RNLI takes part in EU's biggest flood exercise
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution's (RNLI) Flood Rescue Team, supported by Goodyear, has been invited to take part in the UK's response to the European Union's biggest ever emergency exercise taking place in north Holland next week
Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Service is coordinating the UK's response, and the exercise will also involve responses from Poland, Holland, Sweden and Estonia. The event will simulate the tidal surge that devastated the UK and Holland in 1953 resulting in over 2,000 fatalities. The UK came close to a repeat of that disaster in November 2007, when sea defences on parts of the East Coast came within centimetres of being overtopped.
The exercise takes place from 22 to 25 September 2009 and the RNLI's Flood Rescue Team will be supplying two of the seven swift-water rescue trained crews and boats that will be taking part in the exercise. The field exercise will include rescue operations involving boats and helicopters responding to more that 400 'live casualties' in one of the many lakes in North Holland being used to simulate a major flood from the sea. It will also include high volume pumping operations, simulating the scenarios last seen during the summer floods in Gloucestershire in 2007.
Formed in 2000, the RNLI charity's Flood Rescue Team (FRT) is available at 24 hours notice to deploy anywhere in the world where waterborne search and rescue is needed due to natural disaster. The RNLI FRT is also a declared facility to the UK Government via the Department for International Development (DfID). RNLI FRT members are all either serving volunteer lifeboat crew members or operational RNLI staff who volunteer to be a part of the team.
The RNLI also has representation on the Flood Response National Enhancement Programme (FRNEP), which is being lead by Defra in England and is responsible for delivering a new flood rescue capability. The field exercise provides an opportunity to test the new arrangements being put in place for major flood responses across the UK.
Hugh Fogarty, the RNLI's Head of Fleet Operations, says: 'Taking part in the EU's biggest ever emergency exercise will provide a valuable opportunity for our two participating teams to practice their skills in response to a simulated major incident, working alongside the fire and rescue services and other agencies. The RNLI FRT members undergo rigorous training in swift-water rescue and survival techniques, and an exercise on this scale will allow those skills to be thoroughly utilised. This exercise will test flood responses and help to ensure that those involved in flood rescue will be even better prepared in the event of a flooding emergency in future.
'As a charitable organisation that receives no government funding, we depend on donations from the public and from organisations such as Goodyear to fund specialist training and equipment for the RNLI FRT, allowing the team to go on saving lives during flooding incidents.'
For more information, go to the official Floodex website http://www.floodex.eu/
