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Summer flooding report awaited Concern over flood early warnings
(about 11 hours later)
The Environment Agency is due to publish a report detailing the lessons learned from last summer's floods. Thousands of people whose homes were flooded last summer were not warned early enough, a report has said.
The authors are expected to conclude that while the agency responded well to the emergency, some homeowners did not receive flood warnings early enough. The Environment Agency makes 33 recommendations and concludes it responded well to the emergency.
They are likely to suggest the agency takes responsibility for surface water from urban drainage systems, which caused much of the flooding. But it adds that 35,000 homes and businesses were not covered by an early warning system and that more money should be spent on urban drainage.
The worst of the floods hit Yorkshire, Gloucestershire and Worcestershire. The worst of the floods - estimated to have cost £3bn - hit Yorkshire, Gloucestershire and Worcestershire.
Loss of power Flood-proofing
The Environment Agency report is also expected to raise concerns about the preparedness of utility companies, which are responsible for their own flood defences. Environment Secretary Hilary Benn said the most important lesson from the report was that more people need to sign up for the official flood warning service.
The Walham power substation in Gloucester came within feet of being flooded in July. The Environment Agency has come through better equipped to deal with future events and tackle the challenging impacts of climate change Baroness Young, Environment Agency chief executive
Some 50,000 people were left elsewhere without power, and hundreds of thousands of homeowners in Gloucester, Cheltenham and Tewkesbury were without water, after treatment plants were overwhelmed. Currently only 41% of householders in high-risk areas are signed up. The agency suggests if the service was more widely adopted, many more people would have the time needed to flood-proof their properties.
Earlier this week, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) called on the government to develop a long-term strategy to manage the UK's growing flood risk. The agency wants the government to register more people for the flood warning service by allowing the use of ex-directory numbers and the electoral roll.
'Wake-up call' Those who did not want to be part of the system would then have to opt out of it.
The ABI wants a comprehensive assessment of flood risk and a programme of "sustained" long-term investment. Speaking to the BBC, Mr Benn said the government had already pledged extra money to spend on better flood defence schemes.
It says the summer floods, expected to cost around £3bn, should be a "final wake-up call" for the government. The agency estimates it will cost £1bn a year to protect people adequately in the coming years.
Ministers have already announced that the Environment Agency will become responsible for the "strategic overview" of coastal flooding and may take on the same role for all inland flooding. Flood risk
The government has also pledged to increase flood spending from £600m a year to £800m by 2010/2011. Environment Agency chairman Sir John Harman said that two-thirds of flooded properties were damaged because drains and sewers were overwhelmed.
He said that there was "complexity" of who is responsible for surface water flooding.
Both the government and the agency are agreed that the Environment Agency needs to take a "strategic overview" in England, and that local government, water companies and the Highways Agency must work better together at a local level.
Sir John said: "We need a clear co-ordinating framework to deal with flood risk from drains and sewers," he said.
'Poorly protected'
The report says companies that run power stations and other utilities must take responsibility for flood-proofing.
Sir John said: "The extreme flooding showed just how poorly protected much of our vital infrastructure is - and water and electricity supplies were particularly vulnerable."
HAVE YOUR SAY "I was in Sheffield during the floods, we didn't know anything was going on until it was too late" Louisa Brady, UK Send us your comments
The Agency admits that it did not erect temporary flood defences at Upton-upon-Severn and Worcester in time because of severe flooding on the roads.
It says it needs to agree with its partners a policy for deploying these types of defences.
Overall, the report says the agency responded well to the wettest May to July period in 250 years. In total 55,000 homes and businesses were flooded.
"The Environment Agency has come through better equipped to deal with future events and tackle the challenging impacts of climate change," said chief executive Baroness Young.
Planning permission
Mr Benn said although he agreed that the Environment Agency and emergency services had generally coped well with the flood, there were "lessons to be learnt".
In particular new guidance to planning authorities had been issued making it a requirement that they take potential flooding into account when developers apply to build new houses.
He said: "Adequate protection again flooding must be put in place, but if it cannot, then planning authorities must think very carefully whether they grant permission to build."
The Environment Agency report will form part of an independent review of "lessons to be learnt" from the summer floods.
The review is being carried out by Sir Michael Pitt and a preliminary report is expected by the end of the year.