Work · South-east London
Flood Warning Duty Officer, south-east London
Ten weeks on the Environment Agency’s incident rota. I turned forecasts and overnight river-level alerts into flood alerts and warnings, and kept police and ambulance services involved.
ContextWhy it mattered
The Environment Agency is a Category 1 responder under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 and warns for river and sea flooding. Every day the Flood Forecasting Centre, a partnership of the Environment Agency and Met Office, issues a five-day Flood Guidance Statement, rated from green (very low) through yellow and amber to red (high). The public receive three levels of message: Flood Alert, Flood Warning and Severe Flood Warning. In London, partners escalate through four activation levels, and the police chair multi-agency coordination where life is at risk.
Partners: Flood Forecasting Centre (Environment Agency and Met Office); Local Resilience Forum partners; Police and ambulance services
My roleWhat I did
Flood Warning Duty Officer
- Monitored incoming rainfall and river-level telemetry, including overnight telemetry alerts, and forecast how catchments would respond.
- Checked IMFS forecasts and Flood Guidance Statements against warning thresholds.
- Issued flood alerts and warnings, so communities were informed by text, email and phone.
- Held calls with first responders. In the most severe incident, which escalated from yellow to red for the south-east, I kept police and ambulance services involved.
- In extreme cases, briefed managers, the police and central government.
- Wrote post-event reports, so the full event was on record in case of legal action.
Project cycleHow the project moved, stage by stage
Who led each stage, and what it produced. Filled steps were mine; outlined steps were led by others.
My role (6 of 6 stages) Context: led by the council, partners or the Environment Agency, not my actions
- 1Stand byMy role
Served 10 weeks on the Environment Agency incident rota for south-east London.
Result Duty cover, including overnight.
ADB: Preparedness arrangements · World Bank: Hydromet / EWS operations
- 2MonitorMy role
Monitored rainfall and river-level telemetry, responding to overnight telemetry alerts.
Result Live situational awareness.
ADB: Monitoring (EW4All pillar 2) · World Bank: Observation networks; telemetry
- 3ForecastMy role
Forecast catchment response and checked IMFS forecasts and Flood Guidance Statements against thresholds.
Result A decision on whether thresholds will be crossed.
ADB: Forecasting and decision-support tools · World Bank: Forecasting; impact-based forecasting
- 4WarnMy role
Issued flood alerts and warnings by text, email and phone.
Result Communities informed in time to act.
ADB: Warning dissemination (EW4All pillar 3) · World Bank: Last-mile dissemination
- 5CoordinateMy role
Held calls with first responders and kept police and ambulance involved as an incident escalated from yellow to red. In extreme cases, briefed managers, police and central government.
Result A coordinated multi-agency response.
ADB: Preparedness and response (EW4All pillar 4) · World Bank: Emergency response coordination
- 6Record and learnMy role
Wrote post-event reports so the full event was on record.
Result An auditable incident record.
ADB: Lessons learned · World Bank: Post-event review
PeopleWho it affects, and how results were shared
Who it affects
- Residents and businesses in south-east London flood warning areas, river and coastal
- First responders: police and ambulance services
- Local Resilience Forum partners
How people were involved
- Alerts and warnings sent directly to communities by text, email and phone. my record
- Calls with first responders; police and ambulance kept involved in the most severe incident. my record
What changes for them
- A Flood Alert says flooding is possible: be prepared. A Flood Warning says flooding is expected: act now. A Severe Flood Warning means danger to life. public definitions
- Warnings give people time to move belongings, vehicles and themselves before water arrives.
How results were shared
- Public flood alerts and warnings by text, email and phone. my record
- Briefings to managers, police and central government in extreme cases. my record
- Post-event reports. my record
Public evidenceFloodline (0345 988 1188) runs 24 hours. Warnings go to registered people by phone, text and email. Source: GOV.UK: Flood alerts and warnings, what they are and what to do.
MethodsMethods and tools
- IMFS, the Environment Agency’s forecasting system (built on Delft-FEWS)
- Flood Guidance Statement (Flood Forecasting Centre)
- River-level telemetry and rainfall data
- Flood warning service and Floodline
- Multi-agency calls
- Incident logs and post-event reports
OutcomeWhat happened
Ten weeks of incident duty across river and coastal flood risk in south-east London, including an escalation from yellow to red.
In numbersHow an incident escalates (generic)
Flood Guidance Statement risk
- Green very low
- Yellow low
- Amber medium
- Red high
Environment Agency messages
- Flood Alert
- Flood Warning
- Severe Flood Warning
London activation levels
- Level 1: routinebusiness as usual
- Level 2: preparationFlood Guidance Statement impact forecast, or flood alerts in several London locations
- Level 3: responseflood warnings in force in London
- Level 4: strategic responseSevere Flood Warning planned or issued; Strategic Coordinating Group considered
Flood Guidance Statement user guide (colours); GOV.UK (warning levels); London Strategic Flood Response Framework 2022 (activation levels). The three products are separate scales and do not map one-to-one.
SkillsSkills gained
- Early warning operationsThreshold-based warning decisions, made under time pressure and overnight.
- Stakeholder engagementMulti-agency coordination with police and ambulance services during an escalating incident.
- HydrologyReading real-time catchment response from rainfall and river levels.
- Policy and regulationWorking within civil-contingencies duties, with records kept for legal scrutiny.
TransferHow this applies internationally
Impact-based forecasting. Operational flood forecasting and warning in a government agency. Impact-based forecasting needs this operational experience, and thresholds that trigger anticipatory action. I have applied such thresholds live.
UNDRR (early warning and anticipatory action). Risk information for early warning systems and anticipatory action. My duty work spans EW4All pillars 2 (monitoring and forecasting), 3 (dissemination) and 4 (preparedness and response).
ADB RRBI. A user’s view of a national forecasting system. Assessing forecasting and decision-support tools benefits from having used one (IMFS, built on Delft-FEWS) on duty. I did not configure or develop it.
World Bank (hydromet and early warning components). The operator end of the “forecasting, warning and emergency response” chain. Implementation support for early warning components needs someone who knows how warnings are actually issued and acted on.
SourcesSources
- Civil Contingencies Act 2004, Schedule 1
- GOV.UK: Flood Forecasting Centre, about
- GOV.UK: Flood Guidance Statement user guide
- GOV.UK: Flood alerts and warnings, what they are and what to do
- London Strategic Flood Response Framework v5.0 (June 2022)
- UK Spending: IMFS software support contract (Environment Agency, Delft-FEWS)
- JESIP: Strategic Co-ordinating Group roles
- UN: Early Warnings for All