Action plan launched to deal with flash floods in Wolverhampton

Wolverhampton Council chiefs said work has already taken place, with more ongoing to ensure the authority responds better to floods such as those in May last year.

During the 2018 storms, it is estimated the West Midlands received around a month’s worth of rain in just one hour.

In Wolverhampton, Heath Park School suffered extensive water damage throughout its buildings.

Council-owned buildings Bantock House, Wolverhampton Art Gallery, Makers Dozen Studios and Central Baths also suffered as a result of lightning and flooding which caused around £26,000 worth of damage.

Wolverhampton Homes, which runs the authority’s housing stock, received 1,590 calls in one weekend to its contact centre – far higher than its average of 270. Severn Trent also reported 226 incidents during the weekend.

Review

A review group, chaired by Councillor Phil Bateman, was set up to look into the response to the floods and a number of issues were identified.

These included problems with people being able to access the emergency contact number and the council’s on call duty directors, as well as issues with public communications.

Changes have been made to tackle some of the issues, including improving the emergency contact system, training staff and setting up a dedicated live page on the authority website.

The group has also put forward a string of recommendations as part of the action plan, which include improving drainage and gully cleaning in hot spot areas and sharing information with partners.

Bids for external funding have also been submitted for flood prevention work to be carried out across the city.

Councillor Bateman said: “What we had last May will be repeated again but we need to be in a position where we are firing on all cylinders to be able to deal with it.

“With this work, we are already some way to doing that.”

By Gurdip Thandi, Local Democracy Reporter