Infrastructure still at risk from floods

Power stations, water plants and transport networks are still far too vulnerable to flooding, engineers said on Wednesday.

In a report published on the anniversary of last year's devastating floods, the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) said spare capacity urgently needed building into the national infrastructure.

"Last summer's floods showed us how vulnerable the UK's infrastructure networks are, and little is being done to rectify the situation," said David Balmforth, chairman of ICE's Flooding Group.

"If we want to prevent blackouts, water shortages and transportation failures, we need to ensure we have enough spare capacity in the system to deal with disaster."

Gloucestershire, the southwest, the Midlands, Yorkshire and Humberside suffered severe flooding during June and July, costing the economy an estimated three billion pounds.

The government has pledged to increase spending on flood defences from 650 million pounds in 2008/9 to 700 million pounds a year later, rising to 800 million pounds by 2010/11.

The Local Government Association has called for the spending to be speeded up, saying waiting three years for the increase was too long.

But an independent review into the floods, also due to be published on Wednesday, is expected to say that the level of spending is about right, but could be spent more efficiently.

Civil servant Michael Pitt, appointed by the government to study the causes of the 2007 floods, has already said he will recommend the creation of a single flood forecasting and warning centre.

He is expected to call for a definitive map of all Britain's drainage ditches and streams, after confusion last year over who was responsible for keeping drainage routes clear.