Investigation: Council want to hear from those affected by recent Calderdale floods

Earlier this year, Storm Ciara caused severe flooding at several locations throughout Calderdale, causing major damage to homes, businesses, major infrastructure and several schools.

Councils have a statutory duty to undertake an investigation whenever there is a large scale flooding event and then publish what’s known as a Section 19 report.

Calderdale Council’s Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Environment, Scott Patient said: “Around 1200 homes and businesses were affected by the flooding in February 2020, second only in impact to the floods of Boxing Day 2015.

“We want to hear from as many of those affected as possible to ensure we have a thorough picture of the types of flooding experienced and how the scale of personal damage compared to previous flood events.

“The feedback will be used to see how lessons can be learnt and to help us prepare for the sustained threat of future events due to climate change.”

This report details the impact of the flooding experienced by local communities and the subsequent response and recovery.

To support this, and ensure the report is a comprehensive and accurate account the scale of the flooding, the Council is asking anyone affected by the February floods to complete a questionnaire.

Normally a number of drop-in sessions would also have been held to gather further opinions, but unfortunately due to Covid-19 restrictions these can no longer take place. Anyone needing additional support with the survey should contact [email protected].

The information provided will be used to help identify particular issues, areas for improvement and support a response to any future flood events.

The deadline for completing the survey is 31 August 2020. The report will include recommendations which will then be implemented by the Council.

The final report will be published by the end of January 2021.

The short survey is available at www.eyeoncalderdale.com/shoothill.eye.core/floodinvestigation and asks those responding for details of when, where and how the flooding occurred on each property.