Britain is to undergo its biggest ever civil emergency drill, "Exercise Watermark", in order to test the nation's ability to respond to a range of major flood emergencies. An Environment Agency control room in Fareham, Hampshire will reveal simulated disasters to responders across England and Wales. In an armageddon scenario, flash floods will drown counties, major reservoirs will blow out, rivers will burst their banks and a tidal surge will swamp the coast.
Responders will have no advance details of the emergencies and will have to react in real time. Environment Minister, Richard Benyon, said, "This is a really major event. Regrettably, one thing is certain, especially with the influence of climate change: there will be more floods in the future. The exercise provides a unique opportunity for us to test our responses." A full-scale national emergency exercise was one of the key recommendations of the Pitt Review, which analysed what went wrong during the devastating floods of 2007, in which 13 people were killed and 55,000 properties submerged.
The exercise has been broadly welcomed by those concerned with flooding. Chair of the National Flood Forum, Charles Tucker, said, "Hundreds of communities have been flooded over the last decade and hundreds more will be flooded in the next decade: it is the nightmare waiting to come to a street near you." Tucker contends that is why the exercise is valuable, despite its cost of 1.8 million. However, there is concern that the significant year-on-year Government cuts of £144m to flood defence spending, at a time when risk is rising owing to climate change, will mean fewer people gaining flood protection.
Mary Creagh, Labour's Shadow Environment Secretary, said, "Around 5.2m homes are at risk from floods in the UK so it is vital that our public services plan for and practise large-scale emergencies. Yet the Tory-led Government cannot escape from the reckless gamble they have taken by cutting the flood defence budget by 27% over the next four years. Major flood defence projects have been cancelled, and people are worried about the availability of flood insurance when Labour's deal with the insurance industry runs out in 2013." Minister Benyon responded, "We have protected flood defence spending way in excess of other areas of spending across government. There will always be more we would like to do."
