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The increasing incidence of extreme weather events means all companies should have detailed plans in place to recover from the impact of flooding. This warning comes from environment minister Richard Benyon ahead of a four-day exercise designed to test the effectiveness of English and Welsh flood responses.
Starting today, the £1.8m Exercise Watermark will see 10,000 people across 10 government departments, public sector agencies, businesses, communities and the emergency services undertake simulations of a series of extreme flooding scenarios, similar to the disastrous North Sea floods experienced in 1953.
The operation will be the country's largest-ever emergency exercise and will see the government's COBRA crisis response committee meet as the simulation moves from flash flooding and overflowing rivers to the collapse of a reservoir and the evacuation of coastal communities in the face of a serious North Sea tidal surge.
Defra has come under heavy criticism for dramatic cuts to its flood prevention budget and speaking before the exercise kicked off, Benyon admitted he would like to have more to spend. But he denied that the cost of the response exercise would mean less money will be invested in protecting homes, businesses and infrastructure.
"The cost of the operation is part of the emergency planning and response funding we have protected totally – it is not taken from the protection of homes. [The operation] is not about building flood defences, this is about reacting to an emergency," he said.
The exercise is in line with recommendations made by Sir Michael Pitt's review published in the wake of the summer 2007 floods, which according to the Environment Agency cost the country about £3.2bn, two thirds of which was borne by businesses and households.
About 7,000 businesses were flooded in 2007 and hundreds more were affected two years later by similar episodes in Cumbria, leading the Environment Agency to urge the business community to participate in the operation to test their continuity plans.
Benyon said Defra had been liaising with the Department for Business and local chambers of commerce to ensure businesses, especially smaller firms, are prepared not only to avoid the worst affects of flooding, but to return to trading as soon as possible after an event.
"Businesses can learn a lot from this exercise," he said. "They can take measures just like householders and can access flood information and warnings in the same way that householders can. And in terms of recovery, they can work out how to get the electricity and water turned back on, get their IT up and running and get back to trading.
"Those who have spent time preparing for emergencies are better able to cope and recover more quickly, so I would urge people to think about how they could get involved and use the tools available on the Directgov web site."
The operation is also set to test the resilience of the nation's energy infrastructure. Walham electricity substation in Gloucestershire came within inches of being overwhelmed by rising flood waters in 2007 and a number of electricity providers, as well as five water companies, are participating in the exercise to ensure critical infrastructure is prepared for future flooding.