Flood Resilience

Iron-BridgeIntroduction

The risk of flooding at Downton is an outcome of the complex river system upstream of it.  At Salisbury the Rivers Bourne, Nadder and Wylye join the River Avon and just after Salisbury the River Ebble joins.

The Water Meadows and Flood Defence Committee is responsible for managing the parish’s preparedness and response to floods.

The majority of the Downton parish lies in the River Avon valley and is at risk from flooding.  A key defence against flooding is the management of the water meadows and its network of sluices, ditches, watercourses etc.  Key rivers are defined by the Environment Agency as Main Rivers; see their main river mapping website.  Making changes to designated main rivers requires the approval of the Environment Agency.  Other watercourses require the approval of the lead local flood authority (Wiltshire Council).

The Environment Agency has implemented a flood alleviation scheme which works to convey flood water and raised base flows as safely as possible through Downton. The scheme is made up of a series of engineered flood walls and engineered flood embankments that offer a raised level of protection to properties at flood risk. For more information on the scheme please read the Enironment Agency’s “Downton Flood Alleviation Scheme” document.

If a water course crosses or borders your property then you have defined responsibilities and obligations; see gov.uk advice and the Envionment Agency’s “Your watercourse: rights and roles” guide.

The headings below reflect the key phases through which a flood event would progress.

Assess Your Risk

To see if you could be at risk of flooding there are some useful pages on the Environment Agency website:

Be Prepared

Have a look at the guides from the Environment Agency, National Flood Forum and Wiltshire Council:

  1. How to be prepared for a future flood
  2. Guidance on being prepared for flooding

Monitor

You can also subscribe to alerts delivered to email / mobile on the Environment Agency website. There are three levels of flood updates:

Flood Alert Icon

Flooding is possible.  Be prepared.
Flood Warning Icon

Flooding is expected.  Immediate action required.

Severe flooding.  Danger to life.

More infomation about the levels of flood alerts is available in the Environment Agency’s guide to flood warning codes.

Have a look at the map, gauge details and flood alerts/warnings from the UK governments Flood Information Service:

There is a smart phone app, RiverApp, which with some setup provides mobile access to the various river gauges.There is also a web site that displays details of the various water level gauges – https://www.gaugemap.co.uk/  Here is an example for the Iron Bridge in Downton; the black line shows the highest possible level since January 2014.  Have a look at the River Gauges page to see selected gauges of the key rivers.

For regular updates from Wiltshire Council please follow @WiltshireWinter on Twitter or visit www.wiltshire.gov.uk/civilemergencies/emergencynotices for any road closures or services affected by the weather. The team will provide a daily update which will continue until the flood risk is no longer present.


Get Ready & Respond to a Flood Event

The Parish Council has developed a Community Flood Plan for Downton.  To repare your property for imminent flooding have a look at the guides from the Environment Agency, National Flood Forum, the .gov.uk website and Wiltshire Council:

Recover from a Flood Event

To recover from a flood event  have a look at the guides from the National Flood Forum, the .gov.uk website and Wiltshire Council:

Report Incidents to Wessex Water

Wessex Water would like anyone who has experienced any problems to log those problems with them via the details below. In this way they can record the levels of concern and it will help them to identify worst affected areas.