Emergency planning and community resilience

Edward ShawEmergency planning officer

30th October 2013

Aim

• To describe how parish and town councils can support their community and other organisations during an emergency.

Preparing for emergencies

• Civil Contingencies Act 2004.

• Rushcliffe Borough Council and Nottinghamshire County Council will provide as much support as possible to affected communities.

• Parish and town councils can play an important role in alleviating the impact of an emergency.

Preparing for emergencies

• Parish and town councils can help to: – Provide emergency responders with local knowledge– Identify suitable places of safety for evacuees– Identify important premises, assets or infrastructure– Identify people that may be particularly vulnerable– Provide welfare support to affected residents– Communicate with residents.

Preparing for emergencies

• Community emergency plans.

• Community resilience schemes specific to flooding:– Resilience stores– Flood warden schemes– Road closure schemes.

• Parish / town councils are responsible for the implementation of these schemes but support is available from other organisations.

Community emergency plans

Community emergency plans

• Used to co-ordinate the community’s emergency response.

• Community emergency plans should be tailored to local needs, but they typically include:

– Emergency contact details for volunteers and organisations – Arrangements for supporting people that may be particularly

vulnerable during an emergency– Procedures for activating a place of safety (e.g. village hall) in the

event of an evacuation– Procedures for resilience stores, flood warden schemes or road

closure schemes.

Community emergency plans

• Guidance and templates are available from:– www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/caring/emergencies/

emergencyplanning/communityemergencyplan/

Community emergency plans

Nottinghamshire County Council

Nottinghamshire Police / Nottinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service

Rushcliffe Borough Council

Environment Agency

Parish and town councils

Resilience stores

Resilience stores

• Resilience stores are designed to complement the local authority response to flooding.

• They contain flood protection products and equipment that can be deployed quickly to vulnerable properties by volunteers.

• Resilience stores vary in size, depending on the requirements of the community they are intended to serve.

Resilience stores

Flood protection equipment Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

Sandbags (or their alternatives) Trolleys Shovels

High-visibility clothing Wellies Water-proof gloves Torches Wading poles First-aid kit

Resilience stores

• Similar schemes have been adopted by parish and town councils within Newark & Sherwood and Bassetlaw.

• Residents should still be encouraged to purchase their own flood protection measures:– www.nationalfloodforum.org.uk– www.bluepages.org.uk– www.rushcliffe.gov.uk/flooding

Flood warden schemes

Flood warden schemes

• Flood wardens act as a link between the Environment Agency, local authorities and the community.

• Their main role is to provide information and advice to residents.

• Flood wardens are not expected to help residents move furniture, evacuate people or operate flood defences / drainage assets.

Flood warden schemes

• Roles include:– Observing and reporting instances of flooding to the Environment

Agency– Liaising with the Environment Agency, emergency services, local

authorities about local conditions and needs on-scene– Visiting people at risk to ensure that flood warnings have been

received– Requesting assistance for people who are struggling to carry out

essential actions to safeguard themselves or their property.

Flood warden schemes

• Flood wardens need to:– Be reasonably fit and mobile– Be personable and able to explain information to residents in a

clear and friendly manner– Have an interest in serving their local community– Have good local knowledge of the area– Preferably live close to the area at risk of flooding– Be willing to attend annual flood warden liaison meetings with the

Environment Agency (arranged at convenient times).

Road closure schemes

Road closure schemes

• Driving through floodwater can cause water to surge across pavements and into properties.

• These surges are often known as ‘bow waves’.

Road closure schemes

• The road signage scheme enables flood wardens (or other volunteers) to erect signage on roads when properties are at risk of flooding.

• Volunteers must inform Nottinghamshire County Council before erecting the signage.

• Once the floodwater has subsided and there is no longer a threat to property, the signage must be taken down immediately and placed back into storage.

Road closure schemes

• Signage can only be erected by authorised people at pre-agreed locations and when pre-identified triggers are met.

• Volunteers must attend the following training courses: – Manual handling training– Floodwater safety training– On-site road signage training.

• Parish / town councils will need somewhere to store the equipment.

Further information

Further information

• A community resilience guide is available at:– www.rushcliffe.gov.uk/environmentalhealth/emergencyplanning/

• Further information on flooding is available at:– www.rushcliffe.gov.uk/flooding

• Rushcliffe Borough Council will be sending information about these schemes to parish and town councils.

Further information

• Rushcliffe Borough Council– Tel: 01159 148 399– Email: eshaw@rushcliffe.gov.uk

• Nottinghamshire County Council– Tel: 01159 773 471– Mob: 07802 338 202– Email: edward.shaw@nottscc.gov.uk

Questions