8. Warning and Informing

In this series, you’ll hear from the different Natural Resources Wales teams who work together to reduce the risk of flooding to communities in Wales.

This will give you a good overview of what flood risk is, what we’re doing to manage it in Wales, and what impact the climate emergency is having on flood risk in Wales now and in the future.

·        Flood Risk Management Web Pages

·        Nature Based Solutions for Coastal Management

·         Shoreline Management Plans

·        National Flood Asset Database

·        Natural Resources Wales / Check flood warnings

·        Natural Resources Wales / Check river levels, rainfall and sea data

·        Natural Resources Wales / 5 day flood risk outlook

·        Natural Resources Wales / Check your flood risk on a map (Flood Risk Assessment Wales Map)

·        Natural Resources Wales / Flood Map for Planning / Development Advice Map

·        Natural Resources Wales / Jobs, apprenticeships and placements

If you have any questions or comments on anything covered in this podcast series, contact us at FloodRiskManagement.Strategic@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk

Transcript

CG: Hi there, and welcome to the Natural Resources Wales podcast miniseries on Flood Risk Management. My name is Cerian Gingell and I work here at Natural Resources Wales. In this series you’ll hear from the different teams who work together to reduce the risk of flooding to communities in Wales. This will give you a really good overview of what flood risk is, what we’re doing to manage it in Wales, and what impact the climate emergency is having on flood risk in Wales, both now and in the future. 

Hello and welcome to episode 8 of the Natural Resources Wales flood risk management mini-series. Today I’m joined by Gwenno, Gwyn and Holly who work in our North Wales Operational Warning and Informing team. So welcome all, and thanks so much for joining us! 

Q1 – To start off could you all please tell me a little bit about yourselves? So, what’s led to you to being in this role, and here in Natural Resources Wales?

GM – Well thanks for having us. I’m Gwyn. So I have been for working for Natural Resources Wales, and the Environment Agency prior to that about 10 years now. I did my undergraduate degree in Physical Geography at Bangor University. And then as part of my first year, I had to go on a four-week professional placement. 

CG: OK

GM: So I did this with the Ecological Appraisal Team in Environment Agency Wales at the time.  

CG: Yes 

GM: That was four weeks of electric fishing work and we were investigating salmon and trout populations. Following that placement, I was fortunate in getting a summer paid contract, did a lot more electric fishing work, but also river and bathing water quality sampling. Did this for a few years before getting an opportunity to join what was then called the Flood Incident Management team as a Flood Awareness Wales officer. So that role primarily involved door knocking properties at risk of flooding and trying to get people to register to our Flood Warning Service. As time went on then, I developed my skills and knowledge within the team, and I am now responsible for our duty officer and operational response procedures in North-West Wales. That involves training our duty officers as well. A few years ago, we split from the Environment Agency, we became Natural Resources Wales. And soon afterwards the team changed to Warning and Informing.

CG: Thank you Gwyn, that was a very interesting path, sort of not straight away in to flood risk management but kind of went from, you know watery- type work and then in to flood risk management, so yeah interesting to hear the sort of way that you’ve come in to where you are now. 

GT – Hi Cerian, its Gwenno here. I’ve been interested in the environment for a really long time, even establishing the ‘green schools’ group at my high school –

CG: oo lovely!

GT: And then going on to study Environmental Sciences at University in both Scotland and then on to the Netherlands.

CG: Oh wow!

GT: As part of my work experience for one of the University courses, I worked with Community Energy Wales and Ynni Ogwen over in Bethesda. When I was in my early teens, my uncle from the US came over for a visit and became somewhat upset at me because he thought climate change was fake and I had been brainwashed!

CG: Oh dear!

GT: And I was pretty annoyed and so when it came time to pick my university degree, I just remembered being very very frustrated and decided to do something about it and it led on from there!

CG: Fair enough I think!

HJ – Hiiya! Yeah I've worked at Natural Resources for nearly two years now. I went to Aberystwyth University, and I completed both my undergraduate and postgraduate degree. The first in Physical Geography and then my Masters in Environmental Change, Impacts and Adaptation. And then after University I relocated to Exeter for a little bit and I worked at the Met Office for two years where I was training to be a Meteorologist.

CG: Oh cool!

HJ: Following that I applied for the role in the Warning and Informing team at Natural Resources Wales. I just wanted to be more involved with people, seeing how these warnings affected communities and if there is anything that can be done to help them before, and after flooding events.

CG: Yeah, that’s great thanks Holly. So, you’ve all got really interesting backgrounds! Can you perhaps tell me a little about the Warning and Informing team and the work that you do there?

HJ – Yeah of course. The Warning and Informing team is responsible for making sure the public and anyone responding are ready for the possibility of flooding.

We work to set up and maintain a Flood Warning Service for the properties that are considered to be at risk of both you know river and coastal flooding.

CG: Yes 

HJ : My role specifically involves improving the flood warning service for the communities within North-East Wales and parts of Mid Wales along the Rivers Severn, Vyrnwy and Teme.

I then have an on-call role too, where I am on the North-East Flood Warning Duty Officer rota which means I issue the flood alerts and warnings to the communities along the Alyn, Clwyd, Elwy and Gele Catchments and the North Wales coast from the Dee estuary to the East coast of Anglesey.

GM – Yeah um we are also responsible for preparing, planning, and coordinating Natural Resources Wales’ response to flood incidents, and following this, conducting post warning analysis, contributing to the improvement of our guidance and the training of our duty officers. Constantly trying to improve the service that we provide. 

My role, similar to Hollie’s really, involves improving the flood warning service for North-West Wales and the River Dee. I also have an on-call role, so I’m a Flood Warning Duty Officer on the North West side, primarily covering Anglesey, Gwynedd, Conwy, parts of North Ceredigion and then the West Anglesey, Llyn Peninsula and Cardigan Bay coastlines.

CG: Brilliant 

GT – So my role is a bit different to Gwyn’s and Hollie’s and involves dealing with the Flood Warning System and making sure people are registered to receive warnings. Some communities in North and Mid Wales have developed Community Flood Plans which help them become a bit more resilient to flooding, and part of my job is supporting these.

Similar to Gwyn and Hollie I do have an on-call role, this is for being an Assistant Flood Warning Duty Officer. And I issue messages generated by Flood Warning Duty Officers like Hollie and Gwyn, and I send them out to everyone who needs to receive them via the Flood Warning System.

We have several incident management roles relating to flooding across North and parts of Mid Wales. As a team, we coordinate these rotas and their plans on how to respond to flooding.

Being on rota is a bit difficult! Difficult work and requires you to be available at any time when you’re on call. And I’m sure Gwyn and Hollie can agree, I’ve been woken up at every hour of the day and night. Honestly I’ve just got to say I think the weather gets worse when I’m on call!

CG: It just knows and it’s not kind to you.

Q3 – Can you perhaps explain then how exactly we warn and inform the public about potential flooding?

GT – So we warn and inform the public about potential flooding through our Flood Warning System, which is a huge database of addresses and flood warning maps that show properties that are deemed to be at risk of flooding.

We send out messages via the flood warning system to tell the public that flooding is possible or expected. And this message can come as a phone call, a text message or an email, depending on what that person has chosen. It’s more convenient for them. 

CG: That’s great! So, you can choose whether to receive it as phone call or a text message or whatever, that’s really cool. 

GT: Yeah, not everyone wants to you know, receive phone calls

CG: No

GT: Or text messages, they may not even have a mobile. So. 

GC: Yeah 

GT : But yeah. There are three levels of warning, with the lowest level being a Flood Alert, which just means that flooding is possible, and you should be prepared. We issue Flood Alerts when we believe flooding of low-lying agricultural land and roads is likely, but not property flooding.

CG: Oh OK

GT: We go up a level. And we have the Flood Warning, which means that flooding is expected, and immediate action is required. We issue Flood Warnings when we think properties are likely to flood.

CG: Yeah, that makes sense 

GT: And finally, we have the Severe Flood Warnings. Which means there is likely severe flooding and danger to life. Events that necessitate a Severe Flood Warning are rare but can and have happened.

GM – Yeah, some people come to us to register their details to receive these warnings, but other people can get registered automatically by their phone provider. These people we don’t get to see their contact details, but they will still receive a message whenever we issue these messages. 

Information on issued messages can be found on our website as well, and you can also hear it on the phone by calling Floodline. So that number is 0345 988 1188. There are around forty thousand properties located in flood warning areas and that’s only within our patch that we cover in North and Mid Wales, and around three quarters of these have their details registered on the flood warning system. Obviously, we would like everyone to be registered. 

CG: Yes absolutely, the more people that are registered, the more people you can warn, so yes, I think people who aren’t registered they can do that though our website can they? 

GM: Yes through the website, phone flood line, many ways to do it. 

CG: Brilliant ok. So now that we’ve heard about the flood warning service and the system and how it’s used to warn communities of potential flooding, perhaps you could explain a little bit more about how it actually works then? 

HJ – Yeah of course. We provide a Flood Warning Service to each Flood Warning area. We create these by reviewing if that specific area is at risk from flooding. And we do this by looking at the Flood Risk Assessment Wales map which I’m sure you would have heard about in a previous episode and can access through the links in the show notes.

CJ: That’s right yes

HJ: We start by working with other teams to coordinate all the different aspects that allow us to provide a Flood Warning Service. We utilise specialist telemetry equipment installed at numerous locations across Wales to gather the data. This data is then used to develop models, giving us an idea of how rivers and the sea can react to different conditions. The outcome of this modelling work then  allows us to set certain thresholds or levels which our duty officers can use to issue these flood alerts and warnings as described by Gwenno before. We also have flood forecasting models which our duty officers can use to issue messages.

GM – Each of our Flood Warning areas has specific thresholds that have been developed, and when the river level or coastal location reaches those set thresholds, an alarm is sent out to the relevant area Flood Warning Duty Officer. These are the calls that are generated to us and wakes us up in the middle of the night. 

CG: Ahh, so the ones that Gwennos mentioned there that happen more when you’re on duty

GM: Unfortunately yes it does happen! So, when we get those calls the duty officer receives the alarm. They then make a decision  if there is a need to issue a message. They can either issue it straightaway  or depending on the situation they can monitor before making a decision. 

They then instruct the Assistant Flood Warning Duty Officer, which is Gwenno’s role to send a message on the Flood Warning System. That gets sent to all registered customers as well as relevant organisations as well. 

CH: Oh OK

GM: As was mentioned before, Severe Flood Warnings are treated differently to Flood Alerts and Flood Warnings as the meaning of the message is danger to life. Because of this, Severe Flood Warnings are normally issued based on-site observations from colleagues as well as people like the Police and Fire and Rescue Service.

CG: Oh ok so it’s not sort of solely on computer systems, its actually people there physically being able to see what’s going on then? 

GM: Yeah. When we generate the flood alerts and the flood warnings, its more to do with these set thresholds and certain conditions. Severe flood warnings is very much linked to people. 

CG: Brilliant, yes. OK so what can people do to then to ensure they are prepared for any potential flooding?

GT – Well I mean we mentioned one of the first things people should do if they live in an area prone to flooding is check if they can sign up to receive Flood Warnings. 

CG: Yep

GT: Just send this message again and again. So people they can register to receive these warnings in a few ways. They can go on the Natural Resources Wales website, they can phone Floodline, as Gwyn mentioned before. They can email Natural Resources Wales, or sometimes  we can give them a paper signup form to fill in. 

CG: OK 

GT: We send paper forms in places where we’ve set up a new Flood Warning Area. We do know that some areas that have Community Flood Plans and Flood Wardens or Flood Volunteers are proactive in promoting our Flood Warning Services and getting people to register. Depending on their needs, we can support them with flooding literature and paper signup forms that they can distribute within the community. 

So as well as information on how to receive Flood Warnings, our website has a lot of additional information for people at risk of flooding. This includes guidance on what to do before, during and after a flood, live river levels, and maps and services how to find if your property is at risk of flooding from the sea, rivers or surface water.

For communities who are at risk of flooding, we also have templates for Community Flood Plans and information on what communities can do to prepare for flooding.

CG: That’s great thank you. 

HJ -Yeah you know you  can make sure you've always planned what to do in an emergency. A flood plan would take some of the pressure off yourselves, your family and also you know the wider picture like your community during an already stressful time. Packing a flood kit is also always a good idea! A flood kit should contain all the things you would need during and after a flood if you were affected and should be specific to your needs. So, this could include things like first aid kit, medication, and insurance documents. During a flood you can check the levels of the river by using river levels online as Gwenno mentioned.  But remember to also keep a list of important phone numbers handy because you know you never know when it could come in.  We have many leaflets on our website which can help the public. If you have flood protection equipment such as flood gates or air brick covers you can put them in place to prepare and also remember to turn off gas, electricity and water supplies and also move your car to higher ground.

CG: Yeah that’s an interesting point, it’s sort of one of those things that I suppose I’m lucky, I’ve never had to actually had to deal with the possibility of being flooded. So, but for me it perhaps wouldn’t have occurred to me to think about things like turning off your gas and your electricity and your water supply but of course that’s so sensible to do! But it’s as I say, it’s not something I perhaps would have initially thought of. 

HJ: Honestly we’re all on the same page there. But yeah if you do receive a flood alert you should consider preparing a flood kit, monitor the river levels, and even if you’re a farmer, you should consider moving livestock and equipment away from areas likely to flood. The  flood warning refers to potential property flooding so it’s a good idea to prepare by moving family, pets, and valuables to a safe place. And as we discussed then turning off your gas, electricity and water supplies and putting in that flood protection equipment. And then if you do receive a severe flood warning, you should stay in a safe place with means of escape and be ready to leave your home and cooperate with the emergency services.

CG: And so what happens then if flooding does occur? What do we  do and how do you respond and help those affected?

GM – Well flooding can be a very stressful and scary situation for people, especially if they aren’t prepared or aren’t registered to receive warnings from us. When flooding occurs, we have a range of Duty Officers that will respond  based on their role. The Flood Warning Duty Officer will issue the flood alerts/flood warnings/severe flood warnings and send these to the Assistant Flood Warning Duty Officer. And as Gwenno mentioned they will put these details on to the Flood Warning System.

We also pass information on to what we call the Flood Incident Duty Officer and the Assistant Flood Incident Duty Officer. The Flood Incident Duty Officer, their role is to deal with incidents reported by members of the public , such as things such as fallen trees that may be blocking rivers for example, and they also communicate with Flood Wardens or Flood Volunteers through the Community Flood Plans that have been set up in various communities. 

The Assistant Flood Incident Duty officer role, primarily involved with organising  pre-determined Operational Response. So, this is normally to manage assets that we deal with within our remit. This can include things such as checking and clearing trash screens, installing demountable defences, and attending pumping stations if required during flood events.

CG: So, it’s the more kind of operational side of it then I suppose of making sure those things are doing what they are supposed to be doing. 

GT – Exactly. When we have these defences in place, they are there to do a job, to do a role in helping to prevent flooding. There are certain things that we do go out and check yes. 

HJ: After a flood we work with communities to find out as much information as possible. The communication between us can also lead us to improve the flood warning service for them. We ensure our duty officers are kept updated with the most recent information by having regular catch ups and training sessions with them.  As well as debriefs following events. By carrying out post event analysis, we can keep record of  changes that are needed involving our team and others by producing workplans which we regularly update so we can track progress in various communities across Wales- and this allows us to provide the best possible service to the public. 

CG: So again, it’s that monitoring and improving all the time 

HJ: Yes definitely, definitely 

GT: So in addition to what’s already been mentioned, immediately after we’ve finished responding to a potential flooding event, if we are aware of a community flood plans in a flooded community, we will try to get in touch with the flood plan lead to get an idea of how bad the damage is.  We can then signpost people who have suffered flooding to other useful resources which can help them to deal with the after-effects of flood damage. In the more long run, we can organise drop-in sessions or newsletters for communities which have been particularly impacted and compile information from various teams within Natural Resources Wales to share with the public.

Natural Resources Wales will also perform an investigation into the flood if deemed appropriate and will compile recommendations on what can be improved for the future. And our team generally coordinate these recommendations to make sure they are being acted upon.

CG: Oh, so that’s really good to know as well, if there is an investigation then, it’s not just sort of investigated and oh right well these things need doing, there’s actually someone making sure those things do get done and that’s another bit of work that your team does so that’s really good. 

So, is climate change having an affect then do you think on your work? I know you mentioned right at the top that  your uncle doesn’t believe in climate change. But I think you know;  it is widely accepted now that it is having an impact already. So, is it effecting your work and if so, how do you see it becoming more of a challenge in the future and how will you adapt your ways of working I guess as well to address these changes?

GT: Yeah so I’ve only been working at Natural Resources Wales for about 3 years so not as long as some people. But a few of my colleagues who have been here longer have told me that they’ve been much busier with storms than they used to be. That clocks with the science because  we can probably expect a lot more flooding as a result of climate change a lot more storms and bad weather. 

This can result in a lot more disruption to communities at risk of river and sea flooding, and yeah communities need to be prepared now for the possibility of worse events in the future unfortunately. 

We’ve been working closely with the Local Authority in relation to sea defences in Fairbourne as one  example, which has been identified as an area of concern for future climate change and its impact.

For now, our team works to provide the community with appropriate warnings whenever there’s a risk of flooding, and flooding volunteers in the community have been doing an absolutely  amazing job of raising awareness and getting people to register to receive these warnings. Gold medal to the flood volunteers in Fairborne they have been doing fantastic work of raising awareness. 

CG: That’s brilliant. Yeah, so important  as well. 

HJ – So climate change as Gwenno said is affecting our work. Undoubtedly there are increased dry periods and droughts that I think we’ve all come to experience in recent years, but we’ve also noticed the winter storms becoming more frequent and more intense. This is something that NRW – Natural Resources Wales will have to adapt to going forward.

But until then like we can all try and reduce the risks of climate change by like reducing our carbon footprint so you know, walking to work instead of driving to work, turning off electricity sockets when they are not in use, stuff like that really just to help.

CG: Yeah, but it all helps, doesn’t it? That’s the thing, they’re small things but there small things we can all do at home. If we all do it, it will all add up you know. So I think looking to the future then , do  you see your role changing or and developing and how do you see your career developing and what do you love most about your job?

GM – Well personally I really enjoy working in the Warning and Informing team, it is a challenging but rewarding experience. A lot of our work involves problem solving and using evidence to support our decision-making process. We have to work well with other teams within Natural Resources Wales as well, but also with other organisations such as Local Authority’s where our work and their work overlap. 

CG: So that’s like your local council and things, isn’t it? 

GM: It is yes. So, we’ve all got our individual roles but when we work together well it means, it becomes a lot more of a holistic approach. 

CG: Absolutely yes 

GM : So my aim is to continue developing within the team and to improve upon our existing Flood Warning Service and that will only benefit our customers and our communities in the future 

GT – So I started working right at the start of the pandemic

CG: Oh wow!

GT: So I don’t have a good bench mark of what ‘normal’ means for this team. But I do get the impression that things have changing very quickly in recent years. I went for almost two years without talking face to face with people in the communities we’ve been supporting. So it was really, really nice to finally see colleagues from different teams and residents from the  communities I’ve been in contact with at long last!

I’m really not sure how my job will change in the future. I know currently there’s a lot of focus on softer flood risk management measures like community resilience and natural flood management, but I’m aware that some people want us to be focussing on harder solutions like building more defences. Just depending on what’s happening at government level and whether there are different recommendations following future flooding, things could change a lot! We’ll see.

CG: We’ll see indeed!

HJ – Yeah I’m  excited for the future as we develop a new Flood Warning Service for Wales. This new service will bring opportunities to extend what we already deliver and will be more focussed on communities at risk. This new service will enable our customers to be better prepared for flooding from main rivers and the sea.

I love the feeling I get from helping people in my role. It’s nice to work so hard in events but to know communities are happy with the service we are providing and very rewarding knowing we’ve given them adequate time to be able to prepare, plan and protect their livelihoods.

CG: Yeah, absolutely I mean what a rewarding part of the job you know, absolutely. Thank you all of you thanks to  Gwenno, Gwyn, and Hollie, for giving up your time to talk to me today. It’s just been so interesting to hear about all the work that you’ve been doing and you continue do to help communities in Wales prepare for possible flooding and to hear what a difference that makes in real life.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this episode, if you have any comments or questions, you can contact us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram or by the email address that you can find in the show notes. You’ll also find links to our flood risk management pages where you can view some of the things that we talked about here today.

Thanks for listening!