In December, I found myself at a meeting where The Environment Agency pitched an ambitious campaign for areas like Uphill, aiming to shed light on potential flooding risks.
I’ll confess, I was initially a bit sceptical. After all, isn’t Uphill (and the rest of Weston too) protected by embankments, sand dunes, and flood walls? If the defences aren’t strong enough then surely the priority ought to be improving them, rather than anything else?
But my scepticism waned as I listened to their analysis. The flood defences are fine – just as strong as they’ve always been – but the Environment Agency wanted to make sure people know what to do if we get a ‘1 in 200 years’ flood event: a proper coastal calamity that’s very unlikely but, if the worst happened, we’d need to have thought about what to do.
Curious about the worst-case scenario, I asked, and the response was sobering. “Breaches at Sand Bay and Uphill could lead to flooding into parts of Weston, particularly from Uphill where water would flow into southern parts of the town impacting several electrical substations, Bournville Junior school (over half a meter in depth), the hospital (up to 0.8m in depth), and Weston sixth form college.”
While this was a worst-case scenario, it was enough to convince me that raising awareness was a good call. And credit where it’s due, The Environment Agency did an excellent job saturating the local area. From radio announcements to social media blitzes and bus stop posters, their outreach was hard to miss. If, by some chance, their campaign has flown under your radar so far, you can catch up on the details here: gov.uk/flood-action. A stitch in time, as they say………