Surface water flood warning scoping project

Research exploring the Extreme Rainfall Alert (ERA) service and the relationship between ERAs and surface water flooding.

From:
Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Research and Development Programme and Environment Agency
Published
22 February 2021
Category:
Managing flood incidents
Topics:
Climate change, Communicating risk, Flood forecasting, Flood risk assessment, Flood warning, Meteorology, Monitoring and detection, Surface water
Project status:
Completed
Project code:
SC080034
Date of completion:
31 March 2011

Documents

Surface water flood warning scoping project - summary (56KB) PDF

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Details

Researchers from the Flood Hazard Research Centre have suggested that the Environment Agency and the Met Office should develop a pilot surface water flood warning service. The Extreme Rainfall Alert (ERA) service was investigated as part of this project. ERA provides heavy rainfall alerts and is delivered by the Met Office and the Environment Agency’s joint Flood Forecasting Centre (FFC).

This research explores responses to the ERA service and the requirements of professional partners in relation to it. It also investigates the relationship between ERAs and surface water flooding.

Findings

Results from three ERA case study areas indicate that the intensities of rainfall associated with surface water flooding may be lower than expected. It also shows that the current national thresholds used in the ERA service are not appropriate for all areas.

This research makes recommendations for the development of warnings and suggests that there’s potential to develop the existing ERA service into a surface water flood warning service.

This project ran from 2008 to 2011 and produced two key reports reviewing:

  • the performance of ERAs based on recorded instances of flooding in three case study areas where ERAs were issued
  • existing local arrangements for issuing flood warnings for surface water
  • the wider options for the development of such warnings in the future
Published 22 February 2021