Flood lessons to be learned

LESSONS learned from the summer's floods will lead to improved emergency action planning by South Yorkshire's four local authorities.

A seminar for more than 60 planners from councils affected by flooding from all over the country - including Hull, Gloucestershire, Swindon and Doncaster - was held in Sheffield at Sheffield United's ground.

The delegates compared notes on how they had handled the worst flooding seen in Britain for over a century - and how their responses could be improved in future.

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"We heard inspirational stories of people who worked 15 and 16 hours a day to cope with extreme situations - everyone was taken by surprise by the severity of the flooding," said Roy Taylor, of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services who chaired the event. "In Sheffield over 1,000 people were stranded in the city centre, and the council and a host of voluntary agencies performed superbly to cope with the situation."

The seminar also looked ahead to longer term problems likely to arise from the aftermath of the flooding, based on experiences of the Carlisle area three years ago.

"People who couldn't return to their homes for more than a year often felt they had lost control of their lives - they became ill, weeks or months later from anxiety and stress," Mr Taylor said.

"Families were split up, were forced to stay with extended family while children missed their friends.

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"Authorities like Sheffield and Doncaster will have to deal with problems like these." Future action planning will help different agencies work together, and help them to be better prepared - but delegates also called for faster responses from the insurance industry.

Lord Mayor Coun Arthur Dunworth also spoke at the event, describing his experiences on the night of the June 25 flooding.

"I know how important care and support is at a time of crisis. I spent the night of Monday June 25th in my Parlour in the Town Hall on the floor and the Lady Mayoress was on the settee."

Council leader Coun Jan Wilson told how the city for the first time had opened a Humanitarian Assistance Centre. "This event has been extremely useful for staff from local authorities and other public agencies who'll work on care and support during and after a major incident," she said.

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