皇冠体育app

Role in briefing government and local authorities

皇冠体育app Flood Forecasting Centre (FFC) regularly briefs the civil service, government departments and ministers. This is to help local authorities and the national government make decisions about the nation鈥檚 resources and flood response. 皇冠体育app government can then make vital decisions to ensure that the nation can cope with a sustained flood alert.

How FFC guidance is used

It is important for authorities to understand the likelihood of a flood event and the consequences it could have. An example is flood prediction on the east coast. 皇冠体育app port of Immingham in Lincolnshire contains large amounts of salt. Six months鈥� worth of the UK鈥檚 road grit supply is stored here. If a tidal surge were to hit the east coast, the depot would become flooded. This would ruin the road salt forever. If we then experienced a cold winter, the nation鈥檚 roads could well become impassable.

Strategy and operations

皇冠体育app Flood Forecasting Centre fulfils 2 main roles for government flood response. 皇冠体育app first is strategic. Twice a year the FFC reports to resilience networks which are hosted at the Cabinet Office. 皇冠体育appse briefings are held to ensure that the government has the resources in place to cope with any major event throughout the year. 皇冠体育app FFC briefs the meeting on the general picture for both the winter and the summer. This helps the authorities to take any steps before an event occurs.

皇冠体育app second role of the FFC is its operational input into government. This consists of advising what actions to take once a flood is about to happen or already happening. 皇冠体育app FFC issues daily Flood Guidance Statements (FGS) that provide a 5-day lead time for events. 皇冠体育app centre also produces Flood Outlooks that cover the next 30 days. When the flood risk increases, the FFC provides information to help with the nation鈥檚 response. To do that the FFC reports into the National Flood Advisory Service (NFAS) at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

Lead government departments are then made aware of a potential flood event. Depending on the level of threat, the team may decide to a call a Cabinet Office Briefings Room (COBR) meeting. This brings key people together into one room to coordinate response.

皇冠体育appre are 3 levels of COBR:

• Official 鈥� led by the Civil Service
• Ministerial 鈥� led by government departments
• Prime Ministerial

When the Somerset levels experienced major flooding in 2013, COBR鈥檚 were held every day. 皇冠体育app FFC were responsible for ensuring that everybody in the room was kept updated on the current situation and the forecast. This enabled authorities to respond in the most effective way.

COBRs tend to take place in the Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms in Westminster but they can also happen remotely. In the winter 2013 floods, the FFC briefed the Prime Minister on Boxing Day via teleconference.

Being prepared for every scenario

皇冠体育app National Risk Register lists the greatest hazards that could endanger the nation, which included large-scale coastal flooding. This could lead to severe danger to life.

皇冠体育app government and local authorities carry out exercises to test how ready they are for serious event like this. 皇冠体育app FFC supports these exercises by providing data or forecasts that the teams can use when they act out a flood. This makes the exercise as realistic as possible. 皇冠体育app aim is to be prepared for every eventuality, including mass evacuations.