South Lakeland District Council Flooding in South Lakeland - Full Council, February 24th 2016 – Appendix 1 Introduction 1.1. This report is presented to brief Members on the current situation of the flooding impacts and recovery. The report summarises the role of the Council in the context of multi-agency response to the emergency and recovery, the financial impacts of the flood on the Council’s budget and delivery impacts on the Councils work. 2. The flood event 2.1. The severe flooding which resulted during storm Desmond 4-6th December was exacerbated by the already very wet ground conditions brought about by storms Abigail 12-13th November, Barney 17-18th November and Clodagh 29th November. Many parts of north-west Britain had already recorded more than twice the monthly average rainfall during November. Across north-west England and North Wales, November 2015 was the second wettest November in a series from 1910; only November 2009 was wetter. 2.2. Storm Desmond delivered exceptionally high rainfall totals across the Cumbrian fells. 341.4mm of rain fell at Honister Pass, Cumbria, on 5 December 2015, a new UK rainfall record. About 120 weather and flood related alerts were received between12th Nov 2015 to Christmas Day. The paths taken by the exceptional storms differed only slightly - with Cumbria narrowly escaping the immediate impacts of storms Eva and Frank 2.3. These floods followed severe flooding affecting Cumbria in November 2009 and the major floods in Carlisle in January 2005. 3. Residential properties affected 3.1. Kendal – In total 1,401 properties were affected in Kendal, accounting for 72% of all affected properties across the district. 13 of the 14 Kendal Wards were affected. Ward No. residential % of Kendal properties Properties affected Kendal Mintsfeet 551 39% Kendal Far Cross 318 23% Kendal Nether 146 10% Heron Hill, Highgate, Kirkland, 78 6% Stonecross, Underley and Oxenholme & Natland 3.2. Wider district - In total 580 properties affected in the wider district (outside of the 14 Kendal Wards). 23 wards outside of Kendal were affected. Ward No. residential % of wider district properties properties affected Ambleside & Grasmere 127 22% Burneside 70 12% Crooklands 45 8% Staveley-in-Westmorland 43 7% Arnside and Beetholm 25 4% Levens 26 4% Windermere Wards (4) 103 18% Grange over Sands Wards (3) 18 3% 3.3. In total 1,981 residential properties in 36 Wards have been affected across the district. This means over three quarters of the district wards were affected to varying degrees by the flooding. To place it in further context, 55% of the total 988 households in Kendal Mintsfeet were affected in some degree by the flooding. Over a third (38%) of the total 820 households in Kendal Far Cross were affected by the floods. 4. Commercial Properties affected 4.1. An estimated 582 South Lakeland Commercial Properties (as listed as paying NNDR) were affected by the flooding. Within these we estimate 350 businesses were directly affected. 4.2. Kendal. The main impact was in Kendal with 430 Commercial Properties affected, 74% of the total. Ward No. commercial % of Kendal properties Properties affected Kendal Mintsfeet 199 46% Kendal Fell 88 20% Kendal Far Cross 57 13% 4.3. In total, 7 Kendal wards were affected with commercial properties flooded in Kendal Highgate, Kirkland, Nether, Romney and Strickland. 4.4. Estimates indicated that of the 430 properties affected in Kendal, 125 are in receipt of Small Business Rate Relief – an estimated 29% of all affected commercial properties in Kendal. 4.5. Wider District. 152 Commercial Properties were affected in wards outside Kendal, with Ambleside & Grasmere seeing the greater impact. Ward No. commercial % of wider district properties properties affected Ambleside & Grasmere 57 38% Windermere Wards (4) 45 30% 12 further Wards 50 33% 4.6. Estimates indicated that of the 152 properties affected in the wider district, 33 are in receipt of Small Business Rate Relief – an estimated 22% of all affected commercial properties in the wider district. 5. Highways infrastructure Impacts 5.1. Highways closures include the A591 Dunmail Raise and Gurnal Lane at Garth Row 5.2. Bridges closed include Middleton Hall, Sampool Lane, Hawes Bridge Natland(Prizet), Ford Bridge and Sprint Bridge Burneside, Gowan Old Bridge Staveley, St Sundays Bridge and Beckside Bridge Old Hutton, and Victoria Bridge Kendal. 5.3. Bridges damaged but open include Middleton Hall Kirkby Lonsdale, Middleton New Bridge Sedbergh, Scroggs Bridge Kentmere, Hang Bridge Whasset. 5.4. Public rights of way bridges closed include Gooseholme Footbridge Kendal and Under Loughrigg, Ambleside. The Lake District National Park Authority has been assessing damage to public rights of way and are maintaining an interactive map on their website. 5.5. Ongoing inspection continues of the whole highway and rights of way network and also diving inspections of highway bridges as river levels allow. 6. The Council’s assets 6.1. The Council suffered flood damage to its property assets. All assets were surveyed immediately following the event. 6.2. Major flood damage occurred to Rothay Park Ambleside which will require repairs to riverside retaining walls and re provision of the play area. Borrans Park has suffered damage requiring repair of subsidence. 6.3. The Castle Dairy, Kendal, (Grade 1 Listed Building) suffered major flooding, requiring specialist conservation restoration. The flooding included the loss of the recently established catering kitchen of Kendal College. 6.4. The façade of Kendal Town Hall proved vulnerable to the heavy rainfall and winds with some small pieces of masonry falling from the building. A permanent and appropriate netting solution is to be provided to manage the risk of fall. 6.5. Culverts beneath the Brewery Street Car Park, Ulverston have been inspected and require repair. Temporary barriers are in place. The work is to be undertaken by the Environment Agency. 7. Wider impacts 7.1. It is not yet possible to quantify the range and scale of the impacts within the district. Work is progressing at a Cumbria level to assess impacts. This report has set out some immediate numbers of properties and infrastructure affected. Though not yet quantified, it is clear that the district has suffered impacts due to the direct effect of flooding and the disruption caused by the flooding. 7.2. The districts economy, heritage and environment have been and continue to be impacted by the event. 7.3. Of great significance is the impact on the health and wellbeing of the districts residents affected by the flooding. Households have been displaced, personal transport lost and major disruption to daily routines and networks. Households are facing the financial and organisational stresses of rebuilding homes and lives. Response and recovery works need to help address emotional and health impacts. 8. The Council’s role in the acute phase 8.1. Prior to Storm Desmond the Council geared up for a flooding incident predicted for 12th-14th Nov 2015. As with the later Storm Desmond all emergency staff and two reception centres were put on standby throughout the night. 8.2. With storm Desmond, the council participated at Gold, Silver and Bronze levels within Cumbria Resilience Forum Command and Control Structure. 8.3. Over 150 staff were involved in the acute and early recovery phase. The Contact Centre and Emergency Control Room operated 24/7, public communications were delivered via a multi-channel approach, 200 evacuees were safeguarded at Kendal Town Hall and 100 evacuees at Kendal Leisure Centre. Housing advice cases peaked at about 120 immediately after the flood, three teams were set up to collate initial queries. 8.4. Over 10,000 sandbags were used by the public during the event, flood waste collections were commenced. 20 Public Protection staff were involved for 3 whole days in door knocking across the district, providing advice to flooded householders and business owners. All food premises were visited in flooded areas to assess risks to the public. Over a 100 queries from the public were addressed by the public protection services. Staff worked with the Environment Agency and Cumbria County Council on many issues such as abandoned vehicles and contaminated water, 8.5. Kendal Town Council established Kendal Cares, to help manage immediate food and clothing donations from several sources leading to the set up of a long term Flood Centre offering advice and resources. 8.6. Immediately following Storm Desmond were two more exceptional storms – Eva and Frank. Both of these events required planning with emergency staff and two reception centres on standby throughout the night including Christmas day and Boxing Day. 8.7. Communications were critically important. The event highlighted the real power of social media. Facebook and Twitter became a vital source of information for residents, not only from the council but from the many other agencies involved in the response, from the Environment Agency to the police, mountain rescue and highways so people were kept up-to-date on the river levels, flood risks, road conditions and where to go for help and advice. 8.8. The Council’s communications worked in partnership with traditional media and secured extensive coverage on newspaper websites, TV and radio. Dozens of press releases and statements were issued and more than 200 social media messages were tweeted or re-tweeted. On Saturday, 5 December, SLDC Tweets got 95,000 impressions, with a further 75,500 on the Sunday. A single tweet appealing for donations of bedding got 28,000 impressions and within an hour the reception centres had received more than they could cope with. The contact centre handled more than 1,500 calls over the Saturday, Sunday and Monday of the flooding event and almost 5,000 calls over the whole week, around double the usual call volumes.