Do-it-yourself flood kit

Wiltshire Council has created a flood resilience scheme which will enable communities to help themselves. This will be known as the Parish Emergency Assistance Scheme (PEAS) and will enable towns and parishes to bid for sandbags, aquasacs, sand and flood warning signs. Stocks will be available within the next two weeks, or immediately to those communities that need them most. Each Parish can bid for the following items and these will be provided free of charge provided a Parish has a Flood Plan, suitable storage and a means of getting the equipment out when needed.

Wiltshire Council will provide 1 tonne of sand free of charge in one delivery to one location plus:

• 50 empty sandbags
• 50 gel sacs
• 6 flood warning signs
• 2 Drive Slowly signs
• 2 fluorescent tabards

The council is also preparing a briefing pack for flooded residents and a shortened version of this will appear in the next issue of the WC magazine.

WC points out that after periods of heavy rainfall, water stored within the ground can overflow and come to the surface as springs or seepage. This can cause problems for months and can often affect properties that are not normally flooded, whilst groundwater and river levels often take days to react to rainfall.