A new service which allows people to get forecasts for river levels to help them plan for flooding is available for two locations in the North East.
It is being provided by the Environment Agency on the gov.uk website for the River Tyne at Hexham, Northumberland, and Lustrum Beck at Stockton-on-Tees.
All communities can see observed data for river levels for the past five days. Now people living in these two areas can also see their future flood risk in a 36-hour river level forecast.
The aim is to help communities be more aware of their flood risk and be able to plan for potential flooding incidents. The new river forecasts are calculated by computer models that take into account data like current flows and expected rainfall.
Forecast information can change quickly so people are still advised to sign up for the Environment Agency’s free flood warning service to ensure they are notified if a warning is issued for their community.
And residents and businesses can still get the most up-to-date and accurate situation from the live online map which updates every 15 minutes and details the current Severe Flood Warnings, Flood Warnings and Alerts in place.
Help residents manage flood risk
Phil Taylor, from the Environment Agency’s Flood Resilience Team in the North East, said:
We are always looking at ways to use technology to better share information with people, and residents have told us that they would find it really useful to see these forecasts to help them manage their flood risk.
We want people to know if they are at risk of flooding, be prepared, and take action to protect themselves and their families. A wealth of information is available on our website for people to find out if they are at risk and understand how to prepare.
Everything residents and businesses need to know about how to check their risk and prepare for flooding is online on the Floods Destroy website.
The new 36-hour river forecasting for Hexham and Stockton can be found online at:
Lustrum Beck, Stockton-On-Tees and River Tyne at Hexham
The plan is to continue to refine the service based on feedback from users before rolling it out to other areas in the future.
People who live in areas where the 36-hour forecast is not available can still view data on river levels from the previous five days.
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