March 2011
Halcrow flooding experts are playing a key role in one of the largest extreme weather simulation events in England and Wales.
Exercise Watermark, which begins its monitoring stage on Friday 4 March, is designed to test emergency responders at every level. Participants include 14 Strategic Coordinating Groups (representing police, fire, local authorities and utilities), the Environment Agency (EA), the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and many other government departments.
The simulation envisages a severe weather event developing over the weekend. Over the following days responders will have to deal with a number of challenging scenarios:
- Monday, 7 March – widespread surface water flooding
- Tuesday, 8 March – serious fluvial flooding on the Thames and the Severn
- Wednesday, 9 March – a major reservoir breach
- Thursday, 10 March – a major storm surge affecting much of the East Coast.
Among the senior staff and ministers taking part are the EA’s Lord Smith and Defra’s Richard Benyon. On Thursday, Halcrow’s Roland Grzybek and Richard Crowder will also be in attendance.
The Defra and Welsh Assembly project is being delivered by the EA and through the Strategic Flood Risk Mapping Framework 2 (SFRMF2). Halcrow is a member of the partnership and the water and business power group has been working with fellow framework consultants Capita Symonds and Vector Command to deliver the exercise.
Halcrow project manager Luke Lovell and colleagues Susannah Hardwick and Jenny McConkey will be at the exercise control base in Fareham where they will play key roles in delivering and managing the exercise.
He said:
“The exercise represents the culmination of many months of hard work and planning by our team. The project has been an excellent opportunity for the employees who have worked on it. The project also serves as a great example of how we can work together with our partners on the SFRMF2 framework.”