The truth is out there…

At IBS Engineered Products, we think about floods all the time: hey, it’s part of what we do…! But I do wonder, being in the industry and obviously biased and very cautious, if I often make a mountain out of a molehill – or in our case, a flood out of a puddle.

So, today (20 January 2020) I Googled “flood warnings”, just to see. And as usual, there’s good news and bad news. The good news is that the number of areas with a “Severe Flood Warnings (danger to life)” status has dropped to ZERO over the last month and eleven flood warnings have been removed in the last 24 hours, so thank goodness for that.

The bad news is that despite these improvements there is still one “Flooding is expected (immediate action required)” warning in place and a frightening fifty-nine “Flooding is possible (be prepared)” area warnings.

Unfortunately, that’s not just 60 individual ‘people’ at possible risk – it’s stretches of rivers near roads, houses, industrial estates, retail parks etc, meaning a LOT of impact, across a large area of the country.

There are many ways to mitigate potential floods, from works on rivers, streams, dams and any water sources, to external protection for buildings and property, right up to internal design and layout features that can minimise impact in the event that the worst – actually happens.

Much of the infrastructure work is obviously a government responsibility and not something you can do much about yourselves’ but if you’re worried (and let’s face it – more and more of us are getting worried) there ARE actions you can take to protect your community, your businesses and your homes.

There are government websites and information sheets, The Environment Agency has advice and guidelines, and as we know, ‘Google’ (other search engines are available!), of course can make you an expert in seconds!

Your other option is to give us a call – IBS has been designing, manufacturing and installing high quality, engineered flow control and flood protection and prevention systems for 25 years so we’re always happy to talk to people about flood defences. As I said, we’re interested, biased and cautious because that’s what we do! But as I also said: it’s NOT just us, the truth is that there is a real danger out there and whatever you do – start thinking and planning NOW, if you are one of the many that are in any way at risk.