TESTIMONIAL BY
NEWARK AND SHERWOOD DISTRICT COUNCIL
OFFICIAL
I am an Emergency Planner for Newark and Sherwood District Council. A number of rivers including the river Trent flow through our district and are prone to flooding. In the past 5 years we have experienced 5 serious flood events and numerous other smaller floods or flood alerts. Working with the upper tier county council we respond to floods but also work to prepare communities for potential floods.
We have been users of aqua-sacs during most of these events alongside traditional sandbags.
The sacs are stored at our council depot, but as they are light and portable, we also carry boxes within vehicles driven by our team of community protection officers. We also provide stocks to vulnerable communities where they are stored in shared access emergency stores.
Stocks held by the council are deployed at the direction of the community protection manager and in the main are provided to local community responders or to individual households that may be at real risk of imminent flood. If flooding is not likely or the request is for protection for potential future floods customers are advised to purchase their own stocks or seek another solution.
The stock is purchased through a range of funding streams including allocated standing budget, grant funding from local resilience forums and funds recovered following flood events.
I believe aqua-sacs and other similar products provide a flexible resource that requires minimal storage, can be transported easily, and can be deployed with minimal instruction.
I have observed the benefits during flood events and have recommended this type of solution to other emergency planning colleagues.
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