Morpeth Floods Case Study

CASE STUDY - Morpeth Floods 2008
Location

Morpeth is an ancient market town in the loop of river Wansbeck in north east England,
Northumberland about 15 miles from Newcastle upon Tyne and 12 miles west from the North Sea.




Historical Flooding in Morpeth

Flooding in Morpeth is not unprecedented and…

Causes

Human

- The trash screens at entrances to culverts in a tributary were not being cleaned regularly
and so it lead to a blockage and the acted like a dam
- Impermeable surfaces such as tarmac made it easier for the flood water to move along
and allowed the…

Flood Management in place prior 2008

- Pleasure boats which could be used to evacuate people from their homes during a flood
- Automated telephone warning service
- Handing out sandbags to homes
- Evacuation when needed
- Flood wall from the north bank of the river around central Morpeth…

- Early morning GOLD was set up which is a multi-agency, major incident co-ordination
centre and Castle Morpeth Borough Council set up an emergency control centre
- Mid-morning CMBC deployed a Green and Clean Team with signs and Sandbags and
Northumberland County Council started to evacuate properties and serve flood…

unable too as this scheme was not included in the region's spending allocations for the
forthcoming years or another option at the time was to reduce the costs by reducing the current
level of protection it provides.

Over the next few years there was a lot of confusion between the…

2012 Onwards

On 13th February 2013 work started on the flood alleviation scheme with the removal of some
trees at High Stanners and in April the work started along Mitford Road and High Stanners. The
upstream storage work then began in May 2013. The primary purpose of this scheme is…

However not everyone is happy as people in Wansbeck Street have been left out of the plans but
the EA say it is too expensive to protect them and will be given other protection such as metal
shutters. Also the people at Cotting Burn feel they have not done enough…