ENVIRONMENT Agency (EA) warnings on the threat of coastal flooding are ‘killing the tourism’ in the Mablethorpe area according to some angry residents and business owners.

In response to a flood plan pack issued by the EA, a Sutton on Sea resident, who asked not to be named, said: “This agency is killing our holidays. No one will buy here if all this is sent out. Tourism will be finished.”

Last year, the Leader reported on the EA’s Shoreline Management Plan to provide an assessment on the risk of coastal flooding over the next one hundred years and identify possible defence options.

Mike Dugher, area coastal manager for the EA, said: “A storm surge will come one day, so we need to be prepared. We won’t be able to stop it, all we can do is reduce the likelihood of flooding.” (more…)

More than 20,000 homes in North Somerset are at significant risk of flooding, according to a new report by the Environment Agency.

The report reveals that North Somerset is the second place at most risk of flooding in the whole of the South West with 20, 415 properties at risk.

The figures reveal one in three properties in the area could go under water as climate change increases coastal erosion and a rise in river levels.

A map published by the agency highlights areas such as Weston Bay, Uphill, Sand Bay, Brean Down and Kewstoke at risk of flooding from rivers or the sea without defences. (more…)

THE cost of coastal flooding in Suffolk and north Essex could run into billions of pounds, an insurance trade body has warned.

Climatologists predict sea levels on the east coast could rise by 40cms (15.75 inches) during the next 40 years, the Association of British Insurers said.

The financial impact on Lowestoft alone would be £550million, with more than 17,500 homes and commercial properties at risk of flooding. (more…)

The infrastructure network in the UK, including power stations, water plants, and transport systems is still far too vulnerable to flooding events according to a report, Flooding: Engineering Resilience, by the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE).

In a section concentrating on the East of England, it also comments that:

“No other area of the UK is in such real and immediate danger from flooding as the East of England. It’s at risk from all sides: coastal erosion and flooding, tidal surges, river flooding and overflowing drains in towns and cities.

“In November 2007 Great Yarmouth and Ipswich came within 120mm of being swamped by a North Sea tidal surge. A controversial ‘managed realignment’ could sacrifice 6,000 ha of the Norfolk coastline to rising sea levels, according to the Environment Agency.”

Full details on the ICE website

Serious failings have been identified in the emergency response to last year’s tidal surge when Norfolk came within a whisker of a flooding disaster and thousands of families around Yarmouth were evacuated from their homes.

A new report says the operation was beset with problems, including insufficient supplies of food at rest centres, lack of phone chargers in emergency planning rooms and a break in the chain of command among those tasked with dealing with the crisis.

Most areas survived by inches – though residents in Walcott in North Norfolk complained flood warning sirens were not used to alert people to the dangers.

Read the full story by Shaun Lowthorpe on the EDP website