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The facts
Client: Environment
Agency
Location: UK-wide
Services: Flood risk,
emergency planning and exercising
Sector: Government
Contract Type: NEC PSC 3
Start July
2011
Completion: Ongoing
The project
Exercise Watermark, the UK’s biggest
ever emergency response exercise - sponsored by Defra and WAG and
delivered by the Environment Agency - was designed to test the
country’s responses to catastrophic flooding from overflowing
rivers, collapsing reservoirs and tidal surges.
The exercise brought together ten government
departments, 34 local resilience forums, emergency responders,
water companies, hospitals and schools in a range of flood
scenarios over four days. It also included the highest level of
government involvement through the COBR (Cabinet Office Briefing
Room) and regional and local emergency command centres across
England and Wales.
With the Environment Agency, a Capita
Symonds-led team - comprising VectorCommand, Halcrow and Scott
Wilson – designed, delivered and evaluated the exercise which was
one of the key recommendations made by Sir Michael Pitt in his
review of the summer 2007 floods.
The core scenario of the exercise, which was
controlled and managed by around 70 staff at the exercise control
centre in Fareham, Hampshire, began with a fictional emergency that
was to unfold throughout the week and featured flooding from a
variety of sources. Areas across England and Wales were affected as
worsening weather resulted in flooding on an unprecedented
scale:
- Day One: Widespread surface water flooding as
a result of a prolonged period of heavy rainfall across London,
Devon/Cornwall and West Yorkshire;
- Day Two: Significant river flooding affecting
London, Wales and West Mercia;
- Day Three: A reservoir breach in
Derbyshire;
- Day Four: Severe coastal flooding inundates
the east coast of England affecting Humber, Lincolnshire, Essex,
Suffolk, Norfolk and Kent.
The mock emergency resulted in staged reports
of more than 5,000 fatalities, casualties and missing persons;
evacuation of up to 450,000 people from their homes and businesses,
with 170,000 requiring shelter; and flooding of up to 300,000
properties.
More than 50 different stakeholders (including
the Environment Agency, local authorities, and emergency services
such as coastguard, police, fire and ambulance services) and 11,000
individuals participated in the exercise which was brought to life
using more than 15,000 separate pieces of information (known as
‘injects’) including news reports, emails and text messages.
Although most were pre-designed, many were ‘hot injects’, written
instantaneously in response to the developing situation.
Local exercises included:
- At Ashby Ponds (Lincolnshire) there were a
number of different flooding scenarios involving testing of air and
boat rescues. This included deployment of decontamination units,
medical first aid and high volume pumping equipment.
- Bala Lake (Wales) - Simulated rescues used a
variety of water rescue techniques, including rescuing
casualties off the top of a bus trapped in flood water, RAF
helicopter winching rescues and weir / wading rescues.
Businesses across England and Wales also used
Exercise Watermark as an opportunity to test their business
continuity arrangements. In the summer 2007 floods, almost 7000
businesses were flooded and more recently in September 2009,
hundreds of businesses were severely affected by flooding in
Cumbria.
Five water companies and nearly all
electricity providers used Exercise Watermark to consider the
resilience of their sites and review their existing flood plan to
ensure that critical infrastructure is prepared for future
flooding.