Flood Warning Scheme (From Swindon Advertiser)

Flood Warning Scheme

11:47pm Thursday 11th December 2008 in Covingham & Nythe News By Dale Heenan

Cllr Dale Heenan has been talking to the Flood Incident Management team at the Environment Agency about Flood warnings, and they mentioned that local residents can now sign up to a Flood Warning Service/Flood Watch and receive updates by phone, text message, fax, email or pager when there is a warning issued.

Swindon is shivering from the cold outside and hoping for a White Christmas, but I would urge residents to sign up to this service as soon as this they can. We will be raising awareness of the scheme in the New Year in the areas most affected by the July 07 flooding.

The scheme is available across Swindon, but for Covingham there are river gauges used by Environment Agency situated on the River Cole at Deva Close, and on the Dorcan Brook at Kestrel Drive. From these gauges they are able to monitor river levels.

When someone who has registered receives a notification of a Flood Watch or Warning, the message will ask them to phone Floodline on 0845 9881188, their 24 hour flood service. It is updated atleast once a day and gives local information on flooding.

Using a Quickdial number, you can access more detailed information about the flooding situation in the area around Covingham, Coleview and Nythe. For people who live near the River Cole the Quickdial number is 171231 and for people who live near the Dorcan Brook the Quickdial number is 171234.

In order for the Environment Agency to register you to receive this information, they need to be given your property address, your correspondence address (if different from your property address) and a telephone number (both landline and mobile are allowed) for you to receive the warnings 24 hours a day. Ofcourse messages via email, fax and pager, they will need those details too. I understand that you can receive messages by a maximum of 5 methods. However I'm sure most residents will opt to receive either a phonecall or email.

If any local residents wish to receive these warnings, they should phone Floodline on 0845 9881188 and speak to the operator who will be able to register them. If any residents have a problem when being signed up to the service then please let me know and I'll pass your contact details direct to the Team Leader.

Swindon is shivering from the cold outside and hoping for a White Christmas, but I would urge residents to sign up to this service as soon as this they can.

Cllr Dale Heenan