Flood plans need overhaul and review urges

LONDON - Flood prevention strategies need a complete overhaul to better protect Britain's infrastructure, a government report said on Thursday.

Road and rail networks, power stations, water plants and other services such as police stations are particularly vulnerable to flooding, the Environment Agency (EA) said.

It urged better communication, which could include implementing early warning systems for residents.

The report, which contains 33 recommendations, came after the devastating summer floods, which led to more than 55,000 homes and businesses being inundated and left an insurance bill of around 3 billion pounds.

The government is currently reviewing its flood responses with a view to creating a 20-year strategy.

"We ... need to be assured that the providers of critical public services are taking seriously their role in reducing the consequences of flooding," said EA Chairman Sir John Harman.

"The extreme flooding showed just how poorly protected much of our vital public infrastructure is -- and water and electricity supplies were particularly vulnerable."

Better incident response plans were needed.

"Two-thirds of the properties flooded during summer were damaged because drains and sewers were overwhelmed," he added.

"There is (a) complexity of who is responsible for surface water flooding. We need a clear co-ordinating framework to deal with flood risk from drains and sewers."

An Environment Department spokeswoman welcomed the report.

"The government is committed to effectively managing flood and coastal erosion risk and spending has nearly doubled in cash terms in the last 10 years to an estimated 600 million pounds in 2007-08," she said in a statement.