July 4th -Fact file.

What Happened 

Extensive Rainfall

    On Saturday 3 June there was torrential rain in County Durham. Nearly three inches of rain, the equivalent of one month’s rainfall, fell in just over 24 hours. Heavy rain in the previous week meant that the ground was already saturated, causing Saturday’s rain to quickly run off the hillsides into the River Gaunless.

            Flooding

    The river could not carry the huge volume of water, over 70 tonnes a second, and it over-topped its banks, flooding 133 houses in West Auckland and 194 in South Church. An additional 33 homes were flooded from Oakley Cross Beck in West Auckland. The flooding was the worst on record and was higher than the other major floods in 1924 and 1979, with river levels nearly ten feet higher than normal.

 How the Environment Agency Responded

          Issue of Warnings

     The Agency has staff on duty at all times to monitor river levels and respond to flooding. On Saturday officers opened the Flood Incident Room in Newcastle at 9pm and the first of nearly 200 telephone warnings was issued to the public at locations in the Newcastle area at 9.4Opm.

             On the Ground

     The Agency’s Emergency Workforce were out at a number of sites throughout the Region monitoring flood defences, clearing blockages and assisting councils with the distribution of sandbags. Additional staff were called in to work in the Flood Incident Room and to help at flood sites.

     Emergency Workforce staff arrived in Bishop Auckland at 3am on Sunday, to assist with sandbagging and evacuation. Agency vehicles and an inflatable boat were used to evacuate residents.

    On Monday 5 June, Agency staff assisted some residents with lifting carpets and pumping out floodwater, although they had to concentrate their efforts on repairing flood defences and clearing trees blocking bridges.

Flood Warning System

     The Environment Agency is planning to install warning systems for West Auckland and South Church before this winter. This would normally involve the inclusion of these areas on our telephone warning system - Automatic Voice Messaging (AVM). In the recent floods, however the river rose very quickly (3 feet in less than 1 hour), and therefore a siren system is being reviewed as an alternative that will give more notice of flooding. But even with a siren there maybe less than one hour’s warning of flooding.

            Construction of Flood Defences

     Flood defences were to be built for South Church later this year, this plan now needs to be reviewed following the flooding, which was higher than the previous floods on which the original designs were based. Proposals for defences to protect West Auckland are also being reviewed.

     Eye witness accounts have provided extremely valuable information on the direction of flooding, drainage problems, flooding from side streams and on the depths and timings of floodwater and properties flooded. We are very keen to gather more of this information at the open fora taking place on 3 and 4 July, so that we can design the most efficient and cost effective defences. We will, of course, consult local communities on our more detailed proposals as these are developed.

      As the flood defences are likely to be bigger, more extensive and therefore more expensive than previously planned, additional work and approvals will be necessary and so construction is likely to be delayed until 2001.

     Further information on this important point will be provided at the open fora. It should be recognised that flood defences cannot guarantee flood prevention, however, they can provide significant protection and recently constructed floodbanks at Houghton le Spring, The Batts at Bishop Auckland and elsewhere in the area successfully protected around 100 houses on 4 June.

Open Fora  

    The Environment Agency wants to gather further information on the flooding and on residents’ views on flood warnings and flood defences. We recognise that there are lessons to be learnt from every flood event, particularly from severe ones such as the June event. With the co-operation of communities, councils and Emergency Services, we aim to develop the most effective flood warning and response system possible for the area.

    If you have further information which you think may be of help in developing appropriate flood protection for your locality, please contact Ian Hodge on (0191)2034000.

 www.environment-agency.gov.uk/flood

The Following Photos are Owned by the Environmental Agency.