Recent flash flooding across Spain highlights the vulnerability of communities to protect themselves from such events. Whilst many countries operate early warning systems, gaps still exist in capabilities supporting flood resilience and preparedness. The city of Orihuela in Alicante was flooded. Source: The Independent ANYWHERE is a Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation funded programme aimed at empowering exposed responder institutions and citizens to enhance their anticipation and pro-active capacity of response to face extreme and high-impact weather and climate events.  The EU programme i ..read more

ANYWHERE (enhANcing emergencY management and response to extreme WeatHER and climate Events) is a H2020 innovation programme developing tools to support decision makers in real-time coordination of emergency management operations. Started in 2016, the programme seeks to capitalise on advances in observation systems and in forecasting models in anticipation of natural hazards such as flash floods, landslides, droughts and heat waves. Mataro near Barcelona, affected by flooding in 2016. Source: La Vanguardia The programme includes 31 organisations from a mixture of experts from the hydrometeor ..read more

I was struck by the presentation of Carlos Velasco-Forero at the recent EGU General Assembly when he referred to a ‘critical need to develop defensible flood forecasts’ in Australia. He mentioned the uncertainties involved when dealing with decision making when rainfall and flood forecasts rapidly unfold and the challenges associated with communicating these uncertainties with responders. So what were some of the take home points from presentations across EGU19 and how can they support the scientist and decision maker through improved flood forecasting? Presenting at the EGU 2019 PICO sessio ..read more

Madhab Uprety, Disaster Risk Reduction consultant, and Sumit Dugar, Research Associate at Practical Action Consulting South Asia, reflect on efforts to improve disaster preparedness in Nepal. Southern flood plains of Nepal have always experienced a varied degree of flooding during the monsoon.  Whilst humanitarian responders and district level agencies have always relied on a general level of preparedness based on average levels of risks leading to periodic preparedness interventions across these flood prone districts. Portion of the Lal Bakaiya dam that was swept away by a flood in Rautahat ..read more

Chris Haggett has worked in the UK water industry for over 40 years, including with the Greater London Council (Department of Public Health Engineering), Thames Water (Rivers Division), National Rivers Authority, Environment Agency and RAB Consultants. He has experience in hydrology, flood forecasting and warning, emergency management, and benefits and business change management. Chris has worked as Flood Forecasting and Warning Development Manager within the Environment Agency’s National Flood Warning Centre, and has experience in managing many major flood incidents, including Easter 1998, Au ..read more

Michael Clark is a Resilience Consultant at RAB and recently contributed to the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) regional platform for Africa and the Arab states held in Tunis. He reports on the search for solutions to disaster risk reduction. While the welcome was warm and hospitable from our Tunisian hosts, the conference was set against the backdrop of tragic events in the country in late September. Heavy rain and flash flooding had killed 5 people in the Cap Bon Peninsula, destroying homes, property and livelihoods in its midst. Sadly, these scenes were repeated s ..read more

Russell Burton is an expert in flood risk and incident management, Managing Director of RAB Consultants and a former flood warning team leader in the Environment Agency.  Russell looks back at changes in flood resilience since the 2007 floods. I read John Curtin’s blog Flood risk management 10 years on – a journey of high and low tech improvements with great interest this week and found the list of improvements and the progress made impressive, especially against a backdrop of economic uncertainty and austerity. Tewkesbury is situated in Gloucestershire and was one of the worst affected parts ..read more

Robyn Shaw, an MSc Sustainability and Water Security research student, reflects on work to develop a serious game to help improve community flood resilience. I am currently at the University of Dundee and as part of my course I had the pleasure to embark in a research in practice placement supporting the development of practical solutions for flood resilience.  The aim of my placement was: To develop a concept of a multi-participatory game based on reality for flood response and community flood resilience in Scotland which was fun to play. Civil Agency, Society and Climate ADaptation to Weath ..read more

Paul Laidlaw, Community Resilience Manager with the Scottish Flood Forum, reports on efforts to support engagement with communities at risk of flooding. The Scottish Flood Forum (SFF) recently launched a pilot Good Practice Framework (GPF) to support engagement with flood risk communities. The work is being developed in partnership with the National Centre For Resilience in Scotland (NCR) who were established in 2016 to ensure communities across Scotland are fully and adequately prepared for natural hazards such as flooding and landslides. Stonehaven (pictured) is a community where examples o ..read more

Dan Matthews is a Senior Resilience Consultant, with experience in flood incident management and planning.  Dan reports on FRM2017 and work on improving community flood resilience. “Would you like to speak at the SNIFFER Flood Risk Management conference in Edinburgh?” I’ve learnt to see some of these ‘development opportunities’ approaching, but on this occasion opted to grab it with both hands. I’m glad that I did! SNIFFER bring people and ideas together as ‘knowledge brokers for a resilient Scotland’ and their annual Flood Risk Management Conference in Edinburgh has promoted learning, sharing ..read more