What was your Storm Ciara experience?
Thursday, 30 July 2020
Calderdale Council wants to hear from anyone whose property was affected by the flooding in February 2020.
Earlier this year, Storm Ciara caused severe flooding at several locations throughout Calderdale, causing major damage to homes, businesses, major infrastructure and several schools.
Photo: Mike Barrett - click to enlarge
Councils have a statutory duty to undertake an investigation whenever there is a large scale flooding event and then publish what's known as a Section 19 report. This report details the impact of the flooding experienced by local communities and the subsequent response and recovery.
To support this, and ensure the report is a comprehensive and accurate account the scale of the flooding, the Council is asking anyone affected by the February floods to complete a questionnaire.
The short survey is available here and asks those responding for details of when, where and how the flooding occurred on each property.
Normally a number of drop-in sessions would also have been held to gather further opinions, but unfortunately due to COVID restrictions these can no longer take place. Anyone needing additional support with the survey should contact LLFA@calderdale.gov.uk.
The information provided will be used to help identify particular issues, areas for improvement and support a response to any future flood events.
Calderdale Council's Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Environment, Cllr Scott Patient, said, "Around 1200 homes and businesses were affected by the flooding in February 2020, second only in impact to the floods of Boxing Day 2015.
"We want to hear from as many of those affected as possible to ensure we have a thorough picture of the types of flooding experienced and how the scale of personal damage compared to previous flood events.
"The feedback will be used to see how lessons can be learnt and to help us prepare for the sustained threat of future events due to climate change."
The deadline for completing the survey is 31 August 2020. The report will include recommendations which will then be implemented by the Council. The final report will be published by the end of January 2021.
HebWeb News: The February 2020 flood