Flood Forecasting and Early Warning: An Example from the UK Environment Agency - Reducing Disaster: Early Warning Systems for Climate Change - page 194

Fig. 10.11 NFFS webservice: exported HTML reports exported by NFFS (EA 2013a ) (Contains
Environment Agency information © Environment Agency and database right)
Staff at the Environment Agency adds real-time information, detail and context
into the front end of their web-based FWD, supplementing the standardised, pre-
populated text and layouts. Differing customer groups such as 'home', 'business',
'media' and 'professional partners' have tailored messages which are packaged into
templates and their text converted into speech. Once approved, staff instructs the
system to issue the chosen messages.
Residents and businesses at risk of fl ooding, friends and relatives of those at risk,
as well as emergency responders and media broadcasters, are encouraged to register
to receive the free fl ood warnings. Customer addresses' and contact details are
entered and stored in FWD's database. Those registered receive warnings appropri-
ate to their location and can choose to receive messages by a variety of methods:
pager, SMStext, fax or email. However, the main distribution method of the
Environment Agency's fl ood warnings is by telephone. To make the warning system
timely and effective, FWD has over a thousand phone lines; 430,000 people had
signed up for EA's Floodline Warning Direct service (EA 2009a ).
As well as being alerted when fl ood warnings are issued, customers can call a
phone line - called Floodline - at any time to pick up the latest message about