London flood exercise
Dealing with the consequences of widespread flooding across London will be the subject of a multi-agency exercise taking place today
Emergency services, central and local Government, public utilities and other organisations will be put through their paces during the tabletop exercise which will test the command and control arrangements for dealing with a disaster that would impact on multiple organisations.
As the exercise unfolds, a large swathe of London becomes affected by a rapid rise in floodwater and the agencies will have to work together to deal with a whole host of problems from loss of power, loss of public transport to evacuation of worried residents.
Bob Broadhurst from the Metropolitan Police Service who is the GOLD Commander for the exercise said: "London has had considerable experience in dealing with a multitude of different emergencies and disasters over the years.
"When dealing with something on this scale command and control arrangements are key and this exercise will give us the opportunity to learn and develop our plans and to test our co-ordination with the different organisations who would be involved."
The London Resilience Team, Metropolitan Police Service and London Fire Brigade Emergency Planning, on behalf of the London Resilience Partnership, are running the exercise.
Tessa Jowell Minister for the Olympics and London and co-chair of the London Regional Resilience Forum said: "The London Resilience Partnership is responsible for ensuring that London has robust emergency plans. It is vital that these plans are tested and that we learn all we can from that practice. This exercise will ensure that those at a senior level in key organisations fully understand their roles and responsibilities and can discharge them effectively."
Local Government Minister and co-chair of the London Regional Resilience Forum John Healey said: "We have seen the importance of planning ahead to protect lives, utilities and property and the immense value of multi-agency exercising in ensuring that the response and recovery activities are well co-ordinated. The recent wide-scale flooding incidents have shown the value of the Government's investment in high volume pumps and the national coordination of these resources while local authorities, charities and other emergency services enacted plans to evacuate residents from their homes to temporary shelters."
Dave Murphy, Regional Flood Risk Manager for the Environment Agency said: "Preparation is key when it comes to dealing with any major incident, and flooding is no exception. Unfortunately as a result of climate change flooding is going to become more frequent - and this exercise will us give a valuable opportunity to review and improve our incident response plan.
"But the preparation needs to extend beyond the agencies involved. Everyone should check their level of flood risk by calling the Environment Agency's Floodline on 0845 988 1188. And, if appropriate, take action to prepare for flooding - including signing up to our free flood warning service."
