Over 200 Environment Agency (EA) staff are now on the ground in South Yorkshire supporting local communities affected by the recent devastating flooding.
Since the flooding began last Thursday, approximately 13,500 properties have been protected by flood defences, including nearly 5,000 properties in South Yorkshire alone. Flood storage areas are also being operated to protect 7,000 homes in parts of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Lincolnshire.
The flood risk remains high for the coming days with heavier bands of rainfall expected on Thursday and Friday, bringing an increased risk of further river and surface water flooding across flood-hit areas in South Yorkshire and Lincolnshire where river flows will remain high and ground is saturated.
The Environment Agency is better prepared than ever to protect properties and homes in the flood-affected areas. New flood equipment acquired since the floods of winter 2015/16 includes an additional 40km of temporary barriers, 308,880 sandbags and 72 pumps, including 12 ultra-high volume pumps.
We continue to work around the clock in our incident rooms and on the ground to reduce flood risk and keep communities safe. EA field teams are continuing to work 24/7 to clear debris from rivers, operate flood storage areas and pump away flood water. In Fishlake, ultra-high volume pumps have been deployed to pump away flood water as soon as water levels allow.
As at 1pm (Tuesday 12 November) there are five severe flood warnings in South Yorkshire with a threat to life, 28 flood warnings and 76 flood alerts.
Doug Wilson, Flood Duty Manager at the Environment Agency, said:
More heavy rain could bring further and severe surface water and river flooding to parts of South Yorkshire and Lincolnshire on Thursday and Friday. Areas of South Yorkshire will remain affected by ongoing high river levels today through to Saturday.
Elsewhere, frequent showers today (Tuesday) will fall on saturated river catchments across the Yorkshire Pennines, Peak District, Staffordshire and Derbyshire which could also bring more localised river flooding to these areas.
The Environment Agency has teams working around the clock on the ground erecting temporary barriers and delivering sandbags to areas expecting further rainfall.
Our incident rooms remain open 24 hours a day and we are continuing to work closely with local authorities and partners.
People should remain vigilant, check their flood risk and plan to stay safe. We advise people to stay away from swollen rivers and not to walk or drive through flood water as just 30cm of flowing water is enough to move your car.
The public can check their flood risk and keep up to date with the latest situation, or by calling Floodline on 0345 988 1188 or following @EnvAgency on Twitter.
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