New alert centre to improve response to flooding

UK Environment Secretary Hilary Benn has announced the development of a new warning centre to help protect people and businesses from flooding.

The £7.7 million flood forecasting centre, run by the Met Office and Environment Agency, will improve the country's ability to predict and respond to flooding by providing a single national forecasting and alert service.

It will help emergency responders to prepare for and respond to flooding.

The service will complement the existing public flood warning arrangements from the Environment Agency.

The centre is part of the Government's action plan in response to Sir Michael Pitt's review of the 2007 summer floods, which recommended that a better warning system was needed in the event of flooding.

The London-based Flood Forecasting Centre, operated by the Met Office and Environment Agency, will cover England and Wales. The Government is contributing £5 million and £2.7 million additional funding will be met by the organizations.

The Met Office will also receive an additional £500,000 to continue work on improving the computer modelling used to forecast heavy and localised rainfall.

•Date:18th Dec 2008• Region: UK •Type: Article •Topic: DR general
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