Flood Forecasting and Early Warning: An Example from the UK Environment Agency - Reducing Disaster: Early Warning Systems for Climate Change - page 177

Chapter 10
Flood Forecasting and Early Warning: An
Example from the UK Environment Agency
Janak Pathak and Richard Eastaff
Abstract The frequency and severity of fl oods have increased in England in recent
years and is expected to increase in the future due to climate change and land-use
change. It is neither technically feasible nor economically affordable to prevent
extreme events, such as fl oods. The UK government has invested more resources to
build engineering defences and developed a hydro-meteorological forecasting sys-
tem by bringing the latest scientifi c and engineering knowledge to protect the public
and property from fl oods. The Environment Agency (EA) in England has advanced
fl ood warning dissemination systems as a part of their fl ood risk reduction and adap-
tation strategy. In addition, more focus has been given to inform people and to infl u-
ence their decision and behaviours in times of extreme events. Together with the
advancement of their early warning system for hazard detection and forecasting, the
EA is also making efforts to provide effective and appropriate information to trig-
ger and infl uence the behaviours and actions of the communities at various levels
so that they can be prepared to respond to extreme events and disaster situations.
More importantly, the government has embedded disaster risk reduction in its
development planning. For example local planning authorities must now consult
with the EA on the planning application for any proposed development, especially
if the proposed development is at risk from fl ooding. This chapter briefl y describes
the process of issuing fl ood warnings in England.
Keywords Early warning • Forecasting • Climate change • Flood • Extreme event