Power loss in floods was 'unacceptable'

Power stations and water plants must take part in emergency planning to avoid a repeat of last year's floods when supplies were cut to affected areas, the head of a government review said on Wednesday.

"We are looking for some big changes in this area," said civil servant Michael Pitt, appointed by the government to study the causes of the 2007 floods.

"I think it was unacceptable that hundreds of thousands of people lost their power supplies and their water," he told BBC radio.

"Those companies must join in the planning for flood emergencies, they must share the appropriate information about their infrastructure, and they must conduct business with emergency planners well before the next flood takes place."

Pitt was speaking ahead of the release of his final report on Wednesday, published on the anniversary of the flooding.

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

Pitt has already said he will recommend the creation of a single flood-forecasting and warning centre.

He is also 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.

In a separate report, engineers said national utilities were still far too vulnerable to flooding.

The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) said spare capacity urgently needs to be built 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."

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.