Flood Management and Response in Morpeth, Northumberland in relation to the Summer 2008 Floods.

Abstract

The focus of this dissertation investigates the management and response of the
September 2008 Morpeth floods. The key issues addressed were:
 The causes and impacts of the flood
 The population affected
 How quick the reaction to the floods by the emergency services and other
agencies was
 The current and proposed flood defences and their location
 The role of the Environment Agency, Northumberland County Council and
other emergency services before and after the flood
A questionnaire was carried out in Morpeth in order to find what the resident’s and
local businesses perspective was on the flooding and the role of the agencies
involved with the response and management. In addition to this the questionnaire
also looked into how knowledgeable the respondents were on the Morpeth floods.
The outcome of the dissertation is that the Morpeth floods caught everyone by
surprise including agencies and emergency services involved due to the intense
amount of rainfall over such a short period of time. However the response to the
floods has to be considered poor as certain agencies such as the police did not even
have a flood action plan for the area. In addition to this the Environment Agency
failed to warn certain areas of the town. There are now plans put in place to build
flood defences for the town in excess of £17 million.