Storm Babet: Living on the floody Severn

In light of the recent floods brought by Storm Babet, learn how flood campaigner Mary Long-Dhonau helps home and business owners improve their flood resilience. Known nationally as Flood Mary, she tours the country with her flood mobile.

Climate change is bringing ever-worse flooding to communities across the UK. Riverside communities that have flooded for centuries are being hit harder, more often.

A flood-risk map published this year expects the annual bill for flood damage to rise by more than a fifth within the century – even if the UK meets its climate targets. It already stands at £700 million a year, according to the Association of British Insurers.

The Severn is tidal. It has always flooded. Roman settlers built embankments around their towns. New modelling suggests its flood peak will rise by 50cm by 2050. Some local people now flood every year, Long-Dhonau says.

“I spoke to one woman from Diglis, right on the Severn. She’d been told to expect the river to flood every nine or ten years. In the last five or six years, she’s had a flood every year. She’s not young and feels it’s getting a bit much.”

People living on the Severn face a stark choice: move or adapt. Long-Dhonau shows people how to adapt their homes to lose less and recover faster. Which is what property flood-resilience (PFR) does.

Planning is everything with PFR, Long-Dhonau says. Engage an accredited PFR consultant, sign up to Environment Agency flood warnings, and make a household flood plan. “When the flood warning comes, your mind turns to spaghetti. Write everything down in advance. Do everything in order. And don’t forget to move your car.”

Long-Dhonau interviews floodies – people who’ve flooded – who’ve adapted their homes. She shares their stories in an eBook.

The results are impressive. One couple in rural Worcestershire knew their home – a former pub built around 1650 – had always flooded. The previous owner had adapted the building; stone flooring throughout, raised electric sockets, flood barriers and installing pumps, a backup generator and damp-proofing.

The couple added secondary flood barriers, puddle and sump pumps, absorbent cushions and a pond vacuum. They raised their air-source heat pump and mounted their beehives on breezeblocks. The house flooded four times during the winter storms of 2019/2020. PFR means they recover quickly each time – without claiming insurance. They’ve survived eight floods.

“They were marooned on Christmas day,” Long-Dhonau says. “But they put their waders on, grabbed a bottle of champagne and drank it in their summer house, mounted on stilts above the floodwater. They even raised a glass to the flood.”

Some interviewees rave about PFR equipment. Others about designing to recover fast. Adapting well takes both. Pumps help a quick recovery – and are part of the PFR package. “All the people I’ve talked to are using them. Some have quite complex systems, including back-up if the main pump fails.”

Long-Dhonau reviews PFR products on her website. Maintaining kit is crucial. But kitemarked flood products and insurance to build back better are not cheap. “We cannot forget people who can’t afford all that.”

She knows a woman with disabilities who lives on benefits in Todmorden, Yorkshire. With no money to spend on PFR, the homeowner had help from a DIY-savvy son. Her flood plan uses everyday household items.

Small measures – standing furniture in plastic containers or wellies, gaffer-taping doors, using a child’s football to seal your toilet, weighing down your sink plugs – can prevent thousands of pounds worth of damage. “You can reduce flood impacts using stuff around the house,” Long-Dhonau says.

Of the Severn floodies who’ve adapted their homes, only one wants to move. “What I take from them is their determination not to let flooding beat them,” Long-Dhonau concludes. “They don’t want to be forced away from home for months.

“Most people who’ve fitted PFR no longer make insurance claims; they don’t need to, thanks to the adaptations they’ve made.”

FIGHT BACK AGAINST FLOODS
Mary Long-Dhonau’s website: https://floodmary.com/
Resilico: an app launching this spring to connect insurers, PFR manufacturers, communities and homeowners https://resilico.com/
CIWEM’s PFR course for industry: https://www.ciwem.org/training/pfr-industry-traini...

This post was originally published in the June 2023 issue of The Environment.