Storm Claudia brought heavy rain and high winds to the UK, resulting in flooding to several areas. The worst impacts were felt in Wales, where a major incident was declared in Monmouth. In England, the Environment Agency is reporting 57 properties flooded to date, with 18,000 properties protected by flood defences. The rain has now passed, and the situation is improving.
My sympathies go to all those affected by the flooding. I have seen at first hand the disruption and distress it causes to communities. My thanks go to the Environment Agency, emergency services, local authorities and other responders who have protected and supported communities and who will continue to do so.
As policy on flooding is a devolved matter, I have contacted the First Minister of Wales to offer my support. The Environment Agency has offered support locally, which includes any mutual aid that may be requested by Natural Resources Wales.
Strong action was taken in preparation for, and during, Storm Claudia to protect communities. Over the weekend, the Environment Agency issued flood warnings and alerts to over 165,000 people. Flood defences were operated in dozens of locations, including the new scheme recently completed at Beales Corner in Bewdley.
Storm Claudia will not be the last storm we face. Flooding poses an increasing risk to many communities. This Government are therefore responding to today’s challenges while investing for the future in our flood defences and building long-term resilience.
This Government have set up the floods resilience taskforce to advise Ministers on flood resilience and preparedness nationally and locally, and to provide key learnings from previous major flood incidents. The taskforce brings together Ministers from DEFRA, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, the Cabinet Office and the Department for Transport, with experts from the Environment Agency, the Met Office, local authorities and mayoral offices, emergency responders, the insurance industry and rural, farming and environmental groups.
In recent months, taskforce members have delivered a range of improvements. The Met Office and Environment Agency have improved national flood modelling. The agency recently launched a new flood warning system that delivers more timely, accurate, and accessible flood warnings, helping communities across the country prepare and respond more effectively. DEFRA and the Environment Agency have exercised national co-ordination arrangements. MHCLG has raised awareness of flood-recovery schemes with local authorities. In September, the taskforce reviewed flood preparedness for flooding this autumn and winter.
The Government are committing more than £10.5 billion by 2036 to deliver the largest floods programme in history, protecting 900,000 properties. Since this Government came into office, the Environment Agency has already delivered 151 schemes, ensuring that 24,000 properties are better protected.
Climate change means that more communities will face heightened risks of flooding. In October, following a public consultation, we announced reforms to make it quicker and easier to deliver the right defences in the right places by simplifying flood funding rules. These new funding rules will come into effect with the start of the new floods programme in April.
Maintaining flood defence infrastructure is essential to ensuring reliability, safety, and long-term value. In total, we have reprioritised £108 million to maintenance, halting the decline in asset condition and including urgent repairs to defences damaged in previous flooding events. Without this intervention, their condition would continue to decline year after year.
Flood insurance is also a valuable tool to help people recover from flooding. That is why we are supporting people to access insurance through our partnership with Flood Re, a joint initiative between the Government and the insurance industry that ensures households at the highest risk of flooding can access affordable insurance. In the financial year 2024-25 alone, Flood Re provided cover for over 345,000 household policies.
We are committed to improving property flood resilience. In October, the Environment Agency published the “Flood Ready” review. Its recommendations will be taken forward by a core leadership group of industry and Government, who will work closely together to prioritise and deliver key actions. We are working with industry to promote the Build Back Better scheme. This initiative ensures that properties affected by flooding are improved, reducing time families spend out of their homes and lowering the overall cost of recovery.
This Government will continue their steadfast work to protect communities from flooding, improving preparedness, response and recovery.
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