Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department has taken to help protect (a) private and (b) local government properties from the effects of Storms Eunice and Dudley.

The Environment Agency (EA) uses its flood warning system to directly alert those at risk when flooding is expected so that they can take action to prepare for any impacts. The EA also operates flood gates, erects temporary barriers, clears trash screens of debris and moves pumps and other response equipment to help protect homes and properties from flooding. These activities were carried out in advance of storms Eunice and Dudley and during the subsequent incident response.

The Government’s current £5.2 billion investment programme will help better protect hundreds of thousands more properties from flooding and coastal erosion risks. Investment takes place wherever the risk is the highest, wherever it is across the country.

This investment will reduce flood and coastal erosion risk to around 1,200 local authority properties such as, council offices, depots, emergency services buildings and libraries, and approximately 4,500 central Government properties like schools, prisons, courts, and healthcare centres, along with approximately 1,000 miles of roads and 1,000 miles of railways.

The Environment Agency advises that members of the public and businesses check if their property is at risk of flooding and sign up for flood warnings.