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