A village flood study answers three questions in order: where the water comes from, what would keep it out of homes, and who could pay for it. At Hamstall Ridware in Staffordshire, a village below a reservoir, the answers ran from residents’ records of the February 2020 flood to an earth bund the farmers built.
Real model output: a 1-in-100-year flood, plus 29% for climate change, spreading across the Hamstall Ridware floodplain in the first-generation 2022 model; 149 ha at its peak. Replayed, not to time scale. How to read this: drag the slider to watch the flood spread from the river across the fields.
Animated map: in the 2022 model of a 1% AEP flood with a 29% climate allowance, water spreads over 79 hours to cover 149 hectares of the River Blithe and Trent floodplain at Hamstall Ridware, Staffordshire.
About the author. Hisham Nuhu is a UK-based flood and disaster risk specialist. He worked at England’s Environment Agency from 2019 to 2025 and holds an MSc in Water Science, Policy and Management from the University of Oxford. He works remotely or in-country with governments, development banks, UN agencies and consulting firms, and in England with councils, communities, landowners and developers.
Build the evidence, then get the right authority to carry it. Record every flood. Ask the lead local flood authority, or the Environment Agency for a main river, to look into it. Commission a study that tests options. Then bid for funding with partners: most government flood money goes through those authorities, so they need to own the case.
The route has six steps. Residents can start the first two today. The table shows who usually leads each one, and where an independent hydrologist and modeller helps.
| Step | What happens | Who usually leads | Where I can help |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Record | Photos, flood marks, depths, dates, and which homes flooded inside | Residents, the flood group, the parish council | A short questionnaire and a record a model can be checked against |
| 2. Report | The flooding is reported and looked into | The lead local flood authority, or the Environment Agency for a main river | Putting the residents’ evidence in a form the authority can use |
| 3. Study | Where the water comes from; hydrology and a model; options tested | The authority, or the parish with partners | Hydrology, modelling and options, written up in plain English |
| 4. Appraise | The costs and benefits of each option, on one basis | The authority | A consistent appraisal that counts harm to mental health |
| 5. Fund | The project is put forward for government funding, with partners’ contributions | The authority, with partners | A case built for the funding policy in force since April 2026 |
| 6. Build and look after | Works designed, permitted, built and maintained | The authority, landowners | Checking the design does not move the water onto neighbours |
Five steps, each feeding the next: the catchment, the hydrology, a computer model of the river and village, the options, and what gets built. At Hamstall Ridware the hydrology was entirely my work, and I built the 1D–2D model jointly with an Environment Agency modelling colleague. Scroll through the study as it happened.
Fig. 1 · Step by step
Hamstall Ridware: from the catchment to a farmers’ bund
Scroll through the five steps; in step 3, scrolling runs the flood hour by hour.Choose a step; in step 3, drag the hour slider to run the flood.
Four sub-catchments drain to the village
The design flood flowing into the reservoir, 1-in-100-year event
2022 model: 1-in-100-year flood + 29% climate allowance, 6 m grid
1-in-100-year flood + 15% (2024 model): today and with the raised bank
Raised bank
Today
Flood depths: Environment Agency 2024 model, built jointly by me and an Environment Agency modelling colleague. Basemap © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Benefit–cost ratio of three options, on one standard basis
My own cost–benefit appraisal (self-initiated, not a formal Environment Agency submission), at screening level on a standard basis.
Step 1 of 5 · Catchment
163 km² of farmland drains to the village down the River Blithe. Three-quarters of it passes through Blithfield Reservoir first, and in big floods the water goes round the village gauge. So the gauge record could not be trusted on its own.
163 km²draining to the village, about 75% of it through the reservoir
Step 2 of 5 · Hydrology
I compared three standard ways of estimating a rare flood and built the design flood from the most defensible parts of each. The 1-in-100-year flow came out about half as big again as the gauge record alone suggested.
44.6 m³/s1-in-100-year flow to the village, against 30.0 from the gauge record
Step 3 of 5 · Model
A computer model shows where the water goes, field by field. The river and its bridge are modelled in one dimension, the floodplain and the village in two. I checked it against residents’ records of the February 2020 flood. Keep scrolling to run the flood.
149 haflooded by hour 79 in the 2022 run, with the 2080s climate allowance
Step 4 of 5 · Options
The 2024 model tested two ideas. Opening the second arch of the road bridge made no difference upstream. Raising the right bank kept the village dry in every flood modelled, but moved the water onto the farmland opposite.
Village drywith the right bank raised, in every flood modelled up to 1 in 1,000
Step 5 of 5 · Outcome
In my own cost–benefit appraisal (self-initiated, not a formal Environment Agency submission), an earth bund on that line came out far ahead of a wall or an embankment. Separately, the farmers built an earth bund of their own, working with landowners and the village. Its design and cost were not recorded, so the ratio is not a measure of it.
4.6benefit–cost ratio of an earth bund (3.3–7.0 across unit rates), against 1.6 for a wall and 1.0 for an embankment
My flood estimation record v4 (2025); the Environment Agency 2024 model, built jointly by me and an Environment Agency modelling colleague; the 2022 Flood Modeller 2D run, drawn from its arrival-time and maximum-depth grids; my own screening-level appraisal on a standard basis. Basemap © OpenStreetMap contributors.
They are often the best flood data a village has. At Hamstall Ridware the gauge is bypassed in big floods, so I checked the model against a residents’ questionnaire about February 2020: 11 homes reported flooded on three roads, 14 in the model. Two depths residents measured gave a further check.
What to record during or soon after a flood: the date and time; where the water came from and which way it went; depths against something that will still be there, such as a doorstep or a wall; photos with the time on them; and which homes flooded inside. A rough record is worth having, as long as it is honest about what it does not know.
The match does not need to be perfect. It needs to be close enough to trust the model for the decision. At Hamstall I raised the channel roughness in the wooded reaches, from 0.03 to 0.075, to match what residents saw.
How to read this: each pair of bars is one road: residents’ reports on the left, the model on the right. Hover or tap a bar for the questionnaire notes.
Community flood questionnaire and the 2022 Flood Modeller model of the February 2020 flood (gauge peak 20.8 m³/s).
| Road | Reported by residents | Flooded in the model | Questionnaire |
|---|---|---|---|
| Street A | 5 | 7 | 1 household did not respond |
| Street B | 3 | 5 | 2 households did not respond |
| Street C | 3 | 2 | all households responded |
Totals: 11 reported, 14 in the model. Roads are labelled generically and no property is named.
Yes, and at Hamstall Ridware they did. But a bund changes where water goes, so it needs the right permissions and a check that it does not push the flood onto someone else. Work within 8 metres of a main river, or on its floodplain without planning permission, needs a flood risk activity permit unless it is excluded or exempt.
On an ordinary watercourse, a stream or ditch that is not a main river, ask the council or internal drainage board whether you need land drainage consent instead. Check with the council whether the works need planning permission too.
The harder question is the neighbours. In the 2024 Hamstall model, raising the right bank kept the village dry but put more water, typically 0.01–0.06 m deeper, on the farmland opposite. That is why the farmers had to be part of any solution. I assessed flood risk activity permits in the West Midlands from 2020 to 2023, and that transfer of risk is exactly what an assessor looks for.
Usually a mix. Government flood funding goes mainly to projects put forward by councils, the Environment Agency, internal drainage boards and water companies, and since April 2026 it is prioritised by how much benefit each pound of government money buys. Money from the parish, landowners and businesses still matters, and community groups can lead small natural flood management projects.
Under the policy in force since April 2026, partners’ money does two jobs. It lowers the government’s share, which raises the project’s score, and “additional contributions” is one of the strategic objectives the Environment Agency looks for.
Standalone natural flood management projects under £3 million can be put forward by community groups, charities, farmers and landowners, through an NFM project opportunity form sent to the Environment Agency. A study can be commissioned by the parish, the council or both. What matters is that the authority can take it straight into a funding bid. How flood schemes are funded in England.
It depends most on whether a model already exists. If the Environment Agency holds a river model for the village, a study can start from it; if not, it needs survey and a new model. After a scoping call I give a fixed fee and a timescale in writing, before any work starts.
Start by asking the Environment Agency what it already holds for the village: Products 4 to 7 cover detailed flood data, model reports, model outputs and model inputs. Hamstall’s modelling would have cost an estimated US$100k if contracted externally. Many village questions are smaller: a review of what exists, a hydrology update, or one option tested in an existing model.
A Flood Alert means flooding is possible, so prepare now. A Flood Warning means flooding is expected, so act now. A Severe Flood Warning means flooding could be a risk to life and cause significant disruption to communities. You can sign up for free warnings by phone, text or email on GOV.UK (“Sign up for flood warnings”), or call Floodline on 0345 988 1188.
No. It gives the authority and the funders the evidence to decide. At Hamstall the study pointed to holding the right-bank line; the farmers then built a bund, working with landowners and the village.
Comment on the planning application with specific, evidenced points. I can review the developer’s flood risk assessment and help you write those comments. Flood risk assessment reviews.
Yes. A group’s records, local knowledge and contact with landowners are what make a study work. At Hamstall Ridware the residents’ own questionnaire about the February 2020 flood was what let me check the model.
No, anywhere in England. Most of the analysis is remote; I come to the village for site visits and parish meetings.
Work with me
Send me what you have: photos, dates, the homes affected, any council or Environment Agency reports. I will reply with a scope, a fixed fee and a timescale. I don’t take on work on cases I handled while at the Environment Agency.