Dorset Prepared Flood & Winter Preparedness Virtual Event for Flood Wardens and Community Emergency Volunteers

Dorset Prepared Flood & Winter Preparedness on-line Event for Flood Wardens and Community Emergency Volunteers

On the 17th & 18th February 2021 the Dorset Local Resilience Forum hosted the annual Flood & Winter Preparedness Event. The event shared advice, guidance and information from members of the Dorset Local Resilience Forum on how professional partners are prepared, how services work and how they can help your community be more resilient.

The online live and interactive sessions, pre-recorded videos and presentations are now available to view on this page, which you will be able to click and play at your convenience.

Many thanks to the statutory partners, other agencies and colleagues who contributed to this event:

 

  • Environment Agency
  • Dorset Civil Contingencies Unit
  • Communities Prepared
  • Met Office
  • Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue
  • Dorset Council Flood Risk Management and Highways
  • Wessex Water
  • SSEN

Our Speakers

David Beavis, Dorset Civil Contingencies Unit

David Beavis

David has been with the Dorset Civil Contingencies Unit since 2015, as a Civil Contingencies Officer covering the areas of telecommunications, cyber, utilities, and reservoirs amongst others. Prior to 2015, he was an Emergency Planning Officer with the then Dorset County Council, starting his service in 1986.  

David has been involved with all areas of emergency planning from business continuity to COMAH as well as planning for severe weather and also been involved with some notable events affecting Dorset. These range from the British Drug House Fire in 1988, the Portland Bomb (1995), the Millennium Bug (1999), the MSC Napoli (2007), the Olympic Games (2012) and now Covid-19.

David has always recognised the importance of community resilience and is very pleased to be involved with this event.

Vicky Farwig, Wessex Water

Vicky Farwig

Vicky’s passion for reducing the impact of long-standing complex flooding issues through collaboration is inspired by her broad experience of working in Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management within the Environment Agency and work with Lead Local Flood Authorities. 

In 2018, Vicky joined Wessex Water as Flood Risk Coordinator. She has an overview of flood risk activities across the Wessex area and works with a range of partners and stakeholders to develop collaborative strategies and deliver a range of flood alleviation schemes which also provide wider environmental benefits.

The partnership strategies are contributing to the development of Wessex Water’s Drainage and Wastewater Management Plan. This identifies -short, medium and -long term requirements to increase the future resilience of drainage and wastewater infrastructure to predicted impacts of growth and climate change.

Lorraine Isgar, Wessex Water

For you. For life. Wessex water logo

Lorraine Isgar is the Drainage Strategy Coordinator at Wessex Water and works with Dorset Council to investigate and manage flooding issues.

Lorraine is also involved in developing and producing Wessex Water’s Drainage and Wastewater Management Plan, a long term plan for how Wessex Water plans to enhance assets and networks to ensure we continue to deliver for customers and the environment in a sustainable and affordable way in the face of future challenges such as population growth and climate change.

 

Brian Richards, Dorset Council

Dorset Council logo

Brian Richards has been the food risk manager at Dorset Council for the last nine years. This involves leading a team of six engineers in the role of Lead Local Flood Authority, with overall responsibility of managing local sources of flooding including surface water, watercourses and groundwater.

Brian previously spent eleven years working in a FCERM development management role for the Environment Agency and twelve years related experience working for Southern Water plc.

 

Mike Westwood, Dorset Council

Dorset Council logo

Mike's role in Dorset council is Community Highway manager.

Mike manages a team responsible for inspecting the highway to pick up safety defects and are normally the first point of contact for any highway issues.

The team spends a lot of our time liaising with members, parish/town Cllrs and the general public.

For further information, please visit https://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/home.aspx or alternately call 01305 221020.

 

Penny Tranter, Met Office

Penny Tranter

Penny Tranter is currently a Met Office Advisor working in Southwest England and is involved in providing professional meteorological and climate advice, primarily on severe weather, to emergency responders and planners (Cat 1 and Cat 2s within Civil Contingencies Act (CCA) 2004).

Penny has worked in the Met Office for over 35 years and originally trained as a professional weather forecaster. Previous roles have included: national and international BBC weather presenter between 1992 and 2008, Meteorology Training Manager at the Met Office College 2008 to 2011 and a member of the successful official Met Office weather forecasting team for the sailing events in Weymouth during the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics.

She is a Chartered Meteorologist and a Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society. Penny enjoys sailing, powerboat instructing, swimming, walking, cinema, theatre, watching tennis, Bath and 6 Nations Rugby, and girlie weekends.

Guy Parker, Environment Agency

Environment Agency logo

Guy Parker is a very experienced Advisor with the Environment Agency, working in the Flood Resilience and Area Incident Management Teams.

Guy has been working with communities for over 20 years, using his knowledge and expertise in developing and improving the flood warning service, community resilience and groundwater flooding.

 

Communities Prepared

Communities Prepared logo

 

Paul Robertson heads up community training and development for Communities Prepared. He brings with him his experience as founder and Senior Coordinator of Bradford on Avon’s multi-role Community Emergency Volunteer group.

Imogen Smith manages the Communities Prepared programme’s communications strategy and delivery, alongside fundraising.

Zoey Ayling is the Programme Manager for Communities Prepared.

 

Resources - Pre-recorded videos & presentations

Environment Agency

Landscapes to Lifescapes Exhibition - Digital Flood Exhibition

The Environment Agency together with Lancaster University, University of Hull and the Flood Hub have developed a brand new digital flood exhibition: Landscapes to Lifescapes. The exhibition is fully interactive exploring some of the different ways that flooding affects our physical and social environment: from damage to the environment, communities, homes and businesses to the impact on people’s day-to-day lives, relationships, livelihoods and well-being.

Landscapes to Lifescapes Exhibition will be launched on 3rd February 2021 as part of the Digital Flood and Coast. You will be able to visit the exhibition at this link: https://bit.ly/38moSws

If you want to know more about the exhibition or the collaboration please do get in touch with Joanne.Coles@environment-agency.gov.uk

To contact your local Flood Resilience Team please email floodwessex@environment-agency.gov.uk

Understanding Groundwater Flooding

What is it, why it happens and how it affects communities and properties and what you can do to be prepared.

Winter Preparedness, Environment Agency

See how the Environment Agency’s response to Covid-19 and how we have changed our ways of working. See our Field Team winter preparedness and maintenance across Dorset including a Dorchester flood barrier exercise and Swanage wave barrier deployment.

Env. Agency

The Flood Online Reporting Tool (FORT)

What it is, how to use it to record flooding in your community and how the information is used to help your community.

Communities Prepared

Crisis Recovery Training

Created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, but applicable to all civil emergencies, this training module from Communities Prepared provides key information and practical guidance on moving through crisis to a ‘new normal’ and navigating the steps in between. It explores the roles of Community Emergency Volunteers, Town and Parish Councils and voluntary organisations in the rebuilding process.

You can download this module for free from the Communities Prepared hub. If you are not currently a member, you will be prompted to register – it’s free to join! For any questions regarding the hub, please contact Communities Prepared at communitiesprepared@groundwork.org.uk.

 

Flood Warden and Community Emergency Volunteer Training

This training covers the role of the flood warden, understanding flooding and how to support their community and interact with the emergency services. The live and interactive session is hosted by Imogen Smith and Paul Robertson, Communities Prepared, together with Lisa Milton, Environment Agency and other partner support.

 

CEV (Community Emergency Coordinator) Training, Communities Prepared

Paul Robertson, Communities Prepared will host a live and interactive training session for Community Emergency Volunteers on the role of a Coordinator. Introduction and guidance of how to effectively set up and use the coordinator role for your flood wardens and interacting effectively with professional partners.

 

Snow Warden Training

This course is an introduction to how you can assist your community during severe winter weather. You will gain an overview and understanding of the potential roles of a Snow Volunteer to help you plan your communities’ response to severe winter weather. This is a live training event with Imogen Smith and Paul Robertson, Communities Prepared and Michael Westwood, Dorset Highways, Dorset Council.

Met Office National Severe Weather Warning Service (NSWWS), Mobile App, Community Resilience and Storm Naming. Penny Tranter, Advisor, Met Office

Penny Tranter, Met Office Advisor, introduces services and information available from the Met Office, including the National Severe Weather Warning Service NSWWS, Met Office mobile app, community resilience and how the Met Office name storms.

Met Office

Groundwater and Sewer Flooding, Wessex Water

Wessex Water YouTube video about groundwater and sewer flooding.

 

Building a Sandbag Wall, Fire & Rescue and Council

Video with guidance on how to build a sandbag wall.

DWFRS

Winter Awareness, Scottish & Southern Electricity Network

Winter awareness and assistance from Scottish & Southern Electricity Network.

SSEN

August 2020 Flooding in Dorset Council Area, Andy Probets and Dan Williams, Flood Risk Management Team, Dorset Council

Presentation summarising the 27 August 2020 flood event, the response and use of The Flood Online Reporting Tool (FORT) from the Flood Risk Management Team at Dorset Council.

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