South Warwickshire prepares to face future floods - but Cubbington must play waiting game

With one in six properties in the UK at risk of flooding, several agencies including the fire service, Warwickshire Police and others involved with emergency responses have joined forces under the banner Warwickshire Prepared to mark the fourth anniversary of the 2007 floods.

Graeme Smith, chief fire officer for Warwickshire, has been elected as chairman of the Warwickshire Local Resilience Forum.

He said: The forum consists of all agencies involved with emergency responses in our communities which includes colleagues from health, police, the Environment Agency and county, district and borough councils to name but a few.

“It is our purpose to try and warn and prepare local communities of any risks that they might be exposed to.

“For south Warwickshire, flooding is an obvious area that we want to raise, particularly as the anniversary of the floods in July 2007 are now in sight.”

A website has been set up to warn and prepare people for any risks they may face.

The site provides news and guides on how people can deal with an emergency.

Mr Smith added: “Emergencies usually occur with little or no warning and can happen at any time and anywhere and can affect basic services and result in a loss of power, gas, water and telephones. Floods, fires and explosions could also threaten or damage your property. In extreme cases an emergency can lead to people being evacuated from their homes.

“If you have to evacuate your home you need to know what to have at hand.”

• CUBBINGTON villagers will have to wait until next year before they know if funds will be available for a new flood alleviation scheme.

Nearly 50 homes flooded when an unprecedented amount of rain fell on the village in June 2007, forcing some residents to move away while repairs took place.

But campaigners won’t know if the government will provide any of the £600,000 needed for a relief lake on land off Mill Lane until at least April 2012.

Reg Smith, whose New Street home was flooded four years ago, said: “It’s just a waiting game, back in December 2010 the Government put out a consultation and the results showed there needed to be a new method of funding.

“In the past most of the funds went to areas which had coastal or river flooding and not to those with surface run-off but they are looking at that and it looks as if there is more chance of schemes like ours getting some money.

“A lot of people still get very worried when it rains heavily but we’ve tried to instill in them that it’ll be a long job.”