Department doing ‘as much as it can’ to prepare for potential future flooding

Stormont’s Department for Infrastructure is “doing as much as it can” to prepare for potential future flooding this winter.

Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins made the comment as she observed a large-scale training exercise with flood defences being erected in central Belfast as they would be in the event of a tidal surge.

She said the £33 million investment will protect 3,000 homes and businesses in central Belfast from flooding, but acknowledged resources could be spread thin in the event of multiple incidents across Northern Ireland.

The exercise on Wednesday saw the installation and dismantling of approximately 1,500 metres of temporary flood defences, planned to be used as part of the Belfast Tidal Flood Alleviation Scheme, along the banks and towpath of the River Lagan from Stranmillis to Belfast Harbour.

Ms Kimmins hailed the exercise as “hugely important given the growing trend in terms of flooding incidents across the North and the island”.

“This exercise ensures that our staff are prepared, that they understand what is required in an incident, and there are different levels of what that will look like given the severity of what the incident may be,” she said.

“Today the message is about ensuring that we are constantly in a state of readiness. I think this shows the forward thinking of the team.”

She said while they cannot prevent all flooding from happening, they can reduce the impacts with measures such as this.

“I think we have been on a constant learning curve, incidents have become more frequent and we’re seeing the impacts having a greater effect,” she said.

“This is about looking at what’s happening globally and what we can potentially expect in the future, and how we then adapt our preparedness and our response to deal with that.

“This is also about giving the public confidence that when this happens we aren’t just doing this for the first time, that we have had some experience of deploying the equipment.

“It’s also important to say that in an incident of flooding, if there is severe weather, it is not generally just in one location, it can be in a number of locations across the North.

“There is a real potential that resources could be spread thinly in times when it is widespread and we need to ensure that the staff we have are equipped and ready to deal with that as best as possible.

“We’re doing as much as we can based on the evidence that we have and the research that has happened. There is no doubt that things will continue to change but we have to be in a constant state of research and working through that to see what else we can be doing.”