Thurgarton volunteer flood wardens recognised for their work protecting the community

A team of volunteers is playing a crucial role in helping to protect their community from flooding.

Flood wardens work in partnership with the lead flood authority Nottinghamshire County Council and partner agencies to manage flood risk and resilience measures ­— and are trained to respond to an expected flood as well as making their neighbourhoods aware of emerging issues.

There are currently 38 communities across Nottinghamshire with established flood warden schemes, with many set up in response to major flooding events in 2007 and 2013.

One successful flood warden scheme is in Thurgarton, where volunteers have worked to protect the picturesque village since 2013 when four inches of rain fell in just an hour — flooding several properties.

The village’s scheme is one of the largest in the county, with 28 members, and is overseen by Thurgarton Parish Council and supported by the county council and Environment Agency.

The issue is mainly concentrated on Beck Street where a beck snakes through the village and floods multiple times a year ­— often leading to floodwater coming onto the road and nearby Main Street.

Since the major floods of 2007 and 2013, the wardens have taken extra measures to help protect properties.

The group installed a monitor in the beck to measure water levels, which links to the village website, and email and SMS services were introduced to keep villagers updated during an emergency.

Tina Tsoukatos, chairman of the parish council and a member of the warden scheme, said: “The beck monitor has been a huge help. We’ve got triggers to say when the road closure scheme comes into operation ­— which is all part of the contract with the county council. So, we’ve got people looking for those triggers.

“Different areas of the village are looked after by different co-ordinators. They have set up WhatsApp groups so they can quickly let people know in their area if there’s a problem.”

Several home-owners have also fitted property flood resilience measures such as flood doors, gates and boundary protection to keep floodwater from their homes.

The Trent Valley Internal Drainage Board (IDB) has also ensured the beck is maintained so it operates as effectively as possible.

The council has played a key role in delivering regular training for the wardens, providing guidance with initiating road closures during flooding, water awareness and risk control.

Tina added: “We’ve got a good working relationship with the county council.

“For instance, on the road closure side of things we’ve had a full set of kit provided by the county council along with the suitable training for where it should be and how the signage should be handled.

“And as for the flood warden scheme, we’ve also had regular training. Every couple of years there are training courses that we go on ­— it’s all the support and training that we have needed.”

There are currently 85,000 properties estimated as being at risk of flooding in Nottinghamshire and more than 1,300 localised reports of flooding have been investigated in the last 18 months.

The council is committed to reducing the risk of flooding and works with communities to educate and support them.

As well as the flood warden schemes, there are seven active Community Flood Signage Schemes in operation and another three being developed.

Flood wardens participate in these schemes and training is provided by the council’s Emergency Planning Team and its road contractor Via, as well as Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service.

Tina Tsoukatos, chairman of the parish council and a member of the warden scheme, said: “I would recommend the flood warden scheme to any village that is under threat of either flood or emergency of any description.

“We can now sleep at night, whereas before if it was raining hard, you’d be in and out of the house to check on the water levels.

“It’s certainly heightened the level of resilience for the village. We don’t feel like it’s every man for himself anymore, which it was beforehand.

“We’ve got processes and procedures in place and people know what they’ve got to do and we’re happy to be directed by those around us. It works and there’s a lot of goodwill involved.”

Trent Valley IDB is leading on a flood alleviation proposal for Thurgarton with support from the council.

Proposals are being developed to provide an upstream flood storage area, with the preferred site currently being subject to archaeological checks.

Flooding advice and more information about setting up a flood warden scheme here.