Professionals - Floods - Preparedness

1. e-Learning in Floods
Professionals

2. Preparedness
In the following you will be presented with information on:
• How to plan
• How to prepare
• How to train and exercise for a natural disaster
• How members of the public will be informed of a forthcoming or on-
going natural disaster
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3. Plan and prepare
Within the last few years, Europe has
experienced an increasing amount of
flooding in relation to cloudburst, long-
lasting rain and hurricanes. This can have
severe consequences.
According to recent climate change reports
there will be more flooding in the future.
This requires that you as a professional
must prepare and plan for such an
incident. To do that, you must be able to
recognise an imminent flooding incident.
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4. Plan and prepare
How can you know that flooding is coming?
• The Meteorological Office or “Met Office” www.metoffice.gov.uk
sends out warnings when the weather is likely to pose a threat to the
traffic, environment and humans. The warnings could be in relation to
storms, rising sea levels, heavy snow etc. The warning system from the
Met Office is able to give warnings to the individual areas of the UK.
• The Met Office is able to forecast days in advance when flooding due
to a rise in river or sea level caused by storms and hurricanes is
imminent. This gives the Fire and Rescue Services the capability of
preparing in advance.
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5. Plan and prepare
You can combine the weather
information available for you with
information from the European
warning website, which warns
about dangerous weather in
Europe; www.meteoalarm.eu.
These information sources can be
good to compare with the local
weather forecast to get an overall
picture of the situation.
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6. Plan and prepare
Some weather phenomena can be
difficult to foresee. For example
this could be cloudbursts. It is
difficult to foresee where they may
hit and how severe they may be.
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7. Plan and prepare
GIS (Geographic Information System)
maps are a valuable aid to be able to
prepare a response.
By the use of GIS you can precisely
see which areas may be affected at a
given water level on the basis of the
warning from the Met Office. This
means that you are able to initiate the
right response, at the right spot, in
the right order.
This can be done days in advance,
before the water is coming e.g. by
laying of sandbags on weak spots.
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8. Plan and prepare
How to prepare?
Handling a flood is a complex task to undertake, it demands that you are prepared even before the
flooding hits. This can be done by being aware of the things you can and should do and prepare
accordingly.
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On a local plan you might have local flood groups that are familiar
with the possible affected areas. They should be contacted to collect
information on the state of the area and flood defences and whether
they are intact.
At the same time, you might be able to use their help on site as
observers who can report back regarding the condition at their
locations during the incident. In most cases the flood groups will
activate themselves.

9. Plan and prepare
Other agencies to contact could be
harbour masters and others with the
opportunity to observe the situation,
possibly by fixed measurements stations
to measure the water level.
Water companies are other important
stakeholders with the knowledge of
catchment basins, streams etc., the
amount of water which they are able to
deal with and where there might be
problems with ponded water.
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10. Plan and prepare
At an early stage you should
consider which kind of equipment
and materials you have in your
Fire and Rescue Service and what
you would need.
Appropriate for this kind of
response could be personal
protective equipment (PPE), boats
for evacuation in flooded areas,
lines, sandbags etc.
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11. Plan and prepare
The personnel working with
evacuation and rescue of people
trapped in the water should be
educated to operate in the
environment.
This demands continuously
training personnel to integrate the
techniques and points of attention
that are important in this type of
incident.
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The things you need to learn are:
• Searching techniques
• Writing log
• Dealing with boats
• Personal protection equipment
(PPE)
• Dealing with evacuees
• Working in water
• Decontamination

12. Train and exercise
How to exercise?
The type of exercises needed depends on which material resources you,
as a Fire and Rescue Service, have for the purpose and which type of
scenario you might have identified in your risk assessment for your area
.
Some Fire and Rescue Services may only have a need to exercise in
dealing with boats where for others, they might have equipment for
personnel to walk in the water; the exercises need to be specific to their
identified risks.
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13. Train and exercise
For others it may only be a question of
reinforcing weak spots with sandbags
and then pumping the water away,
which should be a part of the exercise
activity.
An important base of learning would be
education in hydrology (the doctrine of
water).
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14. Equipment
Here you can learn about current practice to be aware of, how to work
in water, how to deal with contamination of persons and equipment,
first aid and contact with trapped persons.
What equipment do you need?
The equipment needed depends on the individual Fire and Rescue
Service based on the experiences and challenges they have in their area.
It is difficult to standardise the type of equipment needed, but the
following are some of the key items you should have to be able to deal
with pumping tasks, rescue of people, equipment for personnel and
equipment for cleaning.
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15. Equipment
• Sandbags
• Watertubes
• Rescue boats/sleds
• Drysuits for personnel
• Life jackets
• Waders
• Decontamination material (foul
water from the sewer, fuel etc.)
• Mobile pumping systems
• Generators
• Lights
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16. Other agencies
Which other agencies to be in contact
with?
An important factor is contact with local
businesses and voluntary groups that
might play an important role during the
response.
In the UK the Environment Agency have
a key role in flooding situations.
You should make an agreement with
these, so they are ready for a response
and you don’t need to be concerned,
during the response, about who can help
and how.
The businesses and agencies which may be
needed could be:
• Hauliers (trucks, bulldozers etc.)
• Quarries
• Construction market
• Supermarket (catering and other
necessities for evacuees and response
personnel)
• Sports hall and Schools
• Voluntary sector
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17. Awareness
What to expect and be aware of in the preparation phase
regarding personnel?
The preparation phase can be a long-lasting and hard
process, as it often is long sections of low-lying coastlines,
rivers and harbours that need reinforcement with
sandbags, watertubes or other material that should
prevent water entering buildings, flooding businesses or
residential areas and infrastructure.
This process demands that, from the outset, you ensure
that there is the required number of people to do the
tasks. Compared to the more modern barriers, such as e.g.
watertubes, which can be set up with the use of only a
few people and within few hours, experience shows that
the old method with sandbags demands a lot of personnel
and time.
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18. Awareness
What to expect and be aware of in the preparation phase regarding the
personnel?
It is important to make sure that the personnel get enough rest breaks
along the way, as the preparation and response phase can extend over
several days.
It can be physically hard work with the sandbags or if you need to go
out in the water to rescue people out of flooded areas. It demands an
extensive logistic overview to secure the supply of fresh personnel.
This can be met by having a contingency plan about how many people
you can bring in and where and how long they can work before they
get replaced by a new team.
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19. Catering
How to prepare catering?
Catering for a lot of people, who will
be working for a lot of hours, must be
coordinated early in the process as, if
it hasn’t been prepared and activated,
could be an issue that prevents and
even stops a long-lasting response,.
It is optimal to activate if you have a
catering unit, to make sure they keep
the personnel running with
everything from tea and coffee to a
hot meal.
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20. Communication
How to communicate with the citizens?
• An important part of the process is also information to the citizens. Social
media and local authority websites can play an important role in the
information process. Citizens will look for information where it is possible
to see if they live in an exposed area and in general to follow the situation.
• It has been shown to be very effective with direct communication from the
local authority website. Key information can be coordinated and passed on,
instead of every agency involved in the process individually communicating
their own information.
• The different authorities must of course have the possibility of updating
through their own website how the situation is from their point of view,
with a reference to the local authority website responsible for coordinating
the information.
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21. Communication
How to communicate with the
citizens?
Information for citizens can also be
done by delivering information
pamphlets in the areas you know are
exposed.
You can also host a briefing from the
Fire and Rescue Service or other
agencies, so you have prepared the
citizens before a potential flooding
incident hits the area.
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22. Power cuts
During a flooding incident, there
is a risk of power cuts. This could
be due to water in electrical
supplies.
You need to be prepared to handle
this.
The following is some advice you
can use both as a fire and rescue
service, but also for the people in
your community on how to
prepare.
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23. Power cuts
Preparing for a power cut:
• Keep your energy supplier’s emergency number
handy - 105 – Store the number on your mobile
phone. Your supplier’s Emergency Team should be
available 24 hours a day. Advise the citizens in your
community of this number to also have the number
in the contact list of their Home Emergency Plan
(and to always have a paper copy of this handy).
• Make sure to have an emergency generator to
power vital functions, such as an emergency
control centre.
• Advise citizens to consider the Priority Services
Register – If they have any special requirements, i.e.
medical equipment, then they should contact their
energy supplier about joining their Priority Services
Register.
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• Keep a torch in a convenient place – Keep a battery
powered or wind-up torch handy and ensure that
everyone in the household/office knows where it is.
• Keep your home phone charged – Many modern
phones require mains electricity to work. Have a
mobile phone handy and consider purchasing a
portable charger to keep it charged. Also consider
buying an analogue telephone as a back-up.
• Have a radio handy – Keep a battery powered or
wind-up radio handy, as you may be able to receive
updates via your local radio station. If practical
have a two way radio system to maintain contact
with colleagues during a response.
• Have warm clothes and blankets at the ready – You
may lose your main source of heating. Consider
buying a portable heater.

24. Power cuts
• Plenty of food & water – Keep some food that does
not require cooking and have some bottled water
handy.
• Back up your data files – regularly back-up work
and important files on your computer. You don’t
want to lose it all during a power cut.
• Make sure you have enough fuel in emergency
vehicles. Try to keep your vehicle’s fuel tank at least
half full. Service stations may not be able to pump
fuel during a power outage.
• Advise the community to check their medical
equipment – If they use electrically powered
medical equipment in their home, ensure the
equipment has a battery back-up.
• If you or someone in the community have a mains
operated stair lift, check that it has a battery back-
up. If it doesn’t, make enquiries to have one fitted.
Also check if there is a manual release to return the
lift to ground level.
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Response to Natural Disasters) with the support of the Erasmus+ programme.
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