Working to prepare North East communities for winter
The Environment Agency has spent £4million in the North East repairing and improving flood defences helping communities prepare for winter
Environment Agency staff and contractors have been working around the clock to help prepare hundreds of homes across the North East for winter.
Flood risk teams across the North East have carried out checks of all flood defences and £4 million has been spent on repairs and improvement work. Areas benefiting from this work include Blyth, Hexham, Spring Gardens Dam at South Church, Skinningrove, Teesside Park, Port Clarence and Yarm.
Last winter was the wettest on record and in early December a rare combination of events resulted in a significant tidal surge that affected many coastal areas.
This caused significant damage to a 50 metre section of flood banks south of Greatham Creek in Stockton.
Emergency repair work was carried out to protect major industry and local infrastructure, and since then, permanent improvements have been made to reduce the risk of future damage.
At Port Clarence in Stockton, where 30 properties were flooded during the tidal surge, the Environment Agency has carried out some flood bank repair work ahead of the flood scheme currently being developed for this community.
Flood risk manager Phil Welton said:
October to January are generally the wettest months of the year, meaning that winter is a time when there is a greater risk of flooding. While we have been working hard to repair and improve our flood defences across the north east, we always urge the public to be prepared as we can never prevent flooding completely.
Here’s the simple steps people can take:
- Check if your property is at risk of flooding
- Sign up for a free flood warning (where available)
- Know what to do when flooding does happen
You can do all this by visiting the Floods Destroy website or calling Floodline on 0345 988 1188.