Cabinet Office UK Resilience

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Case Study

Topic

Dealing with waste

Incident / Exercise

Incident: Lewes flooding, Thursday 12 October 2000

Background and Context

Following three days of exceptionally heavy rain on already saturated ground, the River Ouse overtopped the flood defences and flooded substantial parts of Lewes.

613 residential and 207 business properties were flooded, along with 16 public buildings.  1000 people were displaced.  503 vehicles were damaged or destroyed and the total cost of the flooding was given as £88 million.

How the Topic was Handled

A Restoration Sub-Group was appointed, working to the Lewes FloodRecovery Co-ordinating Group.  Its Terms of Reference were “To co-ordinatethe clear-up of the affected areas, including the consideration of long-term health issues.”

Represented on the sub-group were:

• Lewes District Council (Environmental Health, Housing Maintenance, Building Control, Design & Conservation, Waste and Recycling)
• East Sussex County Council (Transport & Environment, Trading Standards)
• East Sussex Brighton & Hove Health Authority (Public Health Consultant).

This sub-group met five times, under the chairmanship of a senior Environmental Health Officer from Lewes DC, the last time being in May 2001. 

Key points arising were:

• Flooding of industrial areas released oil and other pollutants.  As water receded oil became concentrated in one watercourse.  Environment Agency boomed some 70,000 litres of waste and heating oil and removed by tanker.
• Allegations of increased rat problems – not true.
• 17 dead animal carcasses recovered, some many weeks after flood.
• 500+ skips for removal of flood damaged household effects in first three weeks (120+ in Spences Lane alone) at a cost of £80,000.
• Some problems in getting local landfill site to operate extended hours to receive flood related waste.
• Trading Standards Helpline – little usage.

Lessons Identified

The Restoration sub-group particularly noted the following:

• The Health Impact Survey (see below) is a national first and could have significant impact.  Hitherto there has been little information available on health implications of flooding.
• The Recovery Group was one of the major success stories of the flooding.  Groups could have been even more productive if organisations had proffered dedicated time rather than tacking duties onto already very busy workloads.
• They regretted not having the direct involvement of the Environment Agency and the commercial sector, but found it very useful to discuss insurance issues with the Lewes D.C. Insurance Officer. 

Contacts for Further Information

Further information can be obtained from:-

Alan Smith, Head of Emergency Planning, East Sussex County Council
E-mail: alan.smith@eastsussex.gov.uk

or

Lindsay Frost, Director of Planning & Environmental Services, Lewes District Council
E-mail: lindsay.frost@lewes.gov.uk

Additional Documents

A review of the recovery process can be found at:
Lewes Flooding 2000 - A Review of the Recovery [External PDF]