“Exercise Watermark”
Day 1 – Monday the 7th of November, 2011
The rains come, drenching Merseyside to Kent with an exceptionally heavy downpour. Severe rainfall affects from Lancashire to Humberside and also from the South West of England to London. Thousands of train commuters become trapped in the capital, filling the busiest train stations over and above capacity, cut-off from their homes with many living extremely far away. Emergency responders are asked to react how they would in this situation.
After that another report comes in; flood waters are creating problems on the M25, M11 and M12, testing the Highways Agency to their limits. As Monday continues, major pluvial flooding affects thousands of houses with a number of fatalities being reported. Evacuation options are considered by the Emergency Services, concentrating on residential homes, mobile homes sites, and hospitals. The Health Service has their resilience tested across the country, when a national power outage occurs.
By early afternoon, heavy rains are subsiding throughout central England, however as the conclusion of the day approaches it all starts for Wales. Ground level flooding is coupled with simulated power loss for 15,000 homes, and the Welsh Emergency Response is put through its paces. By the end of the day; over 45,000 simulated individuals have been affected by the simulated flooding, and that is only the beginning.
Day Two – Tuesday the 7th of November, 2011
Continuing straight on from the surface water flooding of Day One, rivers throughout the country burst their banks. Near total ground saturation is reported to the Emergency Responders, and river catchments are said to be close to capacity. Squads are asked to react against a likely storm surge event to hit the East coast later in the week (this actually took place during the 1950s, leading to billions of pounds worth of destruction and killing/injuring many people).
500 people are evacuated from a train in Oxfordshire, with more evacuated from Rhayader within Wales, and three bridges are reported to be harmed within Shropshire. The road network continues to be affected by flooding, which also begin to threaten water and food supplies. Local Authorities consider setting up rest centres within likely venues. At the end of Tuesday, 45,000 simulated houses as well as over 120,000 simulated people are affected by the simulated floods.
Wednesday 09/11/2011, Day 3
70 fatalities and over 100 missing people need to be dealt with. Health Trusts need to cope with challenges such as a reduced work force and also growing public pressure. Concerns regarding the structural integrity of a number of dams and reservoirs are raised, mass evacuations become required. Then a dam breaks in Derbyshire, substantial fatalities as well as polluted water floods through the Chesterfield region as an explosion is triggered at an iron works. Concerns about the impending risk of storm surge along the East coast sends people running inland and results in enormous congestion on the roads.
60,000 simulated properties flooded, 1,000 simulated casualties, 80 simulated deaths and 20,000 simulated people made homeless by the simulated floods.
Day 4 – Thursday the 7th of November, 2011
The storm strikes, the East coast is laid waste, Humber Estuary floods as does the Bridlington and Lincolnshire areas. A prison holding 1,000 prisoners is flooded, dangerous chemical substances leak into flood waters, power cuts impact thousands of houses (which includes hospitals), damage to farms and fuel supplies are endangered.
200,000 simulated properties and 450,000 simulated people have been endangered by the simulated flooding by the end of Thursday.
Could this really come to pass?
If the recent flooding events which affected numerous locations around the globe already this year are anything to go by, then it’s easy to think this scenario is within the realms of likelihood. Certainly, we never truly know exactly what Mother Nature has in store for us. The project was not intended to test exactly how likely the scenario is, but exactly how our national infrastructure would stand up to this kind of occurrence. One thing is sure though, in this time of doubt, it is imperative that we have adequate flood insurance in position to keep our homes protected.
If you are living in a region that is at risk from flooding, you may find it difficult to obtain flood home insurance at an affordable price. There are a variety of specialist insurance companies who believe in offering competitive quotations regarding house flooding insurance easily on the internet, however they might require a bit of searching to find. Even if you are at a medium to high-risk of flooding, you can rest confident that you will find the flood risk insurance you need with a non-standard insurance company.
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