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Major rehearsals for a possible disaster are to begin involving 10,000 people as Government tests how they, the emergency services and communities will respond. £1.8million is being spent on the test exercises which will involve ten government departments and utility companies in what ministers say is the 'largest civil defence exercise ever' in Britain.
Over the next week Exercise Watermark will test how agencies deal with flash flooding, overflowing rivers, a reservoir threatening to burst and even a North Sea tidal surge in different parts of the country.
Environment Minister Richard Benyon said: 'More extreme weather and rising sea levels mean we have to be prepared to deal with the impact of a major flood.
'Exercise Watermark will be Britain's biggest ever emergency exercise and provide a unique opportunity for us to test our responses.'
Mr Benyon insisted the exercise was not taking funding away from flood defences, which suffered cuts under the spending review, as the money came from a separate protected pot for emergency planning.
Originally posted by XXXN3O
reply to post by OptimisticPessimist
What would really suprise me is if a disaster actually happens on the very same day that they carry out the exercises.
I mean, its not like anything like that has ever happened before anywhere in the world.
Originally posted by greenfox83
I wonder how people in the UK feel about money spent on a "test", while the price of gas and food goes up. I would demand reasons known. Will the UK be in a threat for flooding? Why perform testing if there is no immediate danger? I understand protect at all cost, but give the public a real reason, like there is expected flooding in the next coming months and we need a water tight system.
update on Exercise Watermark
Thousands of emergency responders (almost half of the UK's response agencies) are currently taking part in Exercise Watermark, aiming to strengthen and improve the way we deal with flooding emergencies.
Below is a day by day summary of the scenario being used to test their procedures (this fictional account is set in November 2011)
Monday 7 November 2011
The scenario started on Monday where the country experienced heavy rain from Merseyside to Kent with some more extreme rainfall from Lancashire to Humberside and South West England to London.
Emergency responders in the capital were asked to react to the scenario of thousands of rail passengers becoming stuck at some of London's busiest railway stations. Flood water was also said to be causing problems on the M25, M11 and M12, which put the Highways Agency to the test.
The rainfall on Monday resulted in significant flooding affecting thousands of homes and a number of fatalities were reported.
As the scenario continued, the emergency services started to look at how residential homes, hospitals and mobile home sites could be evacuated. The health service tested their resilience in the event of a national power outage.
By early afternoon, the heavy rain was said to have started clearing from central southern England.
Towards the end of the day, emergency responders in Wales were also brought into the scenario as the country started to experience some flooding on the ground and we simulated loss of power to 15,000 properties.
By the end of Monday's play, 45,000 people were affected by the simulated flooding.
Tuesday 8 November 2011
Tuesday's play continued on from Monday's scenario of surface water flooding as many rivers across the country began to burst their banks. Emergency organisations were told that the ground was virtually saturated and river catchments were filled to near capacity.
The heavy rain from Monday was said to cause surface water flooding in some areas. Further rain continued to fall and emergency responders were encouraged to react to a likelihood of a significant storm surge down the east coast later in the week.
During Tuesday, the story continued with 500 people being evacuated from a train in Oxfordshire. More were evacuated from Rhayader in Wales and three bridges were severely damaged in Shropshire.
The scenario saw floods continuing to affect the road network, the availability of fresh drinking water and food supplies. Local Authorities have had to think about how they would set up emergency rest centres in a number of places.
By the end of Tuesday's play, 45,000 properties and 120,000 people were said to be affected.
Today, 9th March
Real time evacuation
Sutton on Sea
Community drop in event
WRVS Refreshments/Providing Meals
Louth
Exercise Gwyniad
Bala
Be Flood Aware
Woolwich Dockyard, London
Wells Next-The-Sea Emergency Response Exercise
Wells next The Sea
Great Yarmouth Floodgates closure
Great Yarmouth
Exercise Watermark Flood Response Event
Darlington
Sea Palling Floodgate closure
Sea Palling
Closure of defences within the Norfolk & Suffolk broads system
reedham
Be Prepared - What you need to know about flooding
Newcastle upon Tyne
FLOOD FAIR EXHIBITION
Stratford-upon-Avon
Operation Watermark
Nr Tamworth
10th March
Tattershall Lakes live flood rescue exercise
Lincolnshire
Flood simulation and Product Demonstration
Droitwich, Worcestershire
Kingston Flood Exercise
Exercise Enterprise
Kinmel Bay
Thames Barrier test closure and public event
London
Exercise Lagoon
Hutton
Merseyside Local Resilience Forum Community Awareness Event
Liverpool
Barton Town Council Community Emergency Exercise
Barton-upon-Humber
Hereford Flood Barrier Demonstration Day
Hereford
Essex RF Live Ex
Kelvedon
Flood plan table-top exercise
Dartmouth
Originally posted by OptimisticPessimist
What I find most interesting about this story is the fact of it's timing.
I get the unshakable feeling they are withholding valuable information from the general public with regards to this latest "excercise" and it's relationship with the "white elephant in the room" that is the unpresidented terrestrial & extra-terrestrial changes now occurring.
I didn't see any relationship between the events and extra terrestrials. I don't think E.T. is an elephant anymore, if you want to pin the tail on the elephant, then it would be the withholding of documents from the public by either govt. or from what some think the private sector.
I might be wrong here, and I am not discrediting your opinion, but I didn't see the linkage.
Originally posted by minigunner
Originally posted by OptimisticPessimist
What I find most interesting about this story is the fact of it's timing.
I get the unshakable feeling they are withholding valuable information from the general public with regards to this latest "excercise" and it's relationship with the "white elephant in the room" that is the unpresidented terrestrial & extra-terrestrial changes now occurring.
I didn't see any relationship between the events and extra terrestrials. I don't think E.T. is an elephant anymore, if you want to pin the tail on the elephant, then it would be the withholding of documents from the public by either govt. or from what some think the private sector.
I might be wrong here, and I am not discrediting your opinion, but I didn't see the linkage.
haha, alien elephants!? I hope not!!!
No I meant "extra terrestrial" as in not happening on Earth. Solar System changes.
Originally posted by XXXN3O
reply to post by OptimisticPessimist
Monday 7 November 2011
The scenario started on Monday where the country experienced heavy rain from Merseyside to Kent with some more extreme rainfall from Lancashire to Humberside and South West England to London.
Emergency responders in the capital were asked to react to the scenario of thousands of rail passengers becoming stuck at some of London's busiest railway stations. Flood water was also said to be causing problems on the M25, M11 and M12, which put the Highways Agency to the test.
The rainfall on Monday resulted in significant flooding affecting thousands of homes and a number of fatalities were reported.
As the scenario continued, the emergency services started to look at how residential homes, hospitals and mobile home sites could be evacuated. The health service tested their resilience in the event of a national power outage.
THE world could be in for a bumpy ride next week with an "extreme supermoon" predicted to cause weather chaos. The moon will pass just 221,567 miles away on March 19 - its closest for 18 years. Some amateur scientists warn it could trigger extreme conditions all over the world, from earthquakes to tsunamis. Previous supermoons - or "lunar perigees" - happened in 1955, 1974, 1992 and 2005. Each year had extreme weather events. TV weatherman John Kettley said: "A moon can't cause a geological event like an earthquake, but it will cause a difference to the tide. "If that combines with certain weather conditions, then that could cause a few problems for coastal areas."