, which is why, in a sense, the most important thing we can do is deal with those things we do know, for example the electrification of vehicles, and make sure that the opportunity is there for everyone in the next 10 years to get to grips with having an electric car instead of a petrol one.”
What with one thing and another, it hasn’t been easy to have a foreign holiday. But if the man who runs the Environment Agency is right, foreign ways are coming to us – not just to visit but to move in. Soon, the sitting room will look like those in Italy. For a start, electrical sockets will be at waist height – just as in Venice. It’s to stop floods putting them out of order. (Those living at the top of a hill might perhaps be given a dispensation.) But there is no point moving the sockets if the wall is of plasterboard. So it will have to be like one in a shower room, maybe with decorative tiling. Floorboards? They’ll have to go. And forget carpets. It’ll end up as a rather echoey place to be, with a dado running around the room. It’s not quite enough to make it like a year-round holiday. For that, we must rely on climate change.